Am I insane?

SleepyEnnis

I'll start by saying that the purpose of this post isn't to have someone tell me for sure if I'd be making the correct decision; it's more along the lines of me wanting to hear other people's opinions so that I can ensure that I'm thinking through things in the right way. I'll obviously talk to family and friends about it as well but their opinions for this are never going to be unbiased, family in particular.

Ok, on to the situation. I've been working in the same place (IT industry) for the last 5 years since I got out of college. I love the place and the people but while the work itself is enjoyable it's not quite what I want to be doing. More specifically:
- I'm in a team of people where essentially I'm the only software person and everyone else is working more on the hardware side of things.
- While I'm mainly working with software at the moment I know that the overall direction of the company is to move away from software almost entirely over the next few years.
I've known both of those things for quite a while now so this isn't the first time that I've been thinking about the future with those in mind. About 4 months ago I had my first serious think about whether or not I should move and at that time I decided I'd wait for a year before making any decision. I'm back to thinking about things seriously again now after Christmas though, the main reason being "what's the point in waiting if I know already that I need to move?"

Ok, so that's the setup. I'll go through some bullets of my thought process now:

• I'm open to moving to either Dublin or the UK to find a new position
• Whatever I do, this will probably be the most significant decision I've made in my life so far. I always knew what I wanted to do in college and I pretty much fell into my first job after college without even having to do a proper interview.
• Dublin would obviously be less of a life disruption than the UK, but that's not necessarily an advantage
• My personal life is fairly stagnant at the moment as I very easily fall into comfortable routines. A huge life change might be just what I need to force myself to change a bit in that department as well
• I know that it's extremely unlikely that I'll find a place where the people and company are as good as where I am at the moment, but I can't let that be the reason that I don't move.

Obviously in the current climate I'm not going to move anywhere until I have another position locked up. So far I've been talking to a couple of agencies in Ireland and the UK and things seem to be moving along nicely (along with the ego-stroking of recruiters trying to make you feel in demand :rolleyes:). It's both good (because I feel like I have options and potential to find somewhere more ideal) and scary (oh god what the hell am I doing).

This is a bit of a ramble but I'm hoping someone can come along and poke holes in me or something. Think I've covered all the relevant details!

looksee

Five years out of college, five years of experience - that's gold dust these days - feeling stagnant and no security. Get up and go! Go to London. Or somewhere else. London is a young person's city and you may come back to Ireland but go and have a look at a bit more of the world. You could drift on indefinitely, go and spread your wings a bit!

SleepyEnnis

Thanks, that's almost exactly what I feel like but when I know that family/friends will be discouraging from leaving the country it's nice to hear it said by someone else!

Mrs OBumble

looksee wrote: »

Five years out of college, five years of experience - that's gold dust these days - feeling stagnant and no security. Get up and go! Go to London. Or somewhere else. London is a young person's city and you may come back to Ireland but go and have a look at a bit more of the world. You could drift on indefinitely, go and spread your wings a bit!

+1

IMHO it's hugely beneficial for a youngish person to travel, experience living in a different culture (yes, even the UK is different). People who've only ever lived in Ireland can be very inward looking at times. (I'm not saying ye all are ... just that it happens.)

I'm sure it suits your family/friends to have you around. But they'll adapt, and at your career stage, you need to broaden your experience. Far better to do that now that when you're made redundant and don't have the freedom to choose where/when.

And besides with cheap flights and all, you'll be able to visit them often. Actually ... tell 'em you're considering Australia. Then "change" your mind and go to the UK instead, they'll simply be relieved!

halkar

Not sure what you are working at IT but you should think hard what you want to do in 5-10 years time and start doing some study and 3rd party exams etc. You can do this while you are at your current job and move to some junior position in the field you choose when you ready. Organize and motivate yourself and your current job will not be to hard to cope with.