The positives of changing companies

Let me first state:  I’m not advocating for people to quit frequently – simply bouncing from one company to another.  There are many benefits to staying at the same company as well (maybe this will be my next post). I’ve decided to write this post because I have several clients, colleagues, and friends currently facing the possibility of changing companies.

Now the reasons for changing vary:

• Layoffs
• Termination
• Relocation Requirements
• Poor Leadership
• Other

Regardless of the reason, there are opportunities ahead in exploring new companies:

• Increasing your breadth of experience.  So often, we learn one implementation or what works for this team/company.  Having a variety of companies, means expanding your breadth of knowledge/experience.  This has helped me immensely in determining patterns of root causes, possible experiments and a calm about “problems” that seem unique but I know are not.
• Increasing your network.  With each new company, you gain a new set of colleagues.  This means new people to partner with, new people to learn from, new people to support, etc.  Personally, most of my business today comes from my network.
• Increasing your confidence.  Sometimes people have a tendency to be insecure on whether they can be as successful elsewhere. Is there success only tied to their clout, history, etc at the current company?  Learning that you are the key to your success as you gain success at a new company, will increase your confidence in yourself and your skills.
• Increasing your understanding of what type of company you want.  I have a wide spectrum of companies in my career. It took going back to a larger company – to remind me that I have no desire to be in that environment again in my career.  It’s one thing to think you know what type of company you want – its’ way better to experience a variety and know for sure.
• Increasing your responsibilities/salary.  This one makes me sad to say.  I wish it wasn’t the case for a majority of people.  Unfortunately, this is sometimes the easier way to get a bump in pay or title.  Personally, the salary aspect has never been a goal for me – I’ve even taken pay cuts.  However, in fairness I had to note this reality.  On the other hand, the increasing of responsibilities has been a factor.  I once left a company because they had a time requirement before you could be a lead developer and another company was willing to hire me then as a lead developer.

No matter what the reason for leaving, starting with a new company can be overwhelming and a little scary.  Try to remember these positives and let go of whatever the reason you had to leave was.  This company is not that company – both you and the company deserve a fresh clean slate.

What are other benefits to starting at a new company?