Quitting a job is not a failure
Giving up on something is not always a wrong choice. One of the myths about quitting a job says that quitting equals failure. According to traditional thinking, once you've started something you should never quit, and if you do then it's a clear sign of failure. I think that's completely wrong and sometimes quitting is exactly the right thing to do.
Before IT section, I used to work as a journalist, but soon I changed my workplace and joined the IT company, where I was not feeling happy. When the first signs of my displeasure with the job started to appear, people told me that I must be mad. The job had everything that a person could wish for, such as nice paycheck, great colleagues, flexible work hours that did not affect my responsibilities at college. Accordingly, someone may have thought that I have lost my mind when I decided that it's time to move one. "How can you be so selfish and quit your job?" was something I heard a lot.
Well, although it sounds almost perfect, it's not entirely about money, nice office and "glittering box of chocolate" which all this may look like at first sight. I was feeling that my knowledge was not expanding and that I was not moving any further, just bouncing at the same place that I was when I had come to the company. I worked on some projects that were not that challenging and no one seemed to care if they were going to be successful or just fail. Team bonding and outdoor activities as a team were missing, so I felt somehow left out of everything. It was like this: come to the office, work, go home. Maybe it's just for me, but working in an IT company should include teamwork and bonding, where you get to know your colleagues not only by the tasks they are working on but also for the persons they are. If you don't like your job, you're doing no one a favor by staying. I read somewhere: "when you're unhappy at work, it tends to affect everyone around you through a phenomenon called emotional contagion and there's a good chance you're making your coworkers and possibly even customers less happy".
When I realized that my unhappiness is not just a few days thing, but that it somehow became a constant stage, I decided that quitting a job is not selfish or wrong, rather a path to another state, with possibility to be fulfilled with happiness and pleasure. Finding out about the firm with better conditions, I decided to take a risk and change the company. Just to be clear, I didn't rush in. I set with myself and thought about this deeply, and decided that what used to be my comfort-zone was actually something that didn't suit me anymore.
You have to change yourself and your micro-world in order to be finally satisfied. That was on my mind when I took the risk by moving from smaller company to the bigger one. It was expected from me to take a lead in certain tasks, to be constantly learning, improving myself and to work harder than before. And, you know what? This challenge actually fulfilled me and I keep it in mind every day.
It is not important to prove my boss how great worker I am, but to prove to myself that I can do it and be better every day. This change has given me a lot more responsibilities than before, a lot of things that I had learnt and still have to learn so I could keep up with the project itself. Furthermore, I was introduced to the real teamwork and bonding. I found a place where people value you firstly by your character virtues, and then by your knowledge. If you do not know something, co-worker will help you, and you will learn. If you finish your task on time, you will be rewarded. And everything is transparent.
The management here knows how to show someone when he or she is doing well, and they are more than willing to help you in self-improvement by supporting your personal development plans. So, when I get up in the morning, I have the feeling of excitement when going to work and thinking about what am I going to do that day. Searching for solutions, not having the problem to occupy my free time or make me work longer or from home, makes me satisfied because I know finishing project on time is manageable. I know that someone there pays attention to this and that my work is appreciated.
So, if you are thinking about quitting the job, I can just tell you:
"You made a tough career decision. You took initiative and decided to move away from a bad job to something even better. Just do it."
