I remember the words of an austrian official in an interview when asked about the change of direction in his profession and why he is leaving the service. “Once you’ve turned 30, either you decide to have a family and quit your job or you keep on working for the service and become strange”. These were more or less his words and since then, I have to admit I already passed the 30 (33 since this month), I decided not being strange anymore. I didn’t work directly for the government but I quit my job at ERA IT (these guys here) anyways and tried to find out what other perspective life could offer me after spending years in a professionally tiny niche.
Almost one year after my decision, now having a clearer sight, a lot of space and time and new ideas to fill my life with, several things I’ll consider in future decisions confirmed to me :
- That guy was right. Working in such a field makes people behave strangely. Do a job you can speak with your friends about while having a beer/coffee and getting opinions from a neutral side or at least one without professional interests.
- If you decide to make your passion to you profession, make sure you are your own boss. Otherwise its likely your passion gets spoiled because its influenced by other forces and it doesn’t take the direction YOU wish.
- Don’t make money to your main motivation when doing a job. It is distracting and leads you to unnecessary dependencies. Take curiosity as motivation instead and consider money as a nice side-effect.