# Four years at my job - time to ponder my next career move

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-years-at-my-job-time-to-ponder-my-next-career-move/1019070>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [June 1, 2025, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-years-at-my-job-time-to-ponder-my-next-career-move/1019070 "2025-06-01T13:34:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 28

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**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2025, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/four-years-at-my-job-time-to-ponder-my-next-career-move/1019070/28 "2025-06-02T22:12:49Z")

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> [@Eonwe](#):
>
> > [@msmith537](#):
> >
> > Over the past 30 years I’ve worked for 10 different firms (plus a few startups and a few stints in “industry” at tradition big companies). In theory I should be a “partner” or equivalent senior-level executive after that much time, which I am not.
> 
> What does this mean? Plenty of people work in corporate spaces for 30 years without ending up as senior-level executives. Why do you feel that you “should” be at that level at this point?
> 
> > [@msmith537](#):
> >
> > my compensation has been pretty flat since I’ve been there and I’m not seeing a lot of growth. So I think it’s time to move on. Just not sure to what yet.
> 
> > [@msmith537](#):
> >
> > But after 30 years I have yet to figure out whatever personal or professional flaw is preventing me from getting to the next level of my career.
> 
> You seem to have identified greater compensation as a motivator. What else do you mean by “next level” of your career? Do you want more money? Do you want more responsibility? Do you want to be doing different work?

I think maybe I can answer these all at once. I suppose much of it might be driven by ego, a desire for career growth, increased compensation/financial security, a bit of peer rivalry, and/or a desire to not spin my wheels wasting my time doing something I may not really have an aptitude for.

I think what I need is perhaps something a bit more structured and stable. My firm is too much abstractly defined projects where they dump you in the back-office of some bank and hope for the best. The first 2.5 years working here it was fine. I seemed to do a good job at whatever they wanted me to do and my performance and compensation reflected that. That past year and a half however not so much.

First I spent 6 months on “the bench” where I would get staffed to a client but then they would cancel the contract for budget reasons before I could start. Not my fault at all, but my numbers still suck for the year so no raise or bonus.

Then the past year I spent months on a crappy toxic client with a crappy empty suit of a manager and got my first ever shitty performance review at this firm. Then I rolled onto a project that was much better that was supposed to last a year or more. But then the client fired our firm for cost reasons. So no raise or bonus this year.

On top of that, the business group I was part of slowly deteriorated over the past couple of years to where it’s finally been dissolved. So it practical terms, that means going from a defined organization where I helped carve out something specific we “sell” both to clients and internally to basically a free for all where any of us are fair game to get tossed onto whatever project shows up next in the pipeline.

So ultimately I think that’s the main thing I want to change. That constant emotional rollercoaster of going from client to client as what is essentially a glorified temp worrying if the client isn’t going to like me, if I’m not going to have any expertise in the subject matter, whether the salespeople/partners didn’t understand what they undersold, will my manager (assuming I even have one) be a jerk, is the client suddenly going to run out of budget, or any of a million other reasons why our projects get cancelled so I can go back to wallowing on the bench wondering how long I have until the firm decides to fire me.

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