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Job Switching

There is simply no one-size fits all advice for switching jobs. Extremely capable people stay on the same job for over a decade for reasons no one really understands, other get restless before the year is out. When money is on the line people stay as long as they need to fully vest and jump right after. Every wisdom this article offers will be proven wrong for some people in some situations and with disastrous consequences. Having a feel for the situation seems to be the main requirement for any would-be job switcher. 

Have you weighed all your options within the current company and concluded that you are at the end of the road? If that is the answer then its definitely time to move on. As with bad relationships where people repeat the patterns that got them with the unsuitable partner they left only to be with another one who is much the same, mind that you break the bad employment patterns while making change. 

That is sadly easier said than done given the nature of your skills and the likely sources of interest in them. Sometimes things can change very little if at all going from one place to the next to the next. That brings about the bigger and far more difficult question - do you need a career switch or a job switch because those are dramatically different things. Mistaking one for the other can lead to great disappointment. After all analysis is done and the root cause of what makes you ache for change is properly diagnosed the question still remains - can you overcome the inertia to make meaningful change so you are happy where you are next? 

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