Today was my last day at a job I’ve been at close to a decade. Monday I start at a place that looks like a great place to work, better pay/benefits and one I could see myself at for 20 years.

It’s still been a bit of a bummer. A lot of life is tied to my time spent at the former employer. I’ve worked with a lot of good people and almost all of them have moved on. The writing has been on the wall for a while and I would have made the jump some time ago but the world had to turn upside down.

Even though it’s not been all that great lately, I’m surprised that I was sad about leaving for the last time.

Oh well, perhaps in a month or two I will get settled in and start to feel comfortable at the new place.

I can’t imagine retirement as a lot here have shared transitioning into after much longer careers.

Had a similar experience in 2017. Mine was not voluntary. We all still have happy hour every couple of weeks. Enjoy the journey. Mine worked out fine.

Congrats, in June I left a place I had been at for the last 24 years. It was odd leaving but I left for more money, better working conditions and a better drive to work. The worst part about leaving is that in 24 years at my previous employer I had a lot of knowledge of day to day operations. Very little was new to me and I knew how everything worked. After a couple of months I do not even miss the old place.

Change is always challenging, at least for most folks, even if it is change for the better. Beyond that, someone who pours themself into their job and gives it their best is going to have a lot of memories and it would be a rare person who didn’t have some feeling of loss, even if they were going to something they knew was better. Been there, done that. Didn’t take long to get plugged into the new place and stop missing the old.

Everytime I left a job, the next one was better! I hope the same for you.

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Originally posted by ltbarber:
Everytime I left a job, the next one was better! I hope the same for you.

My experience has been this with only a couple exceptions in the last 30 years. As a medical professional in a very in demand field,I am constantly recruited for new opportunities.
The old days of staying at a company from your early 20’s until retirement are pretty much gone.
I have long believed jobs are like socks when they get worn out or don’t fit right you dump them and get a new one.
So far my longest was from 2003 to 2013 in emergency medicine, and transitioned to a much better job that I really enjoyed.
When we decided to move west I ended up in emergency medicine again for a few years until I found what I was looking for. Has worked out great and got out of the ER right before Covid hit. I didn’t enjoy going back to ER those few years but in the long run it did work out.

Been there done that twice in my life. Nearly a decade at one, well over that at the other. I took a lot of life experience and growing with me from both periods. Hurts to leave, and you'll second guess and feel angst a few times in the first year at the new place (possibly). Ignore it. Growing pains.

The writing is beginning to be drawn on the walls for me now. Already over a decade where I am now, though time has nothing to do with the fact that destiny has unholstered the Sharpie. Earlier in my life, I'd be more worried, but I'm just not anymore. Everything will work out.

I changed careers 14 months ago, best decision of my life. 100 times happier now. I hope the same for you. It was weird at first to go from the expert that everyone counts on to a trainee, but it's been fun and challenging. I'm happy to be learning again, keeps your mind young and keeps you on your toes.

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Originally posted by ltbarber:
Everytime I left a job, the next one was better! I hope the same for you.

Same for me. And I hope same for you, Oz.

Dropped my job after thirty years just when the lockdown started.
Realised my job wasn’t my life and while i worked hard for the common good, the bosses above me didn’t share the same commitment.
The pay sucked big time, recognition there was none and respect had been lost along the way.

Felt bad for a while, no one called to ask me how i felt and what had happened. Convinced me that was no loss. Feeling very happy since.

Got to move on to new experienced.

To new beginings…

0-0

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Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
I can’t imagine retirement as a lot here have shared transitioning into after much longer careers.

It was hard for me to close my business and become full time retired as I loved what I did and made a ton of money doing it.

That's why I retired twice, I guess. The second one was permanent.

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Originally posted by Skins2881:
It was weird at first to go from the expert that everyone counts on to a trainee, but it's been fun and challenging.

Even in the same general industry, I expect that will be my exact experience. Applying fundamental knowledge and skills in completely new areas with lots to learn to get back to the same level of expertise.

Congrats! If it's something you wanted, then it will be for the better.
I have 594 days till I can retire but can work 8 more before being forced to retire. I'm not sure how I'm going to make the 594 days.

I still haven't figured out what to do if I do retire so I'll probably be stuck working at the same place. No chance of morale improvement for another 4 years.

I had been in one job for 15 years. It was interesting work, there were seldom layoffs, and it had a pension. But company prospects changed and management took a knife to everything. I didn't get laid off, but they had made it, so I got no raises for about 5 years and I worked longer hours every year.

I was reluctant to leave.

But I was recruited by a former manager who had left. I went to a new company and within 4 years I was making 50% more in salary each year. The old company had been taking advantage of me.

So the big thing I learned is that companies now think of people as commodities. They don't value their employees, and the HR people really are the "Inhuman resources" group.

It has been said before, but you kind of need to be prepared to deal with changes in life.

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Originally posted by Cabellocabeza:
I had been in one job for 15 years. It was interesting work, there were seldom layoffs, and it had a pension. But company prospects changed and management took a knife to everything. I didn't get laid off, but they had made it, so I got no raises for about 5 years and I worked longer hours every year.

I was reluctant to leave.

But I was recruited by a former manager who had left. I went to a new company and within 4 years I was making 50% more in salary each year. The old company had been taking advantage of me.

So the big thing I learned is that companies now think of people as commodities. They don't value their employees, and the HR people really are the "Inhuman resources" group.

It has been said before, but you kind of need to be prepared to deal with changes in life.

One thing I've said for years is that "Company Loyalty" is a one way street labeled slippery when wet.

Companies love to push loyalty, though, as it allows them to more easily screw over their employees.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Flash-LB,

I've only really had 2 "major" jobs: USAF and Texas Instruments. In USAF I was an officer for 15 years, was RIFed and then an NCO for 5 more years, retired as a Captain O-3. Jointed TI in 1980 and worked for them for 26 years, now retired.

I was happy in both careers, mostly doing things that I enjoyed. My 5 NCO years USAF were in a job that I really liked, and my TI years continued that specialty (COBOL programming). When I quit work in 2006 I missed seeing my coworkers and doing my "thing", but I found other ways to occupy my time. I'd stashed away enough money that I could enjoy travel, and still do, even at my age (83).

Transition was not difficult. My USAF career included a lot of relocations, so I was not much bothered by it when I retired. (I was in Germany at the time, spent a few months just traveling, then came home to the US. Lived with my parents for a few months while I sought employment, then moved to Texas. I've been here 40 years now.)

I would have remained with TI a while longer, because I really liked my job and my coworkers, but the company made it abundantly clear that it was time to leave. (I was considered a "dinosaur" and they thought they didn't need me. However, after I retired in 2004 they had me hired back as a consultant for 2 more years to work on the software I'd written and maintained. Some of that software is still running 15 years later.)

flashguy

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It’s still been a bit of a bummer. A lot of life is tied to my time spent at the former employer. I’ve worked with a lot of good people and almost all of them have moved on.

Leap and the net will appear my man. Everytime I have left a job it has worked out better.

Everytime my corporate schill of a wife leaves a job it's a 20% pay increase. The days of working at the plant for 30 years with a sweet pension are over.

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Every time I have left a job it has worked out better.

Maybe not every time in my case, but the trend was definitely better and better. My last cardiology position was the most interesting, best paying job, and--what was extremely important for me--I was treated with greater appreciation that at any previous position.
Several times I took a leap, not knowing whether it was going to work out; and almost always it did. If it didn't I moved on.

I can relate. In February I got let go from a flying gig I had for the last 5.5 years. A phone call and that was it. No thanks..no so sorry...no severance..nothing. I found a gig shortly after that, but the guy was a lying jerk. Two months later I told him no thanks, find somebody else. I've just been doing some small part time instructing gigs since, and honestly it's okay, but I'm struggling to even enjoy much of that. I'm 63 and think I've just about had it. I'm thinking I need to just figure out how to accept and enjoy what I've got.