3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Switching Companies
If you're not learning, you're losing.
Before I decide to leave my current employer, I ask myself this question:
"Am I learning and growing?"
If the answer is no, it's time to move on.
Learning is the most important dimension to use when deciding whether to stay at your current company or find a new one. When you're not learning, you become less valuable in the job market. You make less money and it will be more difficult to find another job.
The goal is to make sure you're learning enough to keep you engaged, happy, and valuable in the market.
Ask yourself these questions to know if you're learning and growing.
Have my technical skills improved significantly?
Over time, your technical skills should improve (duh).
You should be proficient with new tools, technologies, methodologies, and techniques. These tools don't have to be new to the industry (like AI), just new to you (like linear regression, if you've never used it before).
Are you using the exact same tools and methods as 2 years ago? If so, that's a red flag.
As you tackle more complex projects, your tool kit needs to increase to tackle those new problems. You can increase the number of tools you use or learn new methodologies. Either way, advancement in technical skill allows you to tackle different problems today than you did a year ago.
If your technical skills haven't improved, it's time to move.
Am I owning larger projects?
You start your career by working on small tasks.
Those tasks turn into bigger tasks. Bigger tasks turn into small projects. Small projects turn into larger projects. Larger projects turn into cross functional projects. Cross functional projects turn into initiatives.
As you progress throughout your career, the size of the projects you lead should increase. It's a clear sign that you're improving your capability.
If you're still stuck on small things, find a place where you can grow into bigger projects.
Do I have more responsibility?
A cornerstone of growth is having more responsibility.
As junior person, you're not responsible for much other than small, self-contained tasks. As a senior person, your responsible for processes, meetings, projects, other people, etc. Having more responsibility means people trust your ability to own consequential work.
So...are you mentoring others? Do you own a process? Are you running meetings? Are you making decisions? Are you holding people accountable?
If your level of responsibility is static, might as well give yourself a demotion.
Find a company, or role, where learning is the standard.
Then your growth will never stop.