I had an interesting conversation with an old friend yesterday. He asked what it would take for me to be lured away to work elsewhere. I’m pretty sure he was fishing because he knows how experienced I am, how broad my skillset is, and (perhaps most importantly) my character.
It got me thinking. What would it take?
My response at the time was that somebody would need to approach me with an invitation to work with them - not an invitation toapplyto work with them. I told him the story about Google’s recruiters being given my name some time ago (presumably by one of their own engineers), and the realisation that while I would love to work at Google, they are no different than any other big company - the invitation was really just to “apply” in the same way that any college leaver might.
I don’t want to “apply” any more. My track record, skills, and experience speak for themselves. While talking in our kitchen yesterday, wine glass in hand, I started listing out the projects I’ve worked on over the last few years - as designer, developer, architect, etc. He finally understood what I was talking about.
If a direct approach came along from a big company, of course I would be interested - but I’m not interested in proving myself any more.