When you look for a job, what do you look for? Some people look for stability or a large/small company or an
entrepreneurial approach, or something else. I look for something fun and a lot to learn.
The key is that I'm willing to look for any number of fun things: the product, the language, the OS, whatever. But I have two distinct criteria: I need to have fun. And, I need to be able to learn from other people on the job.
What do I mean by "have fun"? For me, having fun means to stretch my brain and avoid drudgery. I don't mind a repetitive job if I have the opportunity to automate it. But, I don't want to do the same thing day in and day out. I need to learn enough so I don't have the same year of experience over and over again. (See
What Was Your Last Year of Experience? What Will This Year's of Experience Be?)
Who can I learn from? I expect to learn about management things from my manager, and I expect to learn about technical things from my colleagues, all over the organization. I once took a job where the previous management had deliberately hired the lowest-cost folk, expecting them to be the least capable. A majority were not very capable. I found it frustrating.
When you have fun and learn from people across the organization, you have an opportunity to get a great job, because you can collect a wide variety of data from others telling your potential employers how good you are. See
I have a document like this and so should you.
Do you have criteria for your next job? You don't have to have mine, but I suggest you think about what would make your next job your best.
