When should I leave? When is the right time to quit?

There is never a right time, and nothing is ever too late.. You always are in a war of thoughts specially when it is about the thing that you are tied for most of your time.... yes Work, Your Job. Every bad day you have at work or every tiring day you spend once for a moment you have this thought triggering... "Am I doing the right thing being here?" sometimes "Is it time for me to leave?"

With reference to the IT industry and the trending attrition rates, I have to say that most people do not know on the exact reasons why they want to leave or most times do not know if it is time for them to leave or not.. a bunch of last few interviews I did, just refreshed my memory and affirm this thought... There are those passive job seekers who had a few months/years ago posted their resume on some job portal and now out of blue some consultants have started posting and patching them up for interviews, eventually they are forced to look for opportunities.

"I want to change the domain and learn new things"

"This technology is not great and I want to work on different technologies"

"Its too long for me here and the new company is offering exciting opportunities"

Is what you would hear from them when they quit. I don't say these are not valid reasons, I just say that it shows that people do not know if they really want to change or they don't know if the time to change is right... Most times they are not sure because they think they are earning good but not too good, the work is stable but sometimes flaky, the life is smoother but sometimes tiring and they are at the best role in the team but not the top. Many times they are having bad days at work every now and then and the few new entries on the job boards, those bunch of friends who are updating their linked in status as "XXXX is now Sr. Manager at YYY" makes these people convert themselves from passive to active job seekers.

So for those of who do not know if you should leave or not... here is how you can find what you should do and If you should stay or GO...

1. Are you satisfied?

Satisfaction should be the key :

a. Are you fulfilled.

b. Are you learning.

c. Are you challenged enough?

Most times people link their satisfaction to a comparative salary of others in the industry/friends circle etc. The prominent question you should ask yourself is... is what you are doing making you superior to what others at the same cadre elsewhere are?

If you are learning new things every other day, if you are exposed to challenging projects and situations, I think you are increasing your value to a better degree. If you are happy in what you are doing then its a NO GO. Because if you are happy and still changing you would be having the same syndrome affecting you in next few weeks...

2. How is your relationship with your manager?

Many times I have heard this jargon "People leave their Managers" I think it is true to a certain extent not entirely. If you and your manager are not getting along well, chances are that you will always be in a negative radar and thus dis-satisfied. If our manager gives you a peak of future, trusts in you, gives you opportunities... then its a NO GO.

3. Are you in a hurry?

Usually people tend to think that just because the job boards and full of opportunities the economy is booming and they should leave. As I grew I learnt that many times employers carry a different perspective... people who start looking for job changes right when the economy is booming are not necessarily the people who are laid of, they can be those opportunistic lot who care for growth or the hungry lot who will switch with time. Just because you think a lot of job postings means a economic boom and that you think you are missing it then its a NO GO. Wait, watch the season carefully and then step out.

4. Are there any internal good opportunities?

Have you check other opportunities available to you? I remember one of a very Sr. members in the past left us assuming that he would be constrained on opportunities and what he was doing was repetitive only after a few months to learn that he could have played a very very critical role in setting up a fundamental of a fast growing company. If you have not explored the internal opportunities enough... its a NO GO.

Well if the answer to any of the questions above is a NO... you definitely should GO. But if the answer to any or many of the above are Yes... then I guess, you need to take time, revolve around your thoughts and make a call after doing some better thinking.