What makes a person stay at one company for a longer time period in this day and age? UX Designer Tiina Viljakainen shares her thoughts and experiences on the topic.
These days, there is a lot of discussion about quiet quitting, periodically changing jobs, and the bad leadership influencing these phenomena. People don’t settle for jobs, workplaces or management, and for good reasons too.
In this context, I've come to realise I'm something of an anomaly: I have been working at Taiste for a whopping seven years now. In modern work life, especially in this field, it is practically an eternity. IT professionals have been in high demand in recent years, regularly contacted by headhunters and gotten used to the idea of having a new job with a higher salary available pretty much whenever.
For many, my situation probably raises some questions: 7 years at the same company? What the heck? And: why?
To be fair, I regularly ask myself these same questions too! Having a little check-in with yourself is an important exercise to perform every now and then. Have I gotten too comfortable? Am I still moving forward? Am I learning as much as I would in a non-familiar environment?
I'm the first to admit that I'm not the most career-oriented individual. I also feel that at this point in my work life (especially because I've already switched careers once) I have a pretty good understanding of what's out there, and I'm not feeling that much curiousity or pressure to change the way things are now.
For many, my situation probably raises some questions: 7 years at the same company? What the heck? And: why?
In terms of learning: I have started to think that learning at a long-term job has more to do with specialising and diving deeper into selected aspects of the work and ways of working. Recently, I discussed this with my long-time colleague, and we ended up with the following conclusion: by staying, you have more time and space to iterate your existing skills systematically, whereas in a new place you are more likely to pick up a greater number of new skills. In short: apples and oranges.
Staying in your comfort zone might in fact be underrated. Yes, never trying anything new will probably get stale in the long run. But used right, being comfortable can allow you the luxury of focusing on what's essential. Conversely, if you're always out of your comfort zone, you need to spend a great deal of energy to simply get used to new concepts, methods, social environments and so forth.
All this inevitably takes a toll on your personal life, too. I don't think I would have as much mental capacity for my hobbies if I had to constantly focus on the multi-layered stress of applying for and starting at new jobs.
Of course, none of what I've discussed above would apply if I didn't like my current job. I feel privileged to say that I'm genuinely happy here at Taiste. I agree with its values, I enjoy my colleagues, our projects and the clients we work with. Of course, there have also been things I've disagreed with. But the fact that here it's always been OK to have conversations about those problem points has further reinforced my decision to keep working here.
The company I entered 7 years ago has grown and changed so much that it almost feels like a different place – and I meant that in a good, fresh way. I didn't have to leave to experience something new. And being able to grow in an open and equal environment with intelligent and skilled people is a nice cherry on top.
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