How I was able to increase my income by 13% while working from anywhere
A blessing in disguise
The short answer: I got a new job.
The long answer: read on.
6 July 2023 marked my last day at a company where I worked in for the past 1 year 9 months.
This might seem like a short time to some, but I forged incredible memories while working there.
It wasn’t an easy decision when I first tendered my resignation on 7 June 2023.
I was comfortable.
I liked my colleagues.
I was contented with the work I was paid to do.
So what gives?
The management.
Office dynamics in a nutshell
Out of all the jobs I’ve held in my career, I would say this has been the most eventful one (both for better and for worse).
The management changed hands in Sept 2022 (though there were no signs of any issues brewing until Dec 2022).
The changes which the new management implemented did not sit well with the team.
While our concerns and feedback were taken into consideration by the previous management, things were different with the new one.
People did not speak up as unfavourable feedback was not well received.
Certain individuals were preferred over others.
I had to witness my fellow team members being blamed for things not within their control.
Audits constantly worried the senior management, who only seemed concerned with covering their assess at the expense of the team.
How I engineered a move out
Before this, I never seriously considered leaving. In fact, the initial plan was to stay for 3 to 4 years once I was settled in.
After the chain of events unfolded, I had a change of mind and decided to actively look out for another role.
I applied for more than 50 positions over the span of 3 to 4 weeks.
The result: I landed interviews with 2 different companies.
It wasn’t all plain sailing though.
I received a rejection email after going through 2 rounds of interview with the company.
The first round even took place when I was down with Covid.
I didn’t let this rejection deter me.
As luck would have it, not long later, I received a call from a recruiter, for a job I had not even applied for. The job scope was also similar to what I was doing.
Even though I had never heard of the company name before, I thought “No harm giving it a try”.
“What’s the worst that could happen?” I fail the interview and life goes on.
This reminds me of a recent quote I heard: Volume negates luck.
Through God’s grace, I passed all 3 rounds of the interview smoothly and received a job offer from this company.
You would think that I would be over the moon, but no.
It was a bittersweet feeling, once that I’ve yet to experience in my 5 to 6 years of working life.
I was leaving a place that once felt like home (though I know it shouldn’t).
I did consider rejecting the job offer, but I stopped to remind myself of why I started looking for a new job in the first place.
Lessons Learned
Learning more about myself and my working style are some of the biggest positives I took away.
1. Trust in the management is more important than the job itself
One of my biggest learnings from this episode is that once I lose trust in the higher ups, I cannot foresee myself work for them again.
It’s important for employees to feel supported by our direct bosses, and not be pushed under the bus when things go wrong.
Even though I wasn’t directly involved, seeing how the management treated other team members was the last straw.
If it could happen to them, it could easily happen to me.
2. Job stability is a myth
This is a stark reminder to those who are comfortable in their 9–5, me included.
Things can change in an instant.
It’s why I started my own thing.
To hedge against a job loss.
Unless you’re in sales or a revenue generating role in your company, you’re a cost centre to the company.
To put it crudely, as an employee, we’re just a line on the spreadsheet.
What my new role offered
Though I would’ve preferred a hybrid working arrangement, a fully remote role gives me the flexibility to work from anywhere.
To add icing on the cake, I also got a 13% pay raise.
What’s not to like?
Like they say, there’s a silver lining in every bad event.
I’ve always wanted to try out the digital nomad lifestyle.
So I’m grateful to be handed the perfect opportunity to experience it now.
Being a digital nomad seems like the dream, but is it really?
I’m about to find out.
P.S Apologies for the rant — just needed to get this out of my system.