Switching jobs within a higher ed institution... good or bad idea after 12 months?
Posted by Jesse Rodgers on August 19, 2008 at 10:01 AM
Just about a year ago I switched jobs on campus from one that focused on applying a broad range of web technology with a marketing and communications focus to a job where I was to focus on user experience of one particular project. I posted some thoughts on what I would have liked to have done in my previous job if I was still there. Have to say, after 12 months I have no idea if any of my list was achieved or even is a big deal to folks that are dealing with U of Waterloo’s web space but it is strangely still important me and I still feel a bit like I need to figure out how to achieve it.
What is truly strange about changing jobs and staying on the main campus is that I don’t really feel like I changed jobs, I just changed projects. Maybe it’s because in my previous job I had a pretty high profile across campus with regards to the web (being the first and only – for a number of years – person hired to work only on the web on campus) and with my current job we are working on a pretty high profile project.
When there was an opportunity for growth presented to me I felt like I had to take it but really wasn’t sure in my decision. However, I have learned a lot that I would not have learned in my previous job which makes the decision to switch jobs a good one a year later. Is my current position better or worse than my previous one? Neither, it’s just different. For me, the motivation to change jobs came from the desire to learn new things and gain from new experiences but there is always a risk in leaving the job you know (or established). I think for a lot of people that work in a large organization and are happy where they are, they can get trapped by the conflict between doing what they know vs the joy of learning something new vs the risk of finding yourself in a bad situation.
In my role as President of Staff Association I have tried to promote changing roles or jobs on campus is a good thing to do both personally and professionally. More needs to be done at Waterloo to encourage folks to move around and I have a feeling in higher education in general a culture of ‘moving around’ doesn’t exist. Given how phd’s don’t change departments… ever… it isn’t a surprise that would influence the culture of higher ed.
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At the 2 institutions I have worked at, advancing both within a department and around a campus have just been unheard of. At my last job a lady was crying when she found out a lady that reported to her wanted to apply for the Director position… even though that person didn’t even want it. The one who wanted to advance got a total guilt trip and pulled her app out of the pool.
Even moving from Admission to PR/MarCom would be a big deal around here. Interesting. Great post.
Hi Jesse – great entry. I’d agree with your ‘changed projects’ view – in the last 8 years or so I moved from being an all-purpose web developer at Warwick to focusing on Flash, Flex and AIR projects, but during that time I’ve only changed jobs/departments once, that move representing the only significant career advancement step. More importantly it was a move from a departmental role to a more central institutional one.
One thing I really like about working at a university is that the nature of my work has continually evolved and provided plenty of opportunity to explore new things. Career advancement hasn’t really been my focus – enjoying what I do and feeling like it makes a difference have been higher priorities.
@Bradjward – I have seen that happen as well. There is some really strange culture that goes with that and I think it results in groups/departments running so thin from taking on so much that they can’t even function. I think that is related to the reality that vacation is just the piling up of work no one else will do while you are away… you work the hours anyway.
@Steve – I agree that the one advantage of higher ed jobs is the ability (for many) to work on many different projects while not having to switch desks. But I think there is a better way to manage higher ed positions if you want to achieve the same work experience. Sadly I don’t think higher ed has the management culture to make that happen.
Hi Jesse,
Long time, no hear from. Sorta miss the Contribute days…sorta… :)
This is a timely post for me as I just switched jobs within UofRochester. After 7 years I gave up my position as head of Web Tech to move to a research-focused position in the department of Biostatistics/Computational Biology.
That was 2 months ago. Just last night I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep because I was thinking about the things that my old group still needed to get done…projects that I didn’t get a chance to finish or even start.
Hope all is well.
Mike
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