Career Update - Life After Stepping Down
| 2 min read
Last October I made the decision to step down from my role as a global executive in the cybersecurity industry. The last 8 months have gone by in a flash, so I wanted to write a little update on how it's going. Do I regret the decision? Was it the right thing to do? Or have I screwed up the career I've spent 25 years building?
The TL;DR is that I'm far happier now than I was back in October. I've battled with whether this was a failure, and I decided that I didn't fail, it was all just my ego.
I've gone from working a ~60-70 hour week, to working a ~40-45 hour week on average (I'm contracted to 35 hours). When I sign off, I know my phone isn't going to ring. I'm doing work that I enjoy doing again, with a team I enjoy doing it with.
More importantly though, I'm less stressed and I get to spend quality time with my family. That right there, that, is the most important thing.
For example, since all my team are in the States, I tend to have late meetings. So on a Wednesday I shift my hours and sign on at around lunchtime. My wife is also off on a Wednesday, so every week we now take the boys to school, then go out for breakfast together. After that we take the dogs for a walk. It's just lovely.
Working weekends just isn't a thing for me now either. So I can spend every weekend with the kids, or out on my motorbikes with friends, or in the garage working on them, or on various projects around the smallholding.
Sure, I don't have a corner office, or an assistant, or the fancy executive job title. But I'm happy I traded those things in for all the above.
If you're thinking about a step down to focus more on family instead of your career, my advice is to go for it. I have zero regrets.
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