Taking the leap to quit a good job.
About a 2 months ago I quit my senior UX designer role with one of the leading business consulting houses in South Africa. Seems not to be the best time to do this with the corona-virus impact on business and people losing their jobs.
Well it’s been 10 years working in this industry, I have worked in a many roles since when it was just graphic-design, oh I miss those simple days. My journey evolved into a more meaningful career over the years, working in both the corporate and start-ups. I even went into starting up my own agency, that has also evolved and matured over the years.
Design has become a bigger part of my life now; I am grateful to have worked on the teams i have worked on and meeting some great humans along the way. I have worked on great products and have become a mini expert in many industries I have touched with my work.
So why did I walk away from all this? Well in short, for growth. Let me explain.
Leaving my senior UX designer role in a well-known business consultancy has to be one of the scariest things I have had to do in my life after having kids. Leaving my comfort zone and a “safe” and secure income in such a volatile economy took a lot of guts and painful pressure in decision making. There is no growth in doing the same thing over and over, it is about time things move around a bit.
“When we get comfortable, we decay – Varima Henry”
Looking back over the past ten years of my career there has been one common theme. Self-improvement directly related to my income and how much I made. I have been stuck in the rat race trying to earn a better living or at least what I thought was a better living.
I started to value work on how steady the income is and not what I am actually trying to archive as a designer, in my career, in life. I was living month to month, job to job mentally more than I was physically. In reality it felt like I was doing something more.
The real reason why I left my job is so that “I can do more meaningful work”. More meaningful work for the world and for myself. I want to see and feel the impact design contributes to the world. I am tired of solving first world problems living a 3rd world country. I am unlocking the talent and focusing it on what matters the most.
As designers or product people we have the ability to change the world and create things that have never existed before, new solutions to real world problems. Design that drives real impact.
So What’s Next?
… Loading awesomeness.
