Why I quit my dream job
In September 2022, I quit my dream job.
It wasn’t always a “dream job” to me. In fact, I actually was close to not accepting the role because I wasn’t the biggest fan of the website and the brand (hahaha!).
But the longer I worked there, the more I fell in love with the fun and supportive environment there. And the more I realised it was one of my favourite places to work at as it had a lot of the criteria I wanted in a “dream job.”
Why was it a dream job?
Work was flexible. We were able to work remotely on most days and go into the office occasionally.
I was able to work in Canada for 3 months. The CEO let me work in Vancouver, Canada from December 2021 to March 2022 once the Australian borders finally opened after the strict lockdown. I booked my tickets to visit my family post-lockdown and this was the best gift I could ever have received!!
The CEO and leadership team CARED for the staff immensely and always prioritised their health and supported their personal goals
My product/tech team was THE BEST (I’m just very biased) but we had a lot of fun working to build features and get them shipped out really quickly
I was able to up-skill in designing for iOS and Android systems. I LOVED learning how to design for mobile and understanding the process of how features got shipped in that world!
I was working in an industry I was passionate about (health and fitness). I was a user of the product and had fun testing out the features we launched (aka I had fun doing at-home workouts and testing out the recipes.
We were very transparent. From the beginning, I pointed out the flaws of the app and provided recommendations on how to uplift the experience. I wasn’t afraid to say what sucked and what worked. We were aligned on most of the changes and worked together to smash our goals.
I was getting paid decently. The myth of startups not willing to pay you was de-bunked for me when the company was paying me more than the industry averages.
So… why did you quit?
Well, there were a few reasons why I quit but one of the main ones included wanting to make as much money as I could before I jetting off to Europe.
I’m not sure how I stumbled into the world of contracting but I discovered that UX designers / product designers could get $700 to $1,500 AUD a day working as contractors so I decided to go down that path to make a good chunk of money for my upcoming Europe trip.
Another reason was that I wanted to take all of November off as I was planning to get married then and spend time with my family and friends abroad.
I also planned to take a few weeks off in April as I was planning to go to Coachella (hahaha, so many random travel plans made!).
With all of this in mind, I felt like it would have been unfair to my former company to request for so many days off without having any leave in my leave bank.
But also, miss the opportunity to make more money if I had the chance to do so.
So I decided it was time to bite the bullet and quit.
Getting into contracting as a UX Designer/Product Designer
Once I began interviewing for contracting positions, I realised that side of the world moved REALLY FAST (aka they wanted you to start ASAP if possible), so I actually quit my job without having another job lined up.
I wanted to make myself more “competitive” and remove my 4-week notice period to be able to start with another company straight away. However, in hindsight, if the company REALLY wants you, they are probably willing to wait a few more weeks for you.
When I quit my job, I did have some leads to jobs and interviews set but nothing was set in stone.
After multiple rounds of interviews with different companies, I ended getting a couple of offers (YAY!) and ended up picking one that fit perfectly with my travel timeline. It ended at the end of March which meant I could get on a plane the next day to head off to North America and attend Coachella!
So things were working quite nicely.
Experiencing my first contract gig
However, when I started the contract job - I realised it lacked a lot of the items from my “dream job checklist” and made me question why I took that job in the first place (haha, oops. I still love my team members there, hiiiii!!)
It was in an industry I wasn’t that passionate about and I was hired quite close to the launch date of the project so the parts of the design process that I liked to do was skipped and not prioritised (e.g. ideation/being innovative, customer testing, etc.)
The program focused more on launching as many features as quickly as possible rather than focusing on optimising the customer experience (which I have experienced in many other organisations), so I didn’t feel like my skills were utilised to its potential.
So note to self: don’t take a job solely because of the money and the timeline. Make sure to review your ideal dream job checklist frequently when considering a job offer!
Although it was a short-lived contract, I still had fun working with new team members and experiencing the design and development process with a new project.
I’ll just have to figure what type of role I’d want once I come back from Europe in September.
For now, I’m going to focus on enjoying Europe and embracing life.
xoxo, knd.