Friday, July 5, 2013

The right opportunity is worth waiting for


Most of my time in Asia was spent with one company, English First.  I originally joined them as a teacher, as I was coming from a teaching role in the UK and I'd knocked out a TEFL Diploma in one of the 6 week boredom-breaks in the Summer between school years.  Cushty.
Anyway, I'd done some time teaching English, and it was quite easy and most students were keen to learn (which always helps).  After several months I came across an opportunity with their global product development department as a Project Manager.  Long story short, it was a great experience and I ran several projects as well as playing my part in others' projects; some project management tasks, some hands on development tasks such as wire-framing  logic design, user experience and so on.  During all my time in Shanghai at EF, I never felt that I was wasting my time and I always felt fully rewarded just by the work I did and what was coming ahead. Truly a great time.  
When I moved to Singapore (following my wife who was promoted to a role based here), I scouted out several jobs and eventually landed a role, which didn't actually have any tasks to do, so I left.  I joined another company, stayed there a while but the CEO's vision and my own didn't match up, so I left.  I joined another company, had a long term plan, but came up against a CEO who couldn't listen and a miserable team (but seriously talented and pleasant), so I left.  I don't wanna say it's Singapore's fault as that would be unfair.  I've been told it could be my own fault for being "fussy".  
But I approach it in the same way that the late Steve Jobs described, ""If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."  Considering I've almost died once before, this is how I'll continue to live.

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