When does money become a factor for you to switch jobs?

Nowadays, switching jobs is becoming prevalent, especially for young people looking to rise up the corporate ladder. People leave their old jobs for new ones for a variety of reasons: convenience, travel issues, health, etc.

Rarely does one say outright, “The other firm is offering me more money to work for them”.

It is apparent, however, that over half of job switches (this figure probably rises to over 80% if you exclude involuntary job switches) involve an increase in pay and benefits.

We pride ourselves in being non-materialistic. Yet, with every evaluation, with every company transfer, why are we looking to increase the figures on our payslips?

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Allow me to rant.

I feel there is a lack of intellectual stimulation in my current environment. I’m not going to lie, software development is an interesting field to work in - there are so many new things to learn, and no one person can keep up with all the advances being brought forth in the field today. With all this exciting new stuff, how can there be a lack of growth?

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I’ve been living in Japan for a few years now, and since Valentines Day has come our way once again, I believe it is fitting to discuss a little bit on how it is celebrated in Japan.

Valentines Day in Japan is celebrated by the women giving gifts (chocolates, usually) to the men in their life.

If you’re a guy, and have just received a box of premium Valentine’s Day chocolates from that cutie in your office, don’t automatically assume that she’s yours for the taking. Diverging from, or should I say extending on, the traditional western perception of Valentine’s day as a day to celebrate romantic love, women in Japan also give chocolates to bosses, co-workers, and close friends, aside from their actual romantic interests (read the Wikipedia article about this). You can however, be thankful that she considers you significant enough not to ignore.

People working overseas face a tough road. While the opportunity to move to a new country might start out like a dream come true for most people (especially for people who come from poorer countries), only a miniscule percentage actually manage to successfully settle in their new environments. The vast majority either return home, feeling like they have wasted precious time, or repeat the cycle of moving to another country, only to find that reality does not meet their expectations.

Like anywhere else, probably, survival of the fittest seems to be more of a rule than an exception. Because hard work and having the appropriate qualifications are never a sure-fire route to success, knowing what to avoid may just be as important as knowing what to do.

That being said here are a few traps third-world professionals often encounter when working in a new country.

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Reading Darren Rowse’s Speedlinking 22 post, I found out I had a lot to learn about blogging more effectively.

For one, I found out that this site misses at least 6 of the Seven characteristics of good domain names. As launch time approaches, I can’t help feeling nervous that the rules I unknowingly broke will turn readers away from my site. In my defense,

1. Domain names for such a blog are hard to come by, especially if you’re trying to keep it short (on second thought, I should have stuck with “www.thirdworldengineer.com“).
2. I was influenced by a couple of other blogs, including Waiter Rant and Problogger, into choosing the .net extension.

On the other hand, I found good advice on The Three C’s of blogging. I’m determined to prove that following the basics will have much better impact than an unglamorous domain name.

That said, I’ve made more steps towards improving this site. I’ve been learning how to use some image editing software for images on the blog. In addition, working on developing web-based software (my current 9 to 5) allows me to polish up my skills on the presentation level.

For all my readers, look out for more improvements (both in content and visuals) in the days to come!

I’ve been following Waiter Rant for quite a while now. In fact it was the site that encouraged me to start this blog.

Under his post Shoot Them All, aside from a few others, Waiter expresses his dislike for cheap customers who go out to eat, only to scrimp on their food and drinks, and ultimately, on their tips. It made me wonder how he would react if he had been in our shoes.

Professionals from third-world countries are underpaid a lot of the time. In many countries (including third-world countries, mind you), they earn less than first-worlders, despite the fact that most of them perform tasks exactly the same as (or of greater difficulty than) those done by their peers.

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