You should stay at your employer as long as you are growing at a similar rate as the company. Leave if its growth is holding you back. And also leave if you are getting left behind.
Nikhyl - it’s been a long time. You’re doing great work with this career guidance. I’m passing them on to my daughter and thinking about what needs to be written about the late stages of work life.
Loved this article - I came here from the 'stage of the company' article and I see a connection between these two articles. Some times in stage 2 of a company, a company can pivot their business model because they are also trying to adapt to a fresh ecosystem. And while the growth and learning curve may be good - the direction of the business may not be what you resonate with anymore, I wonder if that is a stage to evaluate leaving a company.
Nikhyl, just discovered your blog and this article in particular. The advice here is great. I always advise mentees to think about things in a game theoretical, two-step approach: "Optimize for the next next job by choosing the job that best prepares you for the one after that." This is a great framework to help think through the decision.
Nikhil, what is your advice on when the product leadership (or product org) at the tech company is eliminated or reduced? Is that almost always bad for your career growth as a product manager at the company?
Trying to understand how and when should one thinking about changing jobs if their department "doesn't have a seat at the exec-level leadership".
Hi Nikhyl, Great article. One thing that was not clear to me was "How do you measure your own growth rate?" As you rightly mentioned, the company growth rate can be measured with some quantitative measures but what do you look at to measure your own growth rate? After reading your article, I feel I am in the second category (i.e. company growing faster than I am) but how do I measure that for myself to validate my feeling?
Great article and it resonates with me. You may be missing a couple of points:
1) If you are good, you are also likely to underestimate your ability (or be underestimated) in both scenarios.
2) Your ability doesn't depend on just yourself - it is also a function of opportunity and coaching that your company and mangers offer you.
Both of these will make you stay at a company for longer than you should or hold you back from pushing for roles that you are already ready for or would help you grow. The main antidotes for these are to have good mentors/coaches and to be confident, self-aware and ambitious.
Really loved this framework Nikhyl!
Nikhyl - it’s been a long time. You’re doing great work with this career guidance. I’m passing them on to my daughter and thinking about what needs to be written about the late stages of work life.
Loved this article - I came here from the 'stage of the company' article and I see a connection between these two articles. Some times in stage 2 of a company, a company can pivot their business model because they are also trying to adapt to a fresh ecosystem. And while the growth and learning curve may be good - the direction of the business may not be what you resonate with anymore, I wonder if that is a stage to evaluate leaving a company.
Nikhyl, just discovered your blog and this article in particular. The advice here is great. I always advise mentees to think about things in a game theoretical, two-step approach: "Optimize for the next next job by choosing the job that best prepares you for the one after that." This is a great framework to help think through the decision.
Nikhil, what is your advice on when the product leadership (or product org) at the tech company is eliminated or reduced? Is that almost always bad for your career growth as a product manager at the company?
Trying to understand how and when should one thinking about changing jobs if their department "doesn't have a seat at the exec-level leadership".
Thank you!
That was a good read, Nikhyl! Long time…
Hi Nikhyl, Great article. One thing that was not clear to me was "How do you measure your own growth rate?" As you rightly mentioned, the company growth rate can be measured with some quantitative measures but what do you look at to measure your own growth rate? After reading your article, I feel I am in the second category (i.e. company growing faster than I am) but how do I measure that for myself to validate my feeling?
Great article and it resonates with me. You may be missing a couple of points:
1) If you are good, you are also likely to underestimate your ability (or be underestimated) in both scenarios.
2) Your ability doesn't depend on just yourself - it is also a function of opportunity and coaching that your company and mangers offer you.
Both of these will make you stay at a company for longer than you should or hold you back from pushing for roles that you are already ready for or would help you grow. The main antidotes for these are to have good mentors/coaches and to be confident, self-aware and ambitious.
Very helpful guide!
"if you need to leave, embrace it as an opportunity" - great article Nikhyl, thank you.