Again, I couldn't agree more with that. Most of my jobs have been with companies where it could go either way. Red Gate turned into an exception and became succ

Again, I couldn't agree more with that. Most of my jobs have been with companies where it could go either way. Red Gate turned into an exception and became successful, and I stayed there for a long time. Subsequently I've come to the conclusion that, professionally, this was a mistake. For the first few years I definitely developed a lot of new skills there, and had opportunities that otherwise I wouldn't have had, but the value tails off after that. When it came to the point where I absolutely, positively wanted to leave and nothing was going to change my mind (this is far too late - to anyone reading, do not do this), I felt rusty and behind the curve. It became an 18 month process whilst I skilled up in the areas I needed (again, Red Gate provided the opportunities to do that, so props). That was tough going. Red Gate's a decent company but, you know, when I'm done I'm done, so keeping up the motivation was hard. This is all a very roundabout way of saying you're absolutely right about keeping your skills up. If you do that (and you're not an asshole) you'll have absolutely no problem securing employment. You might need to relocate, but you'll always find work.