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Take a year of unpaid sabbatical leave. If the company you work for actually wants to keep you around, they'll give you this opportunity to take a career break
by haser_au 9y ago
Take a year of unpaid sabbatical leave. If the company you work for actually wants to keep you around, they'll give you this opportunity to take a career break to really have a go at something different.
It works for you and for the company. You get to go out there and see what it's like for startups, the challenges, etc. And then apply those lessons internally.
I know lots of people in their 40's and 50's who have done this, with exactly the same golden handcuffs you're talking about. Some of them came back, and rewarded the company's trust with a revitialised vigour. Others decided to leave and pursue their chosen option.
Example: A guy I know was a senior Account Manager at a major telco in Australia. He decided to start a scuba diving business in Thailand. He took 6 months to 'test the waters' (sorry, that was a terrible pun) and decided that was his dream.
Life is short. Live it to the full.
- maxwin 9y agoMost company can’t leave a position open for 1 year. If they can , then they probably don’t need this person anymore.
- tsetse 9y agoI've seen the sabbatical option working out for some people, but in my case it won't because a number of reasons, including the fact I haven't been there long enough.
- badpun 9y agoI'd say that, especially in a large corporation, if you're a company veteran, with X years of knowledge of the internals, systems, business cases, managers etc., then you're really worth a lot more than a random guy from the street, even he matches your CV in terms of generic experience. A smart company would be more than happy to take you back after your sabbatical. In other words, in large organizations, organizational complexity can be the main challenge, while tech challenges are really secondary. I see that in a large bank every day.