My relationship with employers usually allows me 3-5 years before I need to hand in a resignation. Not to toot my own horn, but after 3 years I am pretty good at most jobs. The movie theatre, T-Mobile in my early days. I'd say I was a very good JET by the end of my 3rd contract year. I was a great teacher by the end of my 4th year at Chuo. Most recently I left a job at Green River College after 5 years.
Mostly it has to do with challenge and pushing the envelope. Once a challenge leaves the job, and management stands in the way of doing new things, it is my signal to move on.
Employment was one of the reasons we left Japan back in 2015. I didn't want my future employment to be stuck in English teaching like a train track. I'd already taken English teaching as far as I could. I had the private contract, at a private school, created my own curriculum, felt the impact I had on students. Without getting a masters degree I wasn't going to be go much further, and teaching at University wasn't going to be much more money.
Moving back to the US it took some time (15 months to be exact) before I got the job at Green River College, and at first it was just part-time. After another 14 months, I finally landed the full-time employment I had been looking for. Had an office with a window I could call my own. The job (advising) was the best parts of education (teaching), without the dredge of education (tests, curriculum building, homework, grades, etc.) Not that it didn't have it's thorny bits, but at the end of the day it was very nice.
But I hit my 5 year mark. It was time to get a move on. I was starting to grow moss, and the challenge was waning.
Enter IT.
While working at Green River College I completed my second bachelor's degree. This time in IT. With IT, I figured I could be in a new exciting challenge, hopefully great salary, AAANNNNDDDDD it's more portable to other countries.
I left Green River College in July for a contract position. It wasn't anything special, and was a significant pay hit. It was a night gig working from home. 4PM - 2:30AM. They would ship me the equipment and train me online. Long story short, I was good at the job. What I didn't realize however, was that I was worth more.
Six weeks into this gig I received the first of what would become almost a daily occurrence. A recruiter reached out to me and said they had a position at Salesforce that they thought I'd be good for. I asked what it paid, and it was more than 50% more than my current contract gig. Another long story short, I didn't get that job, but it was a very clear sign that said "Hey! You are worth more than what you are doing!"
From there I would wake up, update the resume, and apply for 2-3 jobs almost every day. I would almost always chat with a recruiter first, then chat with someone in IT, and then possibly more interview. this went on for about 6 weeks when I one of the businesses got back to me and actually had an offer! I was honestly stunned, but it met all of the conditions. Full-time, benefits, hybrid schedule, great pay (hourly, but with overtime), very cool company and culture, and lots more!
So that is the very short play of my career over the last few years. The big question might be: "What does this have to do with FI?"
Well, throughout all of the jobs I've mentioned here (Jet - New Job), I've taken almost half of each paycheck and invested it into low cost mutual funds, maxed out 401k, purchased rental properties, and even bought stocks!
I've hit one of my main milestones which was to be FI by the time I am 40, and truth be told... I AM! If I really wanted to, I could call in sick for the rest of my life and be just fine. Even better if we moved to a country with a low cost of living.
Having said that I am still working, but brining the FI mentality to my new employment. I'm not afraid of the challenges, or not performing "to standards." I go in, do my best, work hard, and feel pretty good about it. If I was worried about money, rent, bills, car, mortgage, etc. I might try to fake it. I might not present my real self, which is unacceptable.
I think this is what FI is about. It's not even about necessarily not working, although it is a great perk. But if you want to keep working to build a new career, learn new skills, and face new challenges, you an do so without the monkey on your back. I can be honest with my team and those I work with as I am not afraid of them or what they can do to me.
