My career and a thought experiment

This post was published on January 19, 2025

As is the case every year, 2025 is starting off relatively slowly. There’s not a lot of training courses to run yet, and since a few of the projects I worked on wrapped up in December, I find myself with a little bit of extra time and headspace on my hands. I actually enjoy these slower moments, because they give me some time to think about where my professional career is going, if I’m still happy with the direction it is going on, and what I would like to see changed.

Last year, I quit doing full time projects as an individual contributor to development teams in favour of part-time consultancy work and more focus on my training services. 2024 has been a great year overall, and I would be happy to continue working in this way in 2025. However, as a thought experiment, I took some time to think about what it would take for me to go back to full time roles, or maybe (maybe!) even consider joining a company on a permanent basis.

Please note that this post is not intended as an ‘I need a job!’ cry for help. My pipeline for 2025 is slowly but surely filling up, and again, I am very happy with the direction my career is going at the moment. However, I have learned that it never hurts to leave your options open, and even though I love the variety in my working days these days, I think I would enjoy working with one team, on one goal, for an extended amount of time, too, under the right conditions.

If nothing else, this post might serve as a reference post to send to people and companies that reach out to me with a full time contract opportunity or even a permanent job opening.

This is also not a list of requirements that is set in stone. As my views on what would make a great job change (and they will), I will update this post to reflect those views.

So, to even consider joining a company on a full-time contract or even a permanent basis, there are basically three things I will and should consider:

• What does the job look like? What will I be doing on a day-to-day basis?
• What are the must-haves regarding terms and conditions?
• What are the nice to haves that would provide the icing on the cake for me?

Let’s take a closer look at each of these things.

What I look for in a job

As I mentioned before, I am not looking for a job as an individual contributor to a development team. I have done that for many years, and it does not really give me the energy that it used to. On the other hand, I am definitely not looking for a hands-off, managerial kind of role, as I’d like to think I would make an atrocious manager. Plus, I simply enjoy being hands-on and writing code way too much to let that go.

• I would like to be responsible for designing and implementing the testing and automation strategy for a product I believe in.
• It would be a lead role, but, as mentioned, with plenty (as in daily) opportunities to get hands-on and contribute to the code.
• The work would have to be technically and mentally challenging enough to keep me motivated in the long term. Getting bored quickly is something I suffer from, which is the main driver behind only doing part-time projects and working on multiple different things in parallel right now.
• I don’t want to work for a consultancy and be ‘farmed out’ to their clients. I’ve done that pretty much my entire career, and if that’s what the job will look like, I’d rather keep working the way I’m working now.

The must-haves

There are (quite) a few things that are non-negotiable for me to even consider joining a company full time, no matter if it’s on a contract or a permanent basis.

• The pay must be excellent. Let’s not beat around the bush here: people work to make money. I do, too. I’m doing very well right now, and I don’t want that to change.
• The company should be output-focused, as in they don’t care when I work, how many hours I put in and where I work from, as long as the job gets done. I am sort of spoiled by my current way of working, I fully realise that, but I’ve grown to love the flexibility. By the way, please don’t read ‘flexible’ as ‘working willy-nilly’. Most work is not done in a vacuum, and you will have to coordinate with others. The key word here is ‘balance’.
• Collaboration should be part of the company culture. I enjoy working in pair programming and pair testing setups. What I do not like are pointless meetings, and that includes having Scrum ceremonies ‘just because’.
• The company should be a remote-first company. I don’t mind the occasional office day, but I value my time too much to spend hours per week on commuting. I’ve done that for years, and it is time I’ll never get back.
• The company should actively stimulate me contributing to conferences and meetups. Public speaking is an important part of my career at the moment, and I get a lot of value from it. I don’t want to give that up.
• There should be plenty of opportunities for teaching others. This is what I do for a living right now, I really enjoy it, and I’d like to think I’m pretty good at it, too. Just like with the public speaking, I don’t want to give that up. This teaching can take many forms, though. Running workshops and regular pairing with others are just two examples.
• The job should scratch my travel itch. I travel abroad for work on average about 5-6 times per year these days, and I would like to keep doing that, as I get a lot of energy from seeing different places and meeting people. Please note that ‘traveling’ and ‘commuting’ are two completely different things.

Yes, I realize this is quite a long list, but I really enjoy my career at the moment, and there are a lot of aspects to it that I’m not ready to give up.

The nice to haves

There are also some things that are not strictly necessary, but would be very nice to have in a job or full time contract:

• The opportunity to continue working on side gigs. I have a few returning customers that I’ve been working with for years, and I would really appreciate the opportunity to continue doing that. I realise that I would have to give up some things, but there are a few clients that I would really like to keep working with. By the way, this is only a nice to have for permanent jobs. For contracting gigs, it is a must-have.
• It would be very nice if the technology stack that the company is using is based on C#. I’ve been doing quite a bit of work in this stack over the years and I would like to go even deeper.
• If the travel itch I mentioned under the must-haves could be scratched with regular travel to Canada, Norway or South Africa, three of my favourite destinations in the world, that would be a very big plus.

I realize that the list of requirements above is a long one. I don’t think there is a single job out there that ticks all the boxes. But, again, I really like what I’m doing at the moment, and most of the boxes are ticked at the moment. I would absolutely consider going full time with a client or even an employer, but I want it to be a step forward, not a step back.

After all, this is mostly a thought experiment at the moment, and until that perfect contract or job comes along, I’ll happily continue what I’m doing right now.

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