An offer that was hard to refuse

This Friday, I met with a friend and ex-colleague who went to work for the competition about a year and a half ago. He used to be a programmer doing the grunt work for a very charismatic manager and managing three other people; now he works directly for a group of bankers, manages a team of 90 people, and makes big heaps of money. Clearly the man is supremely talented an in environment where he can succeed.

At our Friday meeting, he offered me a job - an offer that was hard to refuse. It would be challenging, I'd work with a group of really smart people and the work with have a direct impact on the business and be very visible. As for money - an immediate 30% increase over what I make now; if I deliver what they are looking for, two to three times that within a few years.

I told him no - but also to check back with me in six months (keeping my options open). But it does make me think about what exactly motivates me to keep my current job.

Clearly I make enough money that the mere offer of a 30% increase, and possibly more, is tempting but not decisive. But my friend was smart enough to add elements that do matter to me - working with really smart people, solving difficult challenges, real responsibility and visibility. I have all that today, but this would be more of that in every regard, which makes the offer hard to refuse. I would have to give up a job I know I can do well, a technical environment I've mastered in the last six years, a group of friends I work with, projects I want to see deployed successfully. But then, that occurs whenever you change jobs, so it is perhaps the fear of the unknown and not wanting to leave a safe and comfortable job behind? I'll have to think this over some more. And who knows, maybe in six months I will switch...