Funny that when people first found out my new job, the first thing they say to me is, "there must be more money in it", or something of that nature. Then they find it hard to believe that money wasn't the reason that I was going after this job. After all, they know that I was very happy where I was. The thing is, over the years I have discovered that money is not wealth to me. I learned this a number of years ago when I was pursuing money and at one time making quite a lot of it. Yet, the more I focused on money and the more I worked towards that focus, the less wealthy I had felt. To me, money was a good unit of measure, but it wasn't wealth to me. That's when I went on my self-discovery.
I discovered my real wealth is in knowledge. Not just in obtaining knowledge, but investing it as well. That's what I see in this new job. I see lots of potential for gathering new knowledge by investing current knowledge by sharing what I know and hopefully watching it grow with the people I work with. If I have the ability to turn juniors into seniors, that is what I call a real return on an investment. If I have something that I can give to the team to take them to the next level, then I am going to invest it. To me, that is real wealth.
My mother-in-law often told me, "never share your secrets of your job, or they'll take your job and leave you with nothing". Nothing could be further from the truth than this. I found the only way to grow is to share your knowledge. If anything, I have proven this time and time again. Anyone who has ever worked with me has discovered that I never keep any secrets. To me, that is not wealth building... it is greed.
Sure, my new position is a Flash development role. But, if anything, I see great possibilities in developing for the newest Blackberries, or even the PlayBook tablet. I see great potential for gaining that type of growth of knowledge. However, I don't see that happening, if I am not prepared to share my "wealth" of Flash knowledge with others. If I can grow others, then I know that I will grow. That's the way I have seen it work. Who knows, I could also wind up picking up new discoveries in Flash that I hadn't thought about before as well. There's definitely a lot in Flash that I have yet to discover.
I see a whole bank of knowledge waiting to be invested on me. I see tremendous possibilities and returns on these investments. I see new avenues in which these investments can carry me. I can get totally immersed in the possibilities that this has to offer. That is totally what draws me to this new job. This is why I am excited.
