I can see what you mean, it does however assume that staying in a job is the same as being stuck in a job, doing the exact same thing you were doing 20 years ago - perhaps this assumption is a reflection of US work culture (you tell me, I don't know)?

If you have a good job with a stimulating environment, colleagues, and decent pay, then the perception of being stuck does not exist. Over time the role will change to reflect the changing organisation and role.

> Over time the role will change to reflect the changing organisation and role. > perhaps this assumption is a reflection of US work culture (you tell me, I don't know)?

I do not know anything about US work culture from first hand experience. I'm a software engineer from Sri Lanka working in Germany as a software engineer. It was my personal opinion and as I've said everyone has their own preference.

> Over time the role will change to reflect the changing organisation and role.

If the role has evolved, then it will not be the same job you did 'x' number of years ago. But according to original post, OP says "I have worked 20 years in the same job". Maybe I understood it incorrectly, but it seems like the role hasn't evolved or changed at all.

Yes, sorry, I meant same company. My role of course has changed although I'm still a developer/architect type, it's obviously changing all the time. I have been offered management type roles but consistently rejected them though so it's almost the same "job" too (developer). That my business card might say "Senior developer" or "Architect" doesn't really change what the job is I think.

I'm in the EU, took more risks than most people I know, step out my comfort zone also multiple times. What most people miss is not the willingness, but the safety net.

Results? Unimpressive, fails over fails.

I know value the steady job I have and I keep tearing myself for not opting for this sooner. I don't know if I would be already burnt out if I haven't tried, but timing wasn't great, that's for sure.

Could you elaborate a bit more on what you tried when you stepped out of your comfort zone?

I pick a few key moments. Moving to the capital from my hometown ($30 in my pocket), abandoning college, start working as a self taught developer, quitting my job to work on a startup, moving abroad to chase another startup dream with $100 in my pocket, later doing the same, but in Germany. Trying to freelance. Then work in education for a programming bootcamp.

I can still see some uncomfortable situations ahead of me, but I'm not afraid to embrace them.

> This is the most European thing I've ever heard.

Thank you

> This would literally be death to me

I think how often you change jobs depends on the challenges and type of work. My first project was over 10 years from start to initial release.

I don't think switching jobs is that necessary if you can be challenged in your current job. Ever changing problems are exactly why I'm staying. I tried switching to do some web work in a couple of places, but found that I really hated it and that most things in the "web stack" are just crud and it's really hard to find really hard or complex problems in the space (Where the complexity isn't in something tangential like ops/configuration/scaling...). I'm an engineering/math type person so it's a bit scarce.

I keep a constant lookout for new jobs, but I filter out 99% of positions simply because it looks like generic web tech jobs.

> No one would like to take a risk unless it's absolutely necessary.

It's mostly a rational calculation. Because of crab mentality and stigma of failure, the downside is worse in Europe. The expected value of risk is lower than in America.

> Changing your job is part of your career growth in-order to expose yourself to new challenges, problems and new environments.

A lot of people prefer work to live, while others prefer live to work. Both strategies are perfectly fine.

Yes, but you have to live with the consequences of your life choices.

If you just "work to live", then you'll be just an average employee, with average salary. High salaries and other perks are for high performers.

> High salaries and other perks are for high performers.

Or for loud mouths with increased tolerance to risk.

We like to think that the world is much more meritocratic than it is ("just world hypothesis").

And I say this from the camp I'm describing above.

> I got here by taking no risk at all. > This is the most European thing I've ever heard. Most people would not like to take risks and would not even think about stepping outside of their comfort zone.

In some sense this is true, but lets not get carried away. The American Startupism is all about the flash, big growth, big impact, big IPO. In EU you have companies slowly grinding a hard problem for 20 years that also have huge impact but no flashy news. Look at things like vertical farming, ASLR, fintech. Thats all thanks to low risk and stability.