How Setting Your Career Roots Can Help You Get Ahead

March 23, 2022

Blog

Coming up on my 15-year anniversary at TransPerfect, it is evident that I am not someone who job hops. There are many perks one hears about switching jobs every couple of years: potential increase in rank, potential increase in salary, and maybe a new host of problems that are different from the ones you face now.

But I chose to take root. People are people, and no matter where you work, you will have to make changes to your environment, team, or role in order for the position to continue to be satisfying. And that is what I was lucky enough to do.

When I was unhappy with where I was, I spoke up and was able to find a better fit, multiple times. With life changes—a master’s degree, marriage, growing family, and changing interests—I grew into new roles and new teams, and I continued to learn.

Because I had been at the company for a long time, my institutional knowledge grew, and solving problems became more multi-dimensional. I worked to understand more systems—both human and technical—and it became easier to develop solutions when they were needed. Here is what I can share about building a career at one company.

I was able to give back: As I grew more senior and became a manager, I was able to encourage the people on my team to follow their passion, to develop new services, and to change the way we do business to remain progressive and efficient. We faced every change we encountered, every discomfort or dissatisfaction, instead of avoiding or switching jobs. And by facing the challenges, we were able to grow as people and grow our divisions and, by extension, the company.

I learned to problem solve on a new level: I found myself in an organization where if you find the problem and put in the work, you have the opportunity to try your hand at something new. I learned many skills that way—project, product, and employee management, different layers of technology development, including processes and roles. But everything ultimately came down to the people—always.

I built lasting relationships: From the beginning, the people I worked with felt like friends who went to battle together, helping each other through. I was a project manager working for production one year out of college, so those battles were large projects, and we would work together to make sure every project was completed and every PM left the office at a decent time. As roles changed and intensified, and as my involvement in the company deepened, the battles grew. It went from projects to clients and products. We fought for our company for many years. And over all this time, we were also friends outside of work, helping each other with tough life events.

In a work hard, play hard way, we celebrated big and small bright times and supported each other through difficulties. Without a doubt, the people and relationships I have built and cherish are the biggest thing I celebrate with my time at TransPerfect.

Today, as unprovoked violence continues to erupt around the world, affecting people we love and work with, I am especially appreciative to work in a place where people are close and care about each other. As we gather and brainstorm how to help our employees and their loved ones in the less stable places around the world, I am grounded in the gratefulness of having the opportunity to help, colleagues who care, and a system we built together to help others.