I loved my last job. Fully remote with a team spread across the world. Low context communicators, respectful of work hours, and always chasing side-quests.

But working at a startup comes with the inherent risk of having to start all over again with little notice. So there I was looking for the next quest.

Very soon three rides were available in the amusement park that is my career. The good thing about an amusement park is that you can go on all three, after some queuing at each.

Ride one: Look for the next place that's similar to the one I was just at. Global, remote, excellent work with excellent compensation. Basically the S-tier. This one would have the longest queue but also, standing in the queue might not be my best strategy. I didn't find my previous job, it found me. How? Side quests, made visible, carry more weight than any case study.

Ride two: Jumping on a fun ride, again. Going back and working with a team that shipped to a large userbase and have a spot for me whenever I need it. Remote, comfortable, but compensation not linked to outcome. Risk of comfort curdling into stagnation.

Ride three: A young team that's the David to multiple Goliaths, in a space where the line for feature parity moves forward every week. Championing design in an engineering-led organisation, in a field I'd never explored or even encountered before. Brand new ICPs. In office. Room for ownership and growth and perhaps exploring the balance of part-managerial work along with being an IC.

Ride one came with a lot of uncertainty, and I like to keep doing something. There's a better chance of this calling out to me when the time is right.

Ride two was tempting. Why not do something enjoyable again? Well, because there are so many more rides that might be as enjoyable if not more so.

Ride three, the door was wide open. It surely would have a lot of steep inclines, and thus naturally fast descents. Right now, I need the kind of growth that only comes from the steep ones. I suppose this is the thrill.