“The grass is always greener …”
Do you remember your first day at school? You didn’t know what was going on, where you had to be, everyone else seemed to know more than you. But you learned and over the next few years, became confident in your own abilities, knew where everything was, you knew everyone and possibly all of their little secrets.
Fast forward to when you moved from early school to secondary education. You suddenly went from being the “big man on campus” to one of the new kids; and no doubt it sucked. You had to learn a whole new set of rules, new people, new locations. But you survived that and no doubt eventually, you became one of the experienced guys.
Your current situation is no different. From being a “big fish in a small pond”, you are now a much smaller fish in a very big lake. It needs adjustment, but that is always going to be the case whenever you move roles.
The key thing is how this fits into your longer term plans. By now hopefully, you have a rough idea of what you want to do and where you want to be in 10, 20, 30 years time. Each of your roles should be a step along a path that helps you achieve those goals. (However, don’t be surprised when your goals change; this is also a part of life).
If the new role was a move just for money, then it is unlikely ever to provide you with the job satisfaction that you ought to have. If you moved because of the opportunities it will offer, then even if you feel uncomfortable now, it will improve given time. Only you can say for certain what your next step should be; but hopefully, that will also be a forward move rather than a backward step. Don’t forget, at this stage gaining experience of as many places and jobs as possible is going to be something that will probably be to your benefit in the longer term.
Having said that, you are at work a long time; and to be unhappy to the point where it affects your attitude or even home life is a red flag. If it really is becoming that big a deal, then you should move on again.
