• Question: Would you change jobs for more money in a whole other industry or stay at your current job?

    Asked by back520pang on 2 Jul 2025.
    • Photo: Charlotte Slade

      Charlotte Slade answered on 2 Jul 2025:

      That is a really thoughtful question. It’s easy to think that more money automatically equals more happiness, but it’s often more complicated than that.

      For me, I would choose to stay right where I am.

      Think about baking your favourite cake. You need certain ingredients: flour, sugar, eggs. Let’s say money is the sugar. You definitely need sugar to make the cake taste good! But a cake made of only sugar would be pretty awful. You also need the other ingredients that give it substance and flavour.

      In my job, those other “ingredients” are things like:

      Curiosity: I get paid to ask “what if?” and then try to find the answer.
      Problem-Solving: It’s like getting a new puzzle to solve every single day.
      Impact: Knowing my work could one day help people or our planet.
      Learning: I am constantly learning new things, so my brain never gets bored.

      My current career has a great mix of all those ingredients. A different job might offer me a whole lorry-load of “sugar” (money), but if it’s missing the other things I love, I don’t think I’d be very happy in the long run. I’d rather have my perfectly balanced (and delicious!) career cake.

Comments

  • Photo: Kip H

    Kip H commented on :

    This is an incredibly good question. While you need a certain amount of money – money isn’t everything. In 2024 I left a high paying job with nothing to go to because I desperately needed a break.

    Recently I’ve taken a job that pays less than the high paying job (although not much – about £4000 a year) but the job gives opportunities that I’ve never had and I have the ability to make changes to the system now.

    Would I like more money? Yes. Most people do. But I wouldn’t leave my current job for another one at the moment.

    Remember there are 168 hours in the week. You’re supposed to spend about 56 hours a week asleep. It means most people work about 40/112 of their waking hours and it’s really important that you find a job that gives you satisfaction.