I am no daredevil, but I have taken risks in my career. The types of risks I am referring to here are the job/role moves I have made to explore opportunities and/or interests. Over my career, I have made some moves that have paid off and others that have not. I have learned from both, but that is a different post. In retrospect, the timing of some of those moves was important. Sometimes, that timing was related to business/market timing. For instance, I have started two companies; the second was the early 2000s tech bubble pop victim. More recently, in AWS, the product I transferred onto was absorbed into another product with a different charter. It was a risk when I moved- I knew the product had challenges. In each case, the timing was a factor.
Timing is something we can only sometimes do something about. But it's worth considering, especially if you have a low-risk tolerance. You're probably thinking about the timing if you have a low career risk tolerance. A lot. Me? I have a relatively low-risk tolerance, but looking back at my career - I have made a lot of leaps.
No matter how much consideration I have given to the viability of a career change, there are simply things outside of my control. If I could have predicted the first tech bubble crash, I could have made a ton of money, but I probably would not be writing this. Sure, I was crushed at the time when something didn't go my way. After the reorg, I didn't get that promotion because the people evaluating me didn't "know me." The timing was wrong and entirely out of my control. Reorgs happen.
In the end, my career is more about experience than money. I have always had this notion that money is less important than what I am doing and who I am doing it with. So, the timing is something that I see in retrospect, but it is not at the top of my considerations.
