Leaving My First Job Was the Best Thing for My Career

Ten years ago this week, I left my first job out of college. I had spent six years at an EPCM firm—Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management. It was the company that gave me my first paycheck, my first taste of responsibility, and my first real understanding of the working world.

There’s something about your first job. It isn’t just about being new to a company; you’re new to the workforce itself. You’re thrust into a world that doesn’t slow down for you to catch up. I had three internships during University, but they barely scratched the surface of what I would face. The first job is a proving ground. It’s where you learn grit, discipline, and the weight of financial independence.

I moved to a new city where I knew no one, armed only with ambition and the pressure of making ends meet. My mission was simple: absorb everything. I followed project managers, took notes obsessively, and tried to understand the bigger picture while still figuring out how to navigate the politics. The first few years were about building credibility, learning the technical skills, and understanding the steel-making process. I worked on two projects from conceptualization to commissioning, managed budgets totaling over $800 million, and—perhaps most personally significant—paid off my student loans.

At some point, I realized I wanted more. I wanted growth, challenge, and a sense that my career was moving forward, not just existing within the confines of a structure designed to keep me in place. But leaving wasn’t easy. The fear of the unknown loomed large. My parents, steeped in a mindset of loyalty and security, couldn’t understand why I would consider quitting a stable job. My mother even suggested I focus on finding a husband instead.

It was a humbling experience I spent over a year applying to jobs and getting rejected to many jobs before landing my next opportunity. Self-doubt lingered, whispering that maybe I wasn’t good enough to leave. But I reminded myself that I didn’t need every door to open—I just needed one.

When the opportunity finally cane, I put my notice in and it was terrifying. But taking that first leap changed everything. It rewired how I saw my career—not as a linear path, but as a series of intentional choices. Since then, I’ve worked across multiple industries—consulting, event production, physical fitness—and even returned to the same company for a period of time.

Coming back was an eye-opener. I had changed, grown, expanded my skill set. But the company? It had remained the same. The same limitations, the same politics, the same unspoken rules. I knew that no amount of effort would make me a part of the boys’ club. That realization made it easier to leave the second time to work in software. The fear was still there, but the unknown no longer felt paralyzing.

The first leap is always the hardest. But once you take it, you start to understand that your career isn’t something that happens to you—it’s something you create.

So, what about you? Have you outgrown your first job? Have you ever stayed somewhere just because it felt safe? If you left, what did you learn? If you haven’t, what’s holding you back?