Hunting for a new job

No sooner had I put up my resume on some job boards yesterday, I received a barrage of calls and emails from recruiters. I need to pick myself through this carefully and not make the same mistake I made a year and a half ago. There is an useful entry at this blog that makes several good points that I would do well to heed. I think it is vitally important to figure out what I don't like about this job and what I would prefer to do instead. I need to articulate it clearly so that recruiters that I speak with understand my goals clearly and lead me in the right direction.

I came here because I thought this job would be a step up from my previous job and would allow me to progress into management. Unfortunately that did not pan out. I was excited at first with the opportunity to work with partners on building solutions that complement our product stack and lead a team in India that was exclusively focused on partner solutions. But within six months of arriving here, my enthusiasm fizzled. Working with the partner has been a frustrating experience. They lack basic technical competence that makes any design discussions sheer torture. Moreover priorities within my own group here have changed and my team and I have been pulled into other activities, most of which don't interest me the least bit. With attrition, the group has also grown smaller, negating the need for team leads or managers and therefore that door is closed for me. Having been in development for close to nine years, a pure QA role doesn't tickle me at all. So what I considered to be step up when I joined actually has evolved into a step down. Given that D~ and I have plans of returning to India in two to three years, I think it is vitally important for me to take some risks and pick up some skills that will stand me in good stead in the years to come.