Every new job you take something with you from the past one – something that might not have been your idea – but a great idea. You take it and you bring it to the new one – “here let’s try this, it worked at my last place and could help us here.”
Are you stealing? Unless it’s Intellectual Property or something under an NDA – No. You’re taking an idea, putting a twist on it and expanding on that original idea.
This is how cultures are born and adapt, we take a piece of what we are and start to build something new, maybe improving on the experiment we did… at our last place.
Our last place can sometimes be our source of first attempts and experiments that didn’t quite pan out but having 20/20 vision we know how to leverage them now and do them right this time. It can be a source of fond memories and inspiration for what to do next.
But it should never be compared to your current place as – “so much better”, “so much simpler”, “in general just so much more incredible because the people were better and smarter and and and and”…
Because if that is how you are comparing your current place to your last place, than at some point someone is going to tell you to go back to your last place.
