I prefer to keep some details to myself but let me know if you need to know more.

I am a software architect in IT MNC for 10 years and counting.
1. This is my first and only job excluding internship.
2. People and culture: good. People are generally helpful and I made some good friends.
3. Salary: let's just say...
- increment is performance based and I'm rated above average yearly
- some friends have told me that I can aim higher with my capability
- I can save at least 40% a year including yearly travels, but that may change in coming years due to personal reasons
4. Management: good and bad. My boss is good and I am well liked by the upper management... But there are some bad apples. The worst one: an old dude waiting to retire, notoriously inefficient and absent in meetings, works like a messenger or delegator of tasks.
5. Career: good and bad. Within department, I'm at the highest I can be as a technical role.
- Any further means I'd need to aim director role and that is impossible due to upper management saturation + I'm less qualified in seniority (experience +age??) as an upper management.
- Overseas prospect: I thought of transferring to other business units overseas to experience different country lifestyle, and I'm very confident that it'll be much easier within my current company than to look externally.
6. Overall package (stress vs flexibility): both have ups and downs. Generally very flexible -- my personal favourite is no MC needed for sick leave. Everyone also respects weekends/holidays.

All things considered, I like my job. Truth be told, I am VERY comfortable in my position, also because I know I 100% won't be retrenched in the foreseeable future for what I offer...

For better or worse, my company isn't giving me a lot of motivation to seek job out there, plus the ongoing retrenchment wave in the IT industry and all...

I just have a nagging question for years now: What am I missing out?

Thank you both, unfortunately it's not something I'm able to answer yet still...

I guess I feel like a frog trapped in well but with curiosity for the outside world. I'd like to know from y'all/others who have changed jobs:

1. How did the change affect your career?
2. How do you feel now about your decision then?

Thank you all for the replies.

I have just accepted an offer to transfer internally to a new department to be formed starting next year. I was slated for promotion next year so this decision may kill the chance, idk tbh. I guess it's one baby step out of the centre of my comfort zone, basically where I've been the past 10 years... Even such a small decision gave me so much dilemma

Regardless, I'll definitely maintain good relationship with the existing department because I truly enjoyed working with them and might want to return one day...

I think one thing I found it hard to discern was the stagnation itself. If I have to compare to everything you guys have said so far...
Was I challenged? Yes. In my current role, I am constantly challenged to solve problems, and you could say every puzzle was different in a way.
Was I learning? All the time. From above, I learned every time and felt satisfaction whenever I designed a good solution for the team. In my company + my seniority, there's way too much to learn as an individual and work will never end.
Was there growth? Yeah I had promotions, just that it's slower as a senior... but isn't it normal for the graph to plateau? Like, you can't be getting 100% growth every year just like the big companies revenue growth right?

But yeah anyway, the new role is more globalised. Pros: increased chances of travel opportunities. Cons: potentially stretched working hours to accommodate multiple time zones. Nature of work still very similar but may lean more towards things that I would like to gain more exposure on.

Thanks for the insights everyone. Checking in since my change...

I was promoted as promised by my previous boss, so I'm thankful for that. % is not as much as before but I guess it's something to get used to when you're already in the so called T20 range 🤷‍♀️

My team is newly formed where everyone basically internally transferred from other existing departments. Interestingly, I turned out to be one with unique skillset (I'm the only technical expert whereas the others were functional), so my boss has very high expectations of me.

I'm stretched more than before and struggling to juggle 3 concurrent assignments spanning 3 time zones. Some days it's bad enough I get physical headaches during the evening meetings. Thankfully my colleagues are supportive whenever I need help.

Honestly it's tiring, but I am eager to be part of the development of a new product, where its success means establishing a foothold on a new domain. I guess this will keep me busy at least until next year, so touch wood I probably won't be coming back to this thread for now

Thanks chatgpt, I literally updated just above like I'm following your advice 🙃

What's the monthly income of T0.1? I don't aim high, I think /k standard 20k monthly is likely achievable in time but maybe inflation will change the goalpost in all seriousness, I'm not ambitious enough to want to take on risky ventures such as starting a business, but if there's a stable kuli role where I can reach that then that'd be great. Currently I'm focusing on rail planning domain, learning a lot of industry specific terminology and it's quite interesting to magnify into the nitty gritty of pieces moving across the network. I find joy in such things even though it's probably not as valuable as an official certificate, monetarily speaking.

I do not have direct KPI on sales target. My department is more focused towards project delivery.