Why I left a solid job with a good company

I landed one of those jobs everyone wants. With a big company that wasn't a couple of guys in a basement that were going to run out of money or evaporate or have the owner go capricious and fire the good half the staff and keep the slackers. I only lasted 5 months at it. I was gonna give it a year. Great facility with a reasonable in-house cafeteria and workout facilities, good co-workers, and a good boss, as far as his bossing powers would go. Unfortunately this company is so huge that there were multiple layers of bosses and my boss didn't control policy. The work wasn't that awful, really. It's not exactly what I went to college to do, but .... ah well. The base pay wasn't that great but the company offered much better job security than others in the same game. At least they said so. Then they turned around and had a 5% layoff. I bet you're thinking I got laid off. Nope. I didn't. I was in a business critical job function. When any member of our team was out sick or anything, we all felt it. I was never out sick the whole time I was there. I don't get sick.

I left because the job was turning me into a dead-eyed corporate drone. I had nearly an hour commute each way, each day. There arent that many jobs in my field in my little burg. So already I'm spending 25% more time than anyone else. Oh I learned some Portuguese on my commute but still I was strapped down in my car. Then at work I was strapped down to a chair, and strapped into a fixed schedule. There were challenges of the job and I like a challenge, but when something is broken and I can't fix it it is frustrating and exhausting and tedious to do the same repetious and klunky workarounds over and over. If I had been willing to spend extra time after work in the place I might have eventually been able to rig up something once they got us some hardware, but I wasnt willing to wait. My family life was suffering. My daughter needed me several times and I just wasn't there for her. There were some games we could play to win "points" and improve our "job performance" but I found them to be a game. I did my best to stay healthy by working out in the gym there but I felt it was a losing battle. Also my little hobby business was going to tank with me only tending to it as time permitted and I actually enjoy that quite a bit. And I was getting in very little music.

So I quit, I feel so much better. I don't miss going there. I don't even really miss the paycheque since when I was working I didn't have time to spend anything. I miss the companionship of the team a little. I really had a hard time caring about the work, since the company obviously didn't think our workflow was very important I could see myself heading for disengagement. I like to be in control, and I like to feel like I'm building something useful. Job satisfaction is critical to me. And being good at what I do is also.

I felt a little bad for leaving them in the lurch. I won't be that easy to replace. It will be hard for my boss to find a person with similar skills who isn't already doing something better. But you gotta do what's best for you.
I'm through with jobs for now. I am an engineer and I don't want to do some related thing like admin or support, which seems to be what I can get being "mature" and all. I'm full time at my hobby business, which is picking up. It's in the black... Who knows maybe I can eventually turn it into a living. Anyway my resume really looks job hoppy now though I'm sure I could justify leaving this last job because of the commute. If I had been satisfied with the job and the work I would have made the commute work. I would have pitched in with my son who lives down there and gotten him a better place that I could stay at comfortably. or something.