Back in the early '80s I had a teacher who espoused not working at one job for more than 3-5 years when you're starting out in IT, do that for 10-15 years, and by that time you have a lot of experience in different facets of the technology and in different industries that you should be able to make an informed decision and find a company to settle down in and earn out your retirement.

I still think that was pretty good advice. But that was couched in '70s IT paradigms: mainframes, COBOL & RPG, etc. The micro revolution, much less the database revolution, was on the horizon but had not yet erupted and flipped everything on its head. It also falls down in that it's not always easy to find companies that you can spend the last 15-20 years of your work career in one place.

I personally have no plans beyond a seven year window because my wife will have maxxed out her retirement at the observatory at that time and we'll probably be looking at another job for her which will require moving. My current project, of which I am the sole developer and DBA, will probably take me about a year, after which I'll be looking at other database systems currently in place and other IT roles to fill here at the school. But for me the simple and fairly unyielding truth is there aren't a lot of IT jobs in SE New Mexico that fit what I need, and I'm at the point in my life where I'm not going to relocate for a job and I'm not interested in working in certain industries for personal philosophical reasons. So we'll see what jobs I can find or create wherever we end up living.

Life is too short to work in places that go against your grain, and there's more than enough unpleasantness and unhappiness in the world to go out of your way to increase your own.