Being comfortable vs progressing in my career

[Eternal Sunshine]

I have recently got an opportunity to move to another research team within the same insitution. I get along great with my curent research team, it's fun and comfortable but I don't feel it offers that many projects, however it is more stable work.

 

Another team offers greater variety of projects, more collaborators and generally more opportunity for me to learn and progress. New team would also mean a move to another office. It is however riskier in the long term.

 

Emotionally I feel sad to leave my current co-workers but I know better than to listen to emotions. At the same time, I am worried about making a mistake and things somehow going horribly wrong.

 

I have pretty much made up my mind to go. Advice?

[Emilia]

Go. You would only regret it if you didn't, you have no choice, really.

[pink_sugar]

I understand how you feel. I was hesitant to leave a prior job due to longevity and stability...but it had no career growth. I moved on and unfortunately was laid off 3 months into the new position. It was a major financial setback. It's hard to know what I would have done differently. Sometimes we do need to take risks though. If the other position is more risky, make sure you have a rainy day fund to fall back on and also do everything you can to get a good reference from your current team/supervisor in case you might be able to return if something doesn't work out.

[Eternal Sunshine]

Thanks guys. After speaking to some people whose advice I respect, I made the decision to go