Want to know what it’s really like relocating for work?

Relocating for work can be both exciting and daunting in equal measure. Want to know what it’s really like? Ask someone who has done it before. Toby Roger has done it twice.

Sometimes, successful employees can be offered the chance to relocate for work within their company. Alternatively, you could come across the opportunity of a lifetime in a completely new company abroad.

But relocating for work can feel a lot more daunting than simply moving job. There are a lot of components to think about, from the city you’re moving to and the cost of living there, to how you can maintain your relationships at home.

He then relocated for a second time to the other side of the world. Roger moved to Australia to work for employee analytics start-up Culture Amp. He spoke to Siliconrepublic.com about his experience of relocating and shared his advice for those thinking of making the move.

Where are you from?

I’m from a tiny village in rural Kent, England, called Brookland. My family are raspberry farmers so I grew up in a very different environment to the one I find myself in today. It’s a sleepy village where sheep outnumber people and the only amenity is a local pub.

How long ago did you relocate and what prompted your decision?

My career started with Zendesk in 2012 when the team was around 200 people globally. In 2015, I relocated from the London office to the company’s headquarters in San Francisco. The biggest draw was to learn from and to be closer to my peers in the product marketing team.

Additionally, the lifestyle of northern California was a big draw and the opportunity to experience something new. After five years at Zendesk, and with the company being 2,000 people strong, I made the decision to relocate again from San Francisco to Melbourne, Australia, to join a rapidly growing start-up called Culture Amp.

I was drawn to the chance to enjoy a better quality of life, to work in a more diversified city and to join a company at an earlier stage to maximise my impact.

Describe your role in Culture Amp.

My day-to-day focus is on what we call buyer and sales enablement, which ultimately involves a bunch of initiatives to help our buyers to buy and to help our sales team to sell.

Examples of these initiatives include defining how we pitch our platform, creating assets that help inform our buyers, conducting competitive research, and measuring the success of sales in terms of their win rates, how long it takes to close deals and the time taken to ramp up new salespeople.

I can also leverage my years in the Zendesk product marketing team to offer guidance on our product launches, and other strategic functions of the team.

What do you like most about your job?

I’m really motivated by Culture Amp’s mission to help companies around the globe learn faster through their employee feedback. We have all experienced working in a toxic environment and often, it can be boiled down to a lack of candid feedback between fellow employees and management.

Unfortunately, a poor working environment takes a significant toll on our personal lives. When I can help a company like Culture Amp to further their mission, I feel empowered to know there’s a chance we’re making people’s working lives – and, hopefully, their personal lives – better.