When did things start to change?

I have a theory that when you go to a new place or start a new job, what you do for the first 3 days is different to what you do for the first 3 weeks. That differs from what you do for the first 3 months and as I have recently discovered, what you do for the first 3 years differs as well. What do I mean by differ? I mean the routine, the places you go, the people you speak to, the things you do. The first 3 days in a new place are 'settling in' to the really unfamiliar newness. The first 3 weeks are settling down. But it turns out the first 3 years (e.g. in a new job) are as well. If I think back over the years in my current job, there was a change about 3 years in. Consider that I'd never been in one place for 3 years before now - that's just the way of an academic pathway.

So what happened at the 3 year mark?

Firstly, I shook of the shroud of probation that adorns most new lecturers in the UK. For a brand new lecturer, it is 3 years long. It isn't comparable to tenure although some institutions place specific requirements on passing probation and these may include funding effort. In my case it was comparable to tenure for a variety of reasons. So perhaps I started my job still thinking in 3 year terms, a bit like a post-doc does. Then I had to face the notion that it was going to be a much longer commitment.

Secondly, I suddenly became the (proud) owner of a full teaching and admin load, and some research support and knew enough about the place to take on bits and pieces here and there. Working with different colleagues on various projects was still an interesting part of the settling in process. Yes, settling in still 3 years in. If for no other reason,  this was valuable for learning more about how I needed to work with collaborators.  I found out what ways of working suited my style and which of my colleagues were most suited that style.  The flip side of this particular lesson is that I didn't know enough going into some projects and as a result got totally screwed.

Thirdly, I started to see what the 'next big thing' in my career progression was. The looming admin role. The declining funding rates and changes to funding schemes. The academic weather systems that would shape the following years started to reveal themselves and it wasn't all sunshine and picnic weather.

Now,  a good few years on from the 3 year mark, and importantly 3 years into that looming admin role, things are changing again.  So what is it about the 3 year mark? Is it some sort of academic 3 year itch? Is it just that once you've done things for 3 years you change things to avoid annoying stuff? Or is it just that I'm looking around for the next big thing?