Workplace gurus tell us to embrace change, but human nature tells us to fear it. Those are the sorts of mixed emotions I’m wrestling with as I write my first workplace column of 2005 — and the last workplace column of my career.

I have gotten a fresh set of duties at the San Francisco Chronicle, and that means I have to give up doing a workplace column after more than seven years. So here are the five best pieces of career advice I can offer for rank-and-filers as I go cranky into that good night:

— Look for a need and fill it. Think about what your company isn’t doing that would improve its business, and consider whether helping in that area would be challenging and fun.

I started a regular column at another newspaper more than 15 years ago, when I could see that the home computer market was starting to take off (this was before America Online had even become a public company).

So I suggested the job to my managing editor and asked if I could do it, and that eventually led me to be a general interest columnist on the San Francisco Peninsula — the best job I ever had.

None of that would have happened if I just sat around waiting for the boss to recognize my brilliance and suggest something.

If you can do something that won’t cost your company money or damage its reputation, sometimes it’s better to just forge ahead. It’s far easier to get a boss’ approval once you show something tangible, and even a misstep is unlikely to get you in much trouble.

Good bosses will appreciate the ambition, as long as you made a good faith effort to help the company and caused little harm.

Also, your work life will be far simpler if you get into the habit of telling the boss that you’re going to do something rather than asking for permission. The boss can always stop you if you’re overstepping your bounds. But if you ask, you encourage the boss to think, and that sets a dangerous precedent.

— To get ahead, focus on quality instead of quantity. Unless bosses are in dire circumstances, they will almost never understand or appreciate how much you’re doing — especially if you’re helping two or three departments. They are more likely to take your work for granted.

But they will notice if the quality suffers. And as it goes downhill, so will your chances for promotion.

— For rank-and-filers, career books aren’t worth your money. Publishers aren’t looking for insightful books about the workplace; they want books that are easy to sell, and that almost always involves authors who are consultants and public speakers. They already have an audience.

But consultants almost always focus on management and efficiency, not on helping working stiffs figure out how to cope with their jobs. That’s not where the money is.

I still recommend Richard N. Bolles’ classic “What Color Is Your Parachute?” But that’s written for job hunters and career changers, not people trying to address day-to-day issues in their current jobs.

— The best way to network is simply to be nice. If you do quality work, help colleagues, support bosses and stay in touch with former co-workers and bosses, your network will pretty well take care of itself.

Be open to new relationships, certainly, and don’t blow people off for years and then suddenly show an interest in them when you need their help. But remember that having a strong reputation with 50 people is better than being a casual acquaintance of 500.

— If life gives you a turkey, wing it. Going through mergers and having nasty bosses can be scary, but resist the temptation to quit in a huff. Hatchet men can disappear as quickly as they appear, and mergers often stumble along for at least a year or two.

Certainly things might be so awful that you have to quit without having another job lined up, but try to show a little patience.

Leave your job when that’s the best option available — not the most convenient one.