I got tired of executive doublespeak. The company made lots of promises during recruitment that never materialized. It has made me super aware of the importance of culture. I haven't found any full-time positions that fit me yet. In the meantime, I am taking a break from corporate life and freelancing.
Ask HN: Why did you quit your last job?
11–20 of 102 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why did you quit your last job?
#12Bored. The people I really liked working with weren't there anymore. Development environment was getting more overbearing (emphasizing process just for the sake of it while ignoring its flaws). Finally just got sick of getting up every day and coming to work.
Re: Ask HN: Why did you quit your last job?
#13Internal politics.
I hate them, refuse to play along, and the moment I can no longer keep the drama at least a meter away from me I start talking to recruiters.
Re: Ask HN: Why did you quit your last job?
#14I thought our product was being used in unethical ways, so I jumped ship to a more neutral industry.
Re: Ask HN: Why did you quit your last job?
#15My last job was a freelancer, which was fantastic. But then I met three ambitious guys and we built a company with now over 100 employees in just two years.
Re: Ask HN: Why did you quit your last job?
#16I was way overworked on a way overrun project and since I was one of the most senior ICs, being pushed into leadership due to literal lack of actual managers for a while due to turnover and family leave.
That wasn't great, but it was managable because everyone understood our circumstances. When I went on my own family leave as my daughter was born, and came back to new management, I shouldered a lot of blame for the project because I was the last one left (it was a series of bad technical decisions from before my time) and still overworked despite having a newborn at home.
After finally going live, even when I warned them it would be a bad idea, I was in charge of the horrible production website. I gritted my teeth and left when my daughter was 9 months old, with no job in sight because I just needed a break.
Best decision I ever made. They fired my problematic boss 3 days before I left (he was one of the new managers, not good at managing or doing his technical work) and it took months to get the production site working. No idea if the next phase went through or not.
I had a nice five month sabbatical with my family and educational projects while I interviewed. It ended up with four job offers, and I'm thrilled with the ones I chose.
Re: Ask HN: Why did you quit your last job?
#17My team lead was the least competent person on the team. This was constantly frustrating. When it finally bugged me enough to look around, much better pay was available. So that pretty much did it.
Re: Ask HN: Why did you quit your last job?
#18I ran out of money trying to build my startup for just under 3 years. It was sad but a better decision overall. Went back to an old VPs company which was recently acquired as a senior web engineer. 10 months later I took over the web engineering team as our first engineering manager.
Re: Ask HN: Why did you quit your last job?
#19I quit for quality of life improvement (shorter commute, remote possibilities, fewer work hours).
Also to work on something that has more impact on people instead of only profiting big corps.
Re: Ask HN: Why did you quit your last job?
#20Agile (scrum), i.e. micromanagement hell + low salaries and no increase policy.