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Ask HN: As a dev, what made (or almost) you quit from a job?

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41–50 of 71 posts

Re: Ask HN: As a dev, what made (or almost) you quit from a job?

#41
post #23

You can count me in as one of the participants in the Great Resignation. I might be fucking up here because anyone who reads this and knows me will probably instantly recognise me and I haven’t yet moved into another position so I might be jeopardising my reference if word gets around. But fuck it. I will preface this cautionary tale by saying there were some great people at this company including some of the manager…

Don't know what your background is/what you're looking for - but your story both resonated with me and pissed me off at how you were treated. Happy to refer you to my current company/help you get a much better paying job if you're interested, just email hn@matthewheath.dev.

Re: Ask HN: As a dev, what made (or almost) you quit from a job?

#42

Small company hired a certain VP who the engineering team reported to. He had experience in our industry but was clearly not adept at actually managing us. He had extremely unrealistic expectations, like he'd demand hour estimates for each ticket, and whatever estimate we gave he would just shave a couple hours off, and then chastise us for being too slow when we didn't make his own artificial deadlines. Occasionally…

> and whatever estimate we gave he would just shave a couple hours off, and then chastise us for being too slow when we didn't make his own artificial deadlines

Been on the same end of this one. Business department saw a proof of concept demo and then pulled a deadline completely out their arse so they could try and impress the owner.

> he played the "English isn't my first language" victim card like we were the unreasonable ones, even though he had been living in the US for 20+ years

And again this one. What is it with:

a) the gaslighting these guys do to try and guilt trip you? It’s so bloody creepy.

b) how they manage to get into these positions of power despite the complete lack of ownership and responsibility they take. It’s the literal antithesis of leadership. Do not get me wrong, I think we’ve all been guilty now and again of getting angry and blaming someone else for something in the heat of the moment, especially if we’re feeling vulnerable about something. But if I do, you can guarantee that after I’ve calmed down or a day has passed and I’ve had time to reflect you’ll get an apology from me, I’ll take ownership and I’ll make amends to fix it.

These kinds of guys NEVER admit to being wrong so they’re very easy to spot. Prime example: Boris Johnson. Literally in charge of making the covid rules, holds a bunch of illegal parties and then tríes to claim that “none of my advisors told me it was against the rules otherwise I obviously wouldn’t have done it”. You’re literally the one who just decided on the rules pal! You’ve been repeating them every night at press conferences for the last year. It’s just so weak. Who sees this kind of behaviour and sees it as the sign of a leader, as someone they’d follow to the ends of the earth? It really does baffle me.

Re: Ask HN: As a dev, what made (or almost) you quit from a job?

#43

I was suddenly having fantasies about pushing my boss through a plate glass window. I quit THAT day. The triggering incident was being told that I was on corrective action because I refused to falsify technical documentation at the request of a client. Oh, did I mention that this consulting company had issued a press release when they hired me because I was a well known expert in the field? Externally: he’s an expert…

>> I started my own company and have been my own boss for the last 23 years.

That's what I'm really dreaming about lately... But only 2 years in the field, have no idea how and where to start to get clients

Re: Ask HN: As a dev, what made (or almost) you quit from a job?

#46
post #22

Got a call from my manager: — Arent you coming today? You are late. — I was at the office until 2:00 am yesterday, Im coming late today. — It doesnt matter, you should be here, now! (some fruitless quick discussion) — Ok, I quit.

Sounds like what happened to my friend at a Chinese telecom company.

Re: Ask HN: As a dev, what made (or almost) you quit from a job?

#47
post #23

You can count me in as one of the participants in the Great Resignation. I might be fucking up here because anyone who reads this and knows me will probably instantly recognise me and I haven’t yet moved into another position so I might be jeopardising my reference if word gets around. But fuck it. I will preface this cautionary tale by saying there were some great people at this company including some of the manager…

Next time, get a new job and then quit.

I literally couldn’t have maintained my self respect if I hadn’t handed in my resignation letter immediately after all that, even if I was actively looking for another job. I don’t like to coast even if it’s part of the game; I want to take pride in my work. I even offered in my resignation letter to work until the end of the next month because the rewrite of the feature was still to be deployed and I wanted to see it through to the end before I left but it sadly wasn’t to be.

Re: Ask HN: As a dev, what made (or almost) you quit from a job?

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> become a surfing board vendor on a beach in Cook Islands Speaks to my soul. There’s still time friend.

You're right - and since I'm 40 now there's not a lot. I need to change my life up before I'm 60 and it's all too late.

best wishes and hope you're doing ok... but on the bright side, it's not even close to too late. Assuming you went to university and started your career at 22, you're only halfway in work-years to 58, and you have a buffer year until you're halfway to 60. Plenty of people start new endeavors in their 40s and 50s.

Re: Ask HN: As a dev, what made (or almost) you quit from a job?

#49
post #21

Worked at a faang for several years. Some things I didint like: - They make team members compete with each other - creating false narratives about peoples career progress - people don’t want to share key and useful information even with team members - false promises of verbally giving you a project and taking it away - invalidating impact of a project because you don’t fit the narrative for a promotion just yet - peo…

How could I immediately tell that you worked at Amazon?

Re: Ask HN: As a dev, what made (or almost) you quit from a job?

#50
post #23

You can count me in as one of the participants in the Great Resignation. I might be fucking up here because anyone who reads this and knows me will probably instantly recognise me and I haven’t yet moved into another position so I might be jeopardising my reference if word gets around. But fuck it. I will preface this cautionary tale by saying there were some great people at this company including some of the manager…

Don't know what your background is/what you're looking for - but your story both resonated with me and pissed me off at how you were treated. Happy to refer you to my current company/help you get a much better paying job if you're interested, just email hn@matthewheath.dev.

Thanks! I’ll drop you a line when I’ve finished neetcode 150, I want to make sure I am well prepared for interviews.
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