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Ask HN: Did you regret staying at a job for too long?

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Re: Ask HN: Did you regret staying at a job for too long?

#61

Post by maaaaattttt »

thrwaway_hn_alt wrote: post #60

I'm in almost precisely the same position as you. Will be 9 years in December. I've been promoted three times and have the highest official position that an IC can have at this company. LCOL area, $150-175k / year depending on bonus, fully remote, devil I know, good FTO policy and work/life balance, etc. Even some equity (that seems to have a lower-and-lower expected value as the years pass, but that's another story)…

Not exactly the same background. Stayed at a company for ~5 years. Then switched. I’m at ~15y experience now. But as you mention, I’ve also witnessed a big drop in outreach landing in my inbox. My guess is that it is more to blame on the market state rather than my résumé’s. Also curious about what other people’s experience has been in that regard lately.

(Side note: I talked to a recruiter a few month ago who was telling me they lost clients left and right. Clients were mostly telling them they don’t have any issues finding talent on their own anymore)

Re: Ask HN: Did you regret staying at a job for too long?

#62

Post by tacostakohashi »

If you're just in a comfort zone in essentially the same role the whole time, it's not great. At early in a career, moving jobs every few years is a good way to get some diverse experiences and good raise.

However, if you have good domain knowledge and relationships, you might be in a good position to stay, and get into management, move around, etc. If you get laid off, you're get a pretty good severance (10 years * 1 month salary maybe).

If you look around at senior management, you'll probably see a bunch of people who have been there 10, 15, 20 years and know everyone and everything... maybe try to be one of those. That's not something you can get with the job hopping strategy.

Re: Ask HN: Did you regret staying at a job for too long?

#63

Post by ironlake »

laweijfmvo wrote: post #7

> Did you regret staying at a job for too long? Almost always

My experience with over 25 years as a software developer is that the best way to optimize for salary is to switch companies every 3-7 years. There are risks. You either accept the risks or accept that you're not making as much as you could be.

I once worked for a company that had hired mostly people straight out of college. When the company faltered, they started looking for new jobs and were shocked at how much they were underpaid for their positions. But the company had a cool culture so it never occurred to them to test the market.

I almost never switch jobs for money, and for much of my career I've been underpaid. Which is OK. I have other priorities and accept it.

Even so, I'm on my 5th job in 25 years and my current position is the one I've held for the longest.

Re: Ask HN: Did you regret staying at a job for too long?

#64

Post by [deleted] »

tacostakohashi wrote: post #62

If you're just in a comfort zone in essentially the same role the whole time, it's not great. At early in a career, moving jobs every few years is a good way to get some diverse experiences and good raise. However, if you have good domain knowledge and relationships, you might be in a good position to stay, and get into management, move around, etc. If you get laid off, you're get a pretty good severance (10 years *…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Did you regret staying at a job for too long?

#65

Post by dijit »

jeromepin wrote: post #58
dijit wrote: post #4

Yes, but because it was a toxic work environment. If I was in your position I would not be concerned, I would be happy. "Not growing" is subjective, the things I "grew into" 10 years ago are not relevant today.

Do you mind giving more details about your last sentence on "growing" and their relevance nowadays ?

Yeah, no worries.

In 2011 the hotness was "puppet", coming from cfengine, so I spent time learning puppet, it's quirks and desired ways of working.

Then I "grew" into using Chef instead, being similar but very different.

Then I went to a company that had to start fresh, in a predominantly Windows environment, I tried "round-hole, square-peg"-ing chef into the situation. That failed and I found myself working with SaltStack (as its windows story, while slow, was workable).

Then Ansible became the defacto standard. For a long time I felt like I had stalled as an engineer because I did not pick up Ansible.

I returned to industry never having acquired those skills, but now almost nobody is using Ansible, it's all kubernetes, helm and if you're really new: NIX.

For 6 years I used SaltStack and felt like I wasn't growing, because the treadmill kept going without me. Turns out, I never needed it, I could just jump on the train whenever I needed.

See also: Linux administration pre vs post systemd. (and linux administration in general since everything is kubernetes based nowadays).

Re: Ask HN: Did you regret staying at a job for too long?

#66

Post by giantg2 »

Yes, I've stayed at the same company for over 12 years. My skills have atrophied and I make less than the median dev.

But if you have a good stable job, why would you leave? It sounds like you make good money and have good balance. What is the point of growing as an engineer if it's not applicable to your job or a future job you want?

Just enjoy your good job until it turns bad, or until the tech would get so outdated as to make finding another job harder.

Re: Ask HN: Did you regret staying at a job for too long?

#67

Post by Clyd3Radcliff3 »

Well, the choice it completely up to you, if you are risk adverse because of family, debt, bills or whatever it's a point, otherwise you can't conciliate to be risk adverse and growing as an engineer at least during the first 7-10 years of work (unless your company investing you but doesn't seem do be your situation), you must take the risk and invest on yourself (trade money and safety for potential growing).

In the first case (you can't leave because of stability) i would consider to sneak into grey areas of your company where you can indroduce something new (new build system, refactoring and whatever), it will require more effort than usual and depending on the company is not 100% sure thy will reward you for this (consider the reward to be the task itself), this way can grow by applying those skills to real life problem, if you don't have obligations i may say, leave and find something else but keep in mind that in 99% of the companies you will find the same situation.

Anyway, side projects/blogging is what i would advice in every case, just a disciplined 30 mins a day makes the differece.

Re: Ask HN: Did you regret staying at a job for too long?

#68

Post by hellisothers »

I’ve stayed at all my jobs for too long (6+ years) and regretted it every time. I have been promoted but the pace is glacial. Upon reflection the right time to leave was always 2-3 years earlier, usually right after a promotion rather than stick around for the next. I will say that first ~4 years was always worth the investment, after that, especially when you hit your RSU cliff (if you have one), it’s time to go.

Re: Ask HN: Did you regret staying at a job for too long?

#69

Post by aristofun »

aristofun wrote: post #13

Unless you’re very lucky - typically it is not a smart choice to stay longer than 2-4 years at 1 tech company. In current situation. People who stay longer only encourage employers to keep old salaries as is while buying new workforce for the market price.

I don't know why truth is often downvoted here.

This is the fact from vast majority of all people I know in the industry — you only get substantial raise when you switch companies. Unfortunately.

Re: Ask HN: Did you regret staying at a job for too long?

#70

Post by lylejantzi3rd »

A few times. The one I regretted the most was the last year of my career in game development. We were asked to work the weekend once to get some features done. That turned into two weekends in a row turned into a full year of non-stop crunch. Programmers these days like to say how they're so "burned out" because they don't like the work. I was so burned out that I was mainlining energy drinks to stay awake. I developed adrenal fatigue. I still fell asleep in meetings. I have almost no memories from that year. I was a zombie.

The worst part is that it didn't matter. The game was so far off the rails that it never shipped. They closed down the studio soon after. They closed most of the company's offices with a year of the studio closing. 2-3 years after that, the company was completely defunct.

No employer has ever asked me to work that hard again. I would quit on the spot if they did. Life's too short.

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