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Ask HN: Early in career – is it a bad idea to change jobs after six months?

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Re: Ask HN: Early in career – is it a bad idea to change jobs after six months?

#21

Post by el_dev_hell »

blackrock wrote: post #9

Don’t list that you worked for that company. It’s not your fault that the company is full of idiots. Every company is full of self serving idiots that will throw you under the bus for their own personal gain. The trick is to avoid these useless idiots, and to defend yourself when you have to deal with them. Also, the only way to climb the ladder and make more money is to jump ship. You will never earn a decent amount…

> Also, the only way to climb the ladder and make more money is to jump ship. You will never earn a decent amount of money by sticking around, and accepting the company’s pathetic 2% COLA raise, if you even get that.

It sucks so much how true this is.

I've been in the same job for 3 years. I've received a nice 5% bump every year. The work I do today compared to 2 years ago is easily 30% more beneficial to the company, but it's insane to ask for a 30% payrise in the same role.

I'm in the final stages with a new company. They're offering me a 30% higher salary bump and a direct channel into a more interesting sub-niche.

I'm leaving a company where I've passed the barrier of "figure out our internal sludge" and the culture fit challenge, but I have to jump ship to get more money. How did this become the norm?

Re: Ask HN: Early in career – is it a bad idea to change jobs after six months?

#22

Post by tashi »

7532yahoogmail wrote: post #20

Dear OP: here's some career advice: you're not thinking right or doing right if you can't figure this out for yourself. Just like I've said on reddit's lpt form reality is you gotta figure it out for yourself and stop shopping your life around on the internet

"Don't ask for help and just figure it out yourself."

Seems like terrible career advice and terrible life advice to me, but I'm no expert on either.

Re: Ask HN: Early in career – is it a bad idea to change jobs after six months?

#23

Post by heelix »

dragonwriter wrote: post #4

> The work I am asked to do is important and I don't feel comfortable telling individuals high up in the subsidiary no. Your boss told you to say no. You tell people “no”, and refer them to your boss, and keep your boss informed of what your current workload is. You are drowning in work because even after being directed to do so you refuse to stop accepting new requests when you are overloaded. Saying “no” is an impo…

It is funny... this is such an important trait we screen for it in the interview process. The requests/scenarios become more and more absurd until they should say no.

Re: Ask HN: Early in career – is it a bad idea to change jobs after six months?

#24

Post by CodeWriter23 »

Put yourself in an interviewer’s position hiring you. “So you were given more responsibilities and a decent raise. And you bailed before you really spent any time seeing what that was like?”

My suggestion, try to find opportunity here. Successful technology implementations are much more about building relationships and understanding people’s roles, responsibilities and workloads and a lot less about SQL, code, gear, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Early in career – is it a bad idea to change jobs after six months?

#26

Post by JSeymourATL »

> But I'm finding it increasingly difficult to deal with the stress of managing all of this.

What's the REAL challenge here for you?

Any Bozo can quit and find a new job. It takes BRAINS to learn how to Manage Yourself.

On this subject, Drucker is brilliant. > https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2477223.Managing_Oneself

Re: Ask HN: Early in career – is it a bad idea to change jobs after six months?

#27

Post by JSeymourATL »

7532yahoogmail wrote: post #20

Dear OP: here's some career advice: you're not thinking right or doing right if you can't figure this out for yourself. Just like I've said on reddit's lpt form reality is you gotta figure it out for yourself and stop shopping your life around on the internet

> stop shopping your life around on the internet...

Evidence that Advice Porn is really bad.

In another era -- one might have solicited perspective from smart friends, family, senior colleagues. Even read a self-help book.

TODAY It's still reasonable that someone, somewhere on HN might have a sound, practical take on your situation. I could be wrong.

Re: Ask HN: Early in career – is it a bad idea to change jobs after six months?

#28

Post by samstave »

jasonblurb wrote: post #13

Engineering manager here. As other commenters have said, this situation is common. That's not to say it's okay - it isn't. The question I'd ask you is, "before you bail, what can you learn from this experience?" One of the primary duties of a manager is to act as a diffuser of potential stressors. Given your experience level, all the inputs you are receiving should be landing on your managers desk first. Those inputs…

>It's okay to push back on requests. It's also a good idea to develop a system for doing so.

THIS is important, and understated.

There is a lot of oppotunity to learn from the situation you are in, but this skill in particular will last you a lifetime if you learn it well.

Specifically later in your career when you are looked upon to lead a team, manage THEIR workload and be able to accurately communicate priorities, load, risk etc upstream.

As an example, at the director/eng mgr level, a very common interview question set will be around "how do you manage competing priorities or requirements for your team" and even better "How do you say no".

Get a solid system of tracking requests, priority and decisions. Take the next while at this current position to find your voice in structuring the flow of how these requests come to you - and build relationships with your boss and other team-leads who either depend on you downstream, or are making requests of you.

Re: Ask HN: Early in career – is it a bad idea to change jobs after six months?

#29

Post by Gustomaximus »

dragonwriter wrote: post #4

> The work I am asked to do is important and I don't feel comfortable telling individuals high up in the subsidiary no. Your boss told you to say no. You tell people “no”, and refer them to your boss, and keep your boss informed of what your current workload is. You are drowning in work because even after being directed to do so you refuse to stop accepting new requests when you are overloaded. Saying “no” is an impo…

I think the 'refer to boss' is a great option if you have trouble saying no directly.

Also if you don't already keep a job list, start. When people, especially your boss, look to add something, say you are full capacity and they have to decide what to remove to offset. It helps 1) keep requests in check 2) will force managers to prioritise 3) Creates agree trails what doesn't get delivered.

Unfortunatly admin like this further reduces your working hours but usually is the best way.

Re: Ask HN: Early in career – is it a bad idea to change jobs after six months?

#30

Post by ManlyBread »

Stop wondering and go find out if these six months will be a problem for a new employer. The worst thing that could happen is that you'll be rejected. I've switched jobs after 2 months and the next one after 9 months and so far I had no issues looking for an another job. Sometimes I got questions about the company I was 2 months in so I just removed it from my resume because it was annoying.
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