I took a nearly 50% pay cut when I started my current job. I had enough in savings that I didn't need the extra money and I really wanted to learn more about crypto, so I took a crypto job and I'm much happier here than I was contracting, despite the significantly lower pay.
Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
371–380 of 773 posts
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#372One of the good things that I think happened from the pandemic is that more and more people are realizing that tying up your identity and sense of self-worth in your job is a bad thing, that's why I'm very glad to see compensation so high on this list. Sure, everyone wants to work in a good working environment, but I think the idea that "nobody left because of the money" is finally being put to bed. The fact is that…
There's another side of the coin. For people who's identity was "I am X job" then maybe the comp is a reason to go get better pay and not be so intrinsically tied to it. The other side is people realizing that in many ways, that thing you are spending 40+ hours a week doing is, in some very "slice the pie" of your time ways, a large part of you. Even if it's not an identity, it's a lot of your daily existence. So spending all that time somewhere miserable is also a problem, even if the comp is great. I don't think most people need to have some hyper fulfilling work life, as it is ultimately a business transaction, but it probably should at least be a neutral feeling and not a negative one.
An easy one here is the commute disappearing. People realizing they were giving away an hour or two or three that they aren't getting back that all of a sudden they did have back. Starts putting the perspective of your time writ large front and center.
Both those scenarios boil down to balance and people being skewed too far one way or the other.
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#373Earlier quoted context omitted.
Strong disagree for me. I'm starting a new job in less than two weeks, but the current job I'm leaving has been the best so far in my career. Wasn't perfect by any means but it exceeded most of my expectations by far. My new job is paying 60% more than my current job, that's my reason for switching and not much else.
If you were so happy why did you start looking for another job? People don't leave because someone gave them an offer out of the blue. They have to start looking in the first place and whatever triggered that search is what's important.
Recruiters are constantly contacting people these days. Some companies have reputations for paying well, so when you hear from them you sort of know what is coming.
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#374My old boss Eric Carlsen used to say, nobody left because of money. They may get more money if they change jobs. But they start looking because they're unhappy. So when somebody asked for more money, he'd start by asking what was bothering them.
In the past when people where spending 15 years in a company and the market was less competitive, yes. Job hopping is the new default for engineers, most people after a few years in the industry realise their value goes up every once and then and that they can leverage that to get a salary bump.
below the age of 35-40, i don't feel like you should stay at one job more than 2-3 years. How do you know what's out there if you're not trying other things out? Once you've been around the block a few times it's then time to settle down, dig in, and drain as much cash to your checking account as possible.
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#375Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is compensation #1 though? There is a threshold where you have enough money and it's easier to work with people you know and like. So, what do they need that extra money for? As I mentioned elsewhere housing is currently the #1 issues I see here in Canada that people are focused on. If you are a front line person, making $15 at a restaurant, plus renting where housing costs $1m+, you are probably looking for opti…
Personally, I’m still building for retirement. I have way more than enough to live every month, but way less than I’ll need to retire and be able to spend my early retirement (healthiest remaining) years traveling and still be confident that my spouse (with longevity in her family) will be well taken care of financially if she lives as long as the rest of her family tends to. Retirement savings (and to a lesser exten…
Yes. Even if I had my every theoretical need and want covered by my salary, it still makes sense to go for more, because it just goes right into savings and reduces my retirement age by X.
I have a sign "The Goal is to not have to work" right above my monitor in my home office. Every career/learning/spending/saving decision I make is in furtherance of this goal.
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#376Other:
Ethics.
I left my job because it was directly related to a very polluting industry and I ended realizing that I was not ok with it.
It was hard because the people were amazing. Really the nicest people I have ever worked with.
But in the end, I don't regret it.
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#377Earlier quoted context omitted.
Too many roles / too many hats is far too common and why I find it hard to stay anywhere more than 4-5 years. As a senior IC in a super-flat & growing org.. I'm almost like a customer successs engineer, product manager, scrum master, senior developer and tech lead all rolled into one. Management administrivia I accumulate administrative things my manager doesn't want to do & pushes down I do unofficially own a part o…
TBH, reading this as a manager, I have to admit I feel like asking my engineers to take on SOME of these beyond-just-the-code duties... is a good thing? Obviously there are a bunch of caveats, and nuances to whether you want an IC engineer to be 100% coding and 0% talking to customers or doing admin (this seems bad), or is it 90% vs 10% (maybe okay), or 80/20 (sweet spot?), 50/50 (concerning), 20/80 (bad again), etc.…
I agree most engineers should be doing SOME things beyond code-centric activities. There are things that almost nobody, whether they're an IC or people manager, wants to have take up their whole day. That requires spreading them out across staff.
Problems arise when that work isn't assigned out explicitly, evenly, and thoughtfully. Sometimes there's important work that isn't really assigned to anybody, and it can end up landing with whoever is least willing to ignore it. Over time, that can lead to situations that feel (and/or are) unfair.
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#378My old boss Eric Carlsen used to say, nobody left because of money. They may get more money if they change jobs. But they start looking because they're unhappy. So when somebody asked for more money, he'd start by asking what was bothering them.
A former boss of mine said something similar: "People don't quit a company, they quit their manager."
People quit for all sorts of reasons.
I really liked my managers at Qualcomm (Rick Hammerstone and Edu Metz), but NVidia came along and I had always wanted to see how they managed to be so dominant in the industry.
There were other reasons for me to quit, but my managers definitely weren't one.
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#379Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> Why would you pay off your house when you can keep the cash in an investment... I asked someone that in my mid 20's. He said "It's nice knowing I can support my family working at McDonalds if I have to." That stuck with me. Something fundamental changes in your life when you become debt-free.
Yeah, but if the market crashes while you’re still overpaying your mortgage, now you’re out of a job AND potential savings that you can’t get back. With even inflation outpacing mortgage rates now, I’m not certain in what situation—even from a risk perspective—it makes more sense to pay down a mortgage more quickly than necessary. (With current rates at ~3%. Obviously in the late 80s it made sense to pay the house of…
I keep looking over the historical graph for broad indexes and I don't really see any window longer then 2-3 years where 3% would come out better. You just need a buffer to withstand those downturns.
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#380Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is that true anymore? Everyone I know is always on the job market, even folks who haven't jumped employers in 10+ years are regularly in idle conversation with the job market. But, the honest answer to your boss's question: what bothers me is trading my time for money. My comp doubled. I can now afford to stop working in 3-5 years instead of 10+ years. I think this attitude has become much more common in the last 5-1…
I think this is something that varies with age. At 30, I was very aggressive in seeking better pay and more interesting opportunities. 20+ years later, I'm pretty much near the peak of my salary band in my region, and the work and environment is good enough to stay. I also have the typical roots put down; home, friends familiarity with my community. Disrupting that would be very stressful and the rewards would have t…
Hard disagree there: remote is opening coastal salary bands up to people outside the coasts. This is apocalyptic. People in the bay are way way way better paid, and not really that much better (they all came from someplace else, remember? Y’all didn’t get every good dev in Kansas, just the ones that wanted to move.)