"life balance" is the most polite way to say I was worked to the bone, got fat and depressed, and the only way out was to outright quit and not work for a few months. Thankfully having some savings allowed me to do so
Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
501–510 of 773 posts
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#502Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure I understand the distinction you're making, isn't interviewing with one particular company a one-off game as well?
> Not sure I understand the distinction you're making, isn't interviewing with one particular company a one-off game as well? No. In a situation where you're thinking of leaving, you are negotiating with your manager. That's a relationship that will continue if you stay.
Ah, you mean that one, not potential prospects.
Yep I agree on one hand but on the other, getting to that point is being 95% out the door anyway. Even if you stay, many managers and businessmen have very persistent bad memory and will remember you as the guy who twisted their hands or whatever. I've experienced this a long time ago; some of these people are very resentful and vengeful.
Often times staying at a place where you have thrown the "I'll leave for a better offer if you don't budge" card on the table successfully... is not worth it.
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#503Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Something fundamental changes in your life when you become debt-free. This to me is the only legitimate criticism, and it really boils down to risk-reward. If you're holding cash for say a backup fund, great! That's good security and everyone should aspire to that. But also acknowledge that with 6% inflation, you're actually losing 6% on that backup fund. Inflation is insipid. You _must_ take risk with your funds j…
> Inflation is insipid. You _must_ take risk with your funds just to not lose the value of it. This certainly seems to be the case, but it's fustrating. I can think of no fundamental reason why it should be so. Other than speculators and govt policies backfiring to destroy the safety of alternative places to keep your money besides cash.
I think it's weird that people expect to just be able to just watch a pile of cash and have it maintain value indefinitely (or even grow in value). Every other resource you could trade for that money would decay over time.
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#504Earlier quoted context omitted.
The poll is messing with your way of thinking. Look at the poll and think on this statement: "The majority of people leave a company because they are unsatisfied, not because of compensation." The poll statistically verifies the above statement as true. Its just divided in a way that makes you think compensation is the main reason. Still what the poll does show is that compensation is a significant factor, more than…
To rephrase: Compensation has fewer total than the others combined. E.g. people leave more often for non-compensation reasons. (Added in case you were being mis-interpreted, e.g. the downvotes. I think its an important and insightful point)
You can vote for multiple options in the poll, so this isn't really possible to unpack from the given numbers.
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#505My 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.
I work at a company that pays on the low end for its industry and I have watched no fewer than 10 people (of ~50) leave in the last two years. When I asked each of them why they decided look for another job, they all said they were not making enough to survive/save long term and they needed more money. I have stuck around, despite the low pay, because it is otherwise the best workplace I've ever had and I like the owners, but I have also recently started looking because I need to make more money as well if I am to have a secure future.
Maybe people do start looking because they're unhappy, but it seems like a cop-out to say "nobody left because of money", if the reason for the unhappiness is that they're not making enough money.
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#506Earlier quoted context omitted.
This. Employer might not have even known quitting was on the table if there is only a hint. Be bold and direct to reduce miscommunication and you'll be the one standing with integrity.
quitting is always on the table, thinking otherwise is silly people evaulate what they are doing constnatly
Middle managers in particular get paid in large part for "drinking the kool aid". They might honestly not realize that their subordinates might see other companies as a viable alternative since so much of their self worth is tied up in this one particular company.
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#507Earlier 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.
> 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.
You don't have to look around to know that you're underpaid, just talk to people from industry and they'll tell ya
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#508Earlier quoted context omitted.
If that got out, said manager may be marked by the bosses for opening Pandora's box. When people have dependents and mortgages on the line, "good" has very little to do with it. Sad but true.
A good manager would still make clear that their hands are tied and this is all they can offer at this time. They will have to check with upper mgmt for any further options depending on the response to their current offer. There are a million legal/safe ways to say that the negotiation is not over just keep pushing. It could also hint that the manager thought the commenter was one of those social cripples that cannot…
Out of the million safe ways to say the negotiation is not over, quite a lot are so obscure that most employees would not even pick up on the subleties. (And if we're honest, we all know coworkers who wouldn't get that hint even if the manager outright told them their hands were tied at this point in the negotiation)
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#509Rather than look for another job I retired at 63.5. My job was long hours, high stress, high visibility, continuous deadlines and changes that never ended at a large non FAANG company. Compensation was OK (not FAANG but OK for where I am). Everything I or my team shipped worked great; but lots of things with these challenges never shipped for political/idiotic reasons. So much budget was wasted on Exec whims and fant…
I love software engineering and working with other coders. That said, the second I'm able to retire comfortably, I won't bat an eye.
I might still decide to work on something but very not primarily software. Maybe I'll teach, work on something more manual or do volunteer work.
Thankfully my wife doesn't read HN.
Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?
#510Rather than quit or retire, I lingered in hopes of being laid off (letting my high pay level, ageism and existing "we don't need Senior Engineers; we have really smart management to do the thinking ahead etc. for the junior engineers" attitudes run their natural course). I "achieved" being laid off 4 months ago at age 58 and collected a nice (9 months' pay) severance package as a precursor to (this month) finally dec…
> letting my high pay level, ageism and existing "we don't need Senior Engineers; we have really smart management to do the thinking ahead etc. for the junior engineers"
> Why run the Leetcode gauntlet (which seems to closely resemble Final Exams Week from my Uni days, with the same intense cramming prerequisite)
It seems like a massive waste that we've decided to essentially kick someone like you, with lots of experience who isn't really all that old, out of the workforce. But that's a dumb thing we decided to do as a society so, not your fault, so enjoy retirement!
In a well-run system I guess we'd offer engineers in their mid 50's a role that incrementally decreases the amount of work done directly, and overtime refocuses to an advisor role. Institutionalize that experience. Maybe every couple years decrease the number of days worked per week.