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Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

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Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#611

Post by AdrianB1 »

jonas21 wrote: post #602
AlwaysRock wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was playing a board game with my 7-year-old niece recently. She negotiates the same way most companies do. She holds the line firmly until her bluff is called, and then backtracks quickly once it's too late. The biggest différance is my 7-year-old will learn, while companies will continue to make the same mistakes.

Or maybe companies negotiate this way because it's an effective strategy. If, say, 90% of employees never call their bluff, they come out ahead, even if they occasionally lose someone. And backtracking later will convince some percentage of people to stay, while having zero cost if unsuccessful. The optimal strategy for you and the company may differ because you can only work one place at a time, but the company empl…

Usually the 90% of the employees that don't call their bluff are the bottom 90%. If a company affords to lose the top 10% on a regular basis, it's a bad business model.

Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#612

Post by pabs3 »

I've wanted to leave my job for years, haven't found anything to replace it though. My discontent is with the company culture moving from self hosted open software and standards (and no JS requirement) to proprietary SaaS that requires JS. From XMPP to Discord. From self hosted trac to GitLab EE. OTOH I've been able to increase the amount of open source I work on and decrease working on the proprietary internal components.

Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#613

Post by hkt »

xxpor wrote: post #424
reedjosh wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn't agree more! Then add to that the fact that you're taxed on `gains` for investment. So buy an ounce of gold. 1 year later sell it for 6% more than you paid. Cool, beat inflation right? Well, no because now you pay capital gains on something that isn't really worth more than when you bought it. Inflation _is_ a tax... > govt policies backfiring Yeah sure, they're `backfiring`...

There's nothing nefarious about it. The government doesn't want people hoarding cash, because it means the money isn't supporting the economy.

Not to mention the dramatic effects of deflation on growth.

Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#615

Post by politician »

Osiris wrote: post #361
HideousKojima wrote: post #265

Earlier 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.

7% inflation is enough for some people to start looking.

Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#616

Post by tomjakubowski »

t-writescode wrote: post #411
protonimitate wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same thing happened to me at my last company. I was over worked, wore too many hats, and was paid significantly less than my team mates who were more junior than I was (and had less responsibility). I had a handful of conversations that never amounted to anything. As soon as I put in my notice with a new offer in hand suddenly I was able to "set my price". I left for other reasons as well, but it really shone a light…

> and was paid significantly less than my team mates who were more junior than I was This is the kind of thing that any company doing this should be named, shamed and blocklisted. There is no reason other than greed that a higher ranking employee shouldn't make at least as much as a lower ranking employee in total compensation. "Person was hired earlier and is okay with the lower wage" is, frankly, a reflection of a…

I don't know. At every company I've worked for (as a junior, and as a senior) there were some juniors who clearly contributed more to the company's success than some seniors. I don't think this is an uncommon experience.

To me the "rank" of senior engineer should indicate the engineer's experience, and maybe their "wisdom" and depth of knowledge, not their salary. A senior engineer may slack off a bit and be less productive than an eager junior, or want to take on less responsibility; it seems fine in that case that the junior is rewarded with higher pay.

Know your value to the company, and negotiate compensation to match it (or exceed it!). I'd also suggest companies not tie pay to title.

Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#617

Post by runako »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #9

My 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.

This may be true where switching jobs might buy you a 7% or 12% pay increase. But in a field where switching jobs can result in a 100% or more pay increase, money itself can become a primary motivator. There are people reading this who make $80k that are doing literally the same work as someone else in their town who is making $300k or more.

Maybe $80k -> $100k isn't a primary motivator, but $80k -> $300k is more of a "retire earlier" type of motivator.

Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#618

Post by YZF »

bastardoperator wrote: post #306
coldcode wrote: post #132

Rather 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'm fortunate enough to be paying off my house next year and strongly considering an early retirement. Granted I'm in my 40's, I just yearn to work on something I can poor my heart and soul into even if it fails. My dream is to write a video game and the only thing prohibiting that is lack of time. I've done an IPO, I've worked for FAANG/MAMAA, I've done keynotes at conferences, I've been an IC, Manager, Director. I…

I'm a little bit older than you, similarly positioned financially, somewhat different career path. I actually tried my own thing when I was younger and it didn't work out... And later it's always so hard to leave. The more you got the more you want ;) Job sometimes drives me crazy but sometimes I get great stuff done. Lucky for me I've mostly worked for/with nice/good people.

If you think you got a handle on the business side of things I'd say go for it! That's always been the barrier for me, I think I can handle any technical challenge, but that's not good enough for a successful business...

Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#619

Post by YZF »

TheRealWatson wrote: post #509
coldcode wrote: post #132

Rather 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.

My wife always tells me I'll drive her crazy if I retire. One piece of advice is "retire comfortably" is a moving target. I could probably have retired 5 years ago "comfortably" and now I can retire "more comfortably" and yet it's probably not in the book (yet).

Re: Poll: Why are people leaving their jobs?

#620

Post by runako »

WestCoastJustin wrote: post #73
diob wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the old generation really bought into this, but the new generation knows it's a load of bull. The poll makes it pretty obvious that compensation is the biggest reason folks leave, and it's the thinking of the old generation who doesn't know how to retain talent (they do, but they keep throwing pizza parties / sending out merch instead). It's a real "it can't be helped" mentality around retention.

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…

You answer your question in your post:

> $150/hour as a dev

That's about $25k/mo gross. Minus ~50% for taxes and vacation (hourly pay means you buy your vacation). So call it $13k net.

> housing costs $1m+

If you live in a top 10 major metro in the US, this is your city. So call housing ~$4k if you have a family. Now you're at $9k. Buy health insurance for $1500, tally at $7500. Did you mean to save 15% of your gross income, as is the guidance? Minus another $3,750. Tally at $3,750. You haven't bought food or paid for transportation, vacations, clothing, etc. yet. You're not an intense saver, so you need to be confident you can earn at this level for decades to come. You probably are in the process of eating the inflation of '21 & '22 as your contract is not going to re-price automatically, so your earning power is being eroded.

This is why people are pushing to earn more. If you are fortunate enough to have a spouse who is also a high earner, great.

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