Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

charity.wtf

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 235 posts

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#31

Post by mastazi »

parpfish wrote: post #30

i worry that i've job hopped a bit too much and have a series of 2-3yr gigs on my resume. part of my problem is that I get unhappy (or bored) with a job but sit in denial for too long. so by the time I start looking for a new position, I'll desperately jump headfirst into a new gig instead of lining up the perfect gig. Or maybe not. maybe it's impossible to tell if a place is a good fit from the interview.

2-3 yr gigs in 2025 is completely OK, we're not in the 80's and people are not expected to work many years for an employer, especially in the modern workplace where the "normal" way to get a promotion is job hopping.

FWIW I have several shorter gigs in my resume. A combination of me being still young and not evaluating things correctly, and employers not being honest about working conditions. I even once stayed at one job for less than 2 months, but to be honest I have left that one out of my CV.

One more thing: I've been on the hiring side a few times and I have observed that candidates with very long gigs (5+ years in the same job) are often seen negatively (Why did they stay in the same job for 6 years? Do they lack ambition? Don't they like a new challenge? Etc.)

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#32

Post by latentsea »

bravesoul2 wrote: post #6

Takes me X months to discover where X is when I realise I don't like it. X is usually between 6 and 48. When X is nearer 6 it was a bad move. When X is closer to 48 it is because sands shifted. I never had a visceral reaction that I have been in a perfect job. But I know good from shit. Usually shit coincides with company is struggling to find PMF to fund growth through revenue. Also can mean company is sold to anoth…

This right here is my exact take too.

Interestingly my current job I'm at the 48 month mark and sands definitely shifted after new management stepped in and slowly but surely gutted the culture, though I actually thought I wanted to leave almost immediately when I joined. It took me a little bit of adjusting initially to come to like the company at first, but it's been the longest place I've stayed since far.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#34

Post by calrain »

I find that I pick companies to work with when my goals and their goals align.

I visualize this alignment like two boats travelling on the ocean together, with a rope that runs between them, connecting them.

When the alignment is strong, the tension on the rope is low, and it's a great place to work at.

But over time, the direction of either party can change, and it results in a better alignment, or a drift from each other that starts to put the rope under increasing tension.

It's possible that the tension on the rope is good, and your trajectory will adjust. But due to the size of the company it's unlikely your small boat can adjust the heading of the company, but you might succeed, if you try.

The key is to know when the rope is about to break, and then disconnect from that company and start the process again with another company, aligned in your direction.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#35

Post by methuselah_in »

Well, i guess it also depends on how much your coworkers are helpful to you as well. Because there are times some people are kinda introvert and they require a bit of more time to settle down. In certain situations you end up looking for work from home jobs as well. But that's just my perspective.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#36

Post by tayo42 »

parpfish wrote: post #30

i worry that i've job hopped a bit too much and have a series of 2-3yr gigs on my resume. part of my problem is that I get unhappy (or bored) with a job but sit in denial for too long. so by the time I start looking for a new position, I'll desperately jump headfirst into a new gig instead of lining up the perfect gig. Or maybe not. maybe it's impossible to tell if a place is a good fit from the interview.

Is it realistic to find a perfect fit job right now?

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#37

Post by BobbyTables2 »

throwanem wrote: post #28
MrDarcy wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, props for your candor. It’s refreshing. I do wonder if Rails is so bad compared to other frameworks that it deserves such a distinct treatment. Over the decades I’ve worked with at least half a dozen popular frameworks that fit this description, is the same for you or is Rails truly unique in this regard?

Rails is uniquely compromised by its history and by its language of implementation. Ruby is good for many things. Writing maintainable software in the absence of conventions enforced by shotgun is none of them. And Ruby's American fanbase gets off way too much on holding the shotgun.

Worse than Python (without Typing)?

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#38

Post by sour-taste »

This isn't at all a rebuttal of the post, more a different perspective. I started a new job while basically deeply depressed. It colored all my opinions of the company and my coworkers. As I'm coming out of that through a combination of medication and intensive CBT I'm realizing that a lot of the negativity I felt towards my job was the result of the depression. As things improve I'm realizing that the job is mostly neutral but my impression of it was colored by my mental health struggles. This isn't at all to say not to take the authors advice, just take care of yourself and be aware of the possibility that you may be distorting reality if there's any chance you're depressed

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#39

Post by randmeerkat »

throwanem wrote: post #11
ktbwrestler wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

genuinely curious what your take is here, I have been in security engineering for 5-6 years, then most recently a startup that's using rails. It honestly does not seem that bad even though we're using an ember frontend. What is your thought process here? Is it the notion that you can ship as fast as possible, and that creates a shitty environment given that you're a hamster on a wheel getting measured by output since…

If you mean about Rails specifically, it's that the total lack of discipline in both language and framework makes it impossible to build a product maintainable by more than one person, so every "successful" project has one or a few covert empire builders running it, usually with more political than technical success. That's not a kind of project that pays enough to be worth the trouble, even before we talk about oppo…

This must be a god level troll post.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#40

Post by glenngillen »

ktbwrestler wrote: post #8
throwanem wrote: post #7

> That job turned out to be shoddy, ancient, flaky tech all the way down, with comfortable, long-tenured staff who didn’t know (and did NOT want to hear) how out of date their tech had become. Every time. I don't care about your stack; obviously I have taste and preferences but I'm a professional, I'll work with whatever, as long as it isn't Rails. (Because there is no good work in that world.) But it will not take m…

genuinely curious what your take is here, I have been in security engineering for 5-6 years, then most recently a startup that's using rails. It honestly does not seem that bad even though we're using an ember frontend. What is your thought process here? Is it the notion that you can ship as fast as possible, and that creates a shitty environment given that you're a hamster on a wheel getting measured by output since…

As evidenced by the other replies by OP, it’s a hyperbolic and bad take. There’s plenty of companies doing just fine with Rails codebases. Many of which are a decade or more old now and have done just fine with the inter generational transfer that happens due to natural employee attrition and haven’t been held hostage by one or two all-knowing engineers.
Post reply on HN