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How to Quit a Top Tier Tech Job

oliverzheng.com

191–200 of 231 posts

Re: How to Quit a Top Tier Tech Job

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are you located where two weeks' notice is law? If you are in an "at will" state, the law applies in both directions. Two weeks is a professional courtesy . An employer that is neither deserves nothing.

I've seen contracts that say both "at will" and "14 days notice required". Not sure if those are in conflict. It doesn't really matter, though. Always give 2 weeks notice, as professional courtesy, but also take any of your fragile or expensive stuff home first. Depending on your employer, you may not even get a chance to revisit your desk, and instead may be escorted to the door and met with a box of your belongings…

If you are under a contract, then you are under the terms of the contract.

The "at will" we are talking about here are typically employees in US states that were not offered an employment contract.

You are free to go when you please, just as the employer is free to fire you at any time (not counting certain protected classes and etc)

Re: How to Quit a Top Tier Tech Job

#192
There is nothing different about quitting a job at a brand name than most other places except in people asking you "You worked for WHO? WHY?????" And issues regarding bonuses and stock award vests.

Unless you came to such a company through a visa. Things get harder when the implication of quitting is "get shipped right back to where you came from."

Re: How to Quit a Top Tier Tech Job

#193

It's amazing that there is a widespread tendency in Googlers to think Google is "the best place" and moving is a downgrade (i.e. fear of missing out, where do I go after this ), while at the same time many Facebook employees feel exactly the same towards their employer and think moving is likely a downgrade (my friend who left FB to Snap told me that he had that feeling but now that he has moved he sees Snap as clear…

This article is about quitting from the FAANGs entirely. Moving from one FAANG to another does not entail a financial or reputational hit.

Correct. This was not an objection to the article's point at all. I was reinforcing another dimension of the notion described in the article under "prestige" that when you are at any one of them, there's a pressure that makes you think this is the best, but that cannot simultaneously be true at all of them, therefore it is probably a false feeling and you should try to suppress it.

Re: How to Quit a Top Tier Tech Job

#194
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do so at your own peril. Google is approaching 100,000 employees. The vast majority do boring data pipelines for CRUD apps. Top-tier company != top-tier employees.

You're forgetting they all read all the way through cracking the code interview, the most difficult math book in history.

> the most difficult math book in history

It is not a math book rather more of a puzzle book. On a side note - it's full of mistakes (your experience may vary though)

If you like to see difficult math then please try to apply for a self-driving car engineer's job.

Re: How to Quit a Top Tier Tech Job

#195
post #50
post #33

Yeesh, the mindwash is strong. I had a hard time continuing to read this post after the Prestige by Association section. Working at a respected company known for cutting edge work is generally a good sign but it does not make you an Internet God or widen my eyes. It is like saying you went to Harvard or MIT. That's neat. You are probably reasonably intelligent. However, even that isn't an automatic and I'll reserve j…

It's actually quite hilarious to me this Prestige by Association. I've worked at a couple very high-profile companies in the Valley and have never felt this prestige primarily because I don't hang out with complete douchebags. If people get all starry-eyed when you announce the company you work for; run in the opposite direction. Also, don't kidd yourself, you and I know both know you're not working on anything that…

I don't know how many non-tech people you hangout with - but these are over reaches:

- That it's wrong to judge using school etc. when you have no other way of judging. For example, if I give you a choice of a cardiologist from hopkins vs someone from a podunk university you haven't heard of, barring no other information - I can put money on your choice being the hopkins dude:)

- The fact that you are working on crud in google is the same as crud in xyz company: No. At least in a true scotsman way, the good teams I have worked on have always had better crud apps than the worse ones.

- That they are complete douchebags. May be a few are, but that's not exclusive to non-tech. (you might not have meant this though)

IOW your familiarity might have bred some contempt / diluted the glamour. For me, I still am very proud of my history of companies.

Re: How to Quit a Top Tier Tech Job

#196
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a really interesting comparison. I've worked at Microsoft and got an offer from Google and found the opposite to be true. I was first offered by the team I interned with, whom I liked, and accepted, so I knew where I was going. On the Google case, even being an industry hire, it was like pulling teeth to figure out where the offer actually was, and who I would be working for, and being able to actually speak w…

What you say is completely true. If you were an intern at Microsoft you can be pretty sure you're returning to that team (unless there's a reorganization). With Google you have no idea what team you'll end up on when you're evaluating an offer. However, once you accept a Google offer you're given more choice as to what team you'll be on. With Microsoft (if you weren't a returning intern) you're given very little to n…

Sort of true. You get accepted to a division at Microsoft (as a new grad) and if there's headcount on multiple teams for someone of your level you can choose between them. A lot of the time there's only one team that is willing to take on a junior engineer.

Re: How to Quit a Top Tier Tech Job

#197
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do so at your own peril. Google is approaching 100,000 employees. The vast majority do boring data pipelines for CRUD apps. Top-tier company != top-tier employees.

You're forgetting they all read all the way through cracking the code interview, the most difficult math book in history.

Which only says that they are good at solving artificial puzzles, but nothing about whether they are good developers or generally intelligent.

Re: How to Quit a Top Tier Tech Job

#198
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're forgetting they all read all the way through cracking the code interview, the most difficult math book in history.

> the most difficult math book in history It is not a math book rather more of a puzzle book. On a side note - it's full of mistakes (your experience may vary though) If you like to see difficult math then please try to apply for a self-driving car engineer's job.

whoosh

Pretty sure the prize for 'most difficult math book in history' goes to Dummit and Foote's ponderous tome, Abstract Algebra.

Re: How to Quit a Top Tier Tech Job

#199
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Assuming a $200k income... 2 preschool aged children... childcare (20+k/child/year) Does $200k not seem low for a two-income family? Does paying for childcare not seem strange for a one-income family?

The previous comment's scenario was "A Facebook employee", with no mention of another income. Also, many people's spouses are students, or non-highly remunerated.

Hence the other question, "Does paying for childcare not seem strange for a one-income family?"

Re: How to Quit a Top Tier Tech Job

#200
post #96
post #87

You know, in this day in age you really need to give more then a two weeks notice. Maybe 6 weeks or more. I've had to fire clients before by giving notice and I always try to work out the best possible scenario where the least amount of damage is done. I even had to deal with yelling, screaming, threats of lawsuits. I always keep my cool and do everything I can to de-escalate the situation, stay professional, etc and…

Why would you give companies this kind of consideration? Most will not certainly hesitate to walk you out the door when times are bad. I have some friends who have told bosses they and leaving. By the end of the day they are told to pack their personal belongings and leave. Two weeks is the law for an employee giving notice. There aren’t many laws protecting employees especially in Work at will states.

It is not usually about the employer, more about your management chain.

Yeah the company might have laid you off / have made bad moves, but the question is do you want to leave a bunch of your co-workers in shit without enough knowledge transfer etc. because you are pissed at some part of it. And yeah, these things come back around as well sometimes.

Tit for tat works between true equals, may be. In any case, You are not equal to a company. So yeah, they might not give a second thought about firing you, but as long as you want to be employed by someone in the same industry, burn less bridges :)

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