Signs that I've seen before leaving:
* There are more VPs than there are restrooms.
* The free coffee and soda is no more.
* Engineers are co-opted as salespeople ("... and why is the project late?").
Signs that it's time to leave a company
21–30 of 354 posts
Re: Signs that it's time to leave a company
#22Definitely feeling this at another FAANG I think there’s something about post-pandemic work in software that just isn’t working. I don’t think it’s just interest rates or a hiring downturn, nor immediate causes like founders leaving (because I see this sickness at most big tech companies these days). Personally, I believe that hybrid work is not going well. Fully remote teams are good, fully onsite teams are good. Wi…
Hybrid companies need the full remote AND on-site apparatus at the same time. They can't be half remote or people will be left off of office discussions all the time and they have to maintain expensive real estate.
Imagine having to wait for the office day in a hybrid company to discuss something important. Nobody does that.
Re: Signs that it's time to leave a company
#23Always have an engaging side project or non-work interest (a family even!). A slow-growth company is torture if you have to give it 100% of your attention. But in some cases you can turn corporate disfunction into a means to fund your own interests.
Let’s not conflate slow-growth with corporate dysfunction.
Re: Signs that it's time to leave a company
#24Two years and six months. If you do not get any promotion, perks or increase of benefits during that time, your not going to get any ever. Waiting with the mindset of "maybe I will this year" will only cause you mental anguish, to the point you'll become disgruntled and end up shooting yourself in the foot. Why two years six months? It's takes three months of constant effort just to score an interview/new job and thr…
Two years six months is also a reasonable time as some companies have salary discussions only once per year.First time around, you might have only been at the company for a short time, after your first full year you might not be able to, want to go for a salary raise or you might not get it, but if you don't get it the second time, it's a sign that is hard to ignore This is, though, with an asterisk that you made a r…
Salary discussions can happen at any time, though. Restricting it to once per year is just delaying tactic. If you resign and they want or need you, all of sudden everything is possible
Re: Signs that it's time to leave a company
#25The big RSU grant is depleted and you don’t get a new one that is comparable in size. There is zero reason not to leave in this case, because you will absolutely make way more money by leaving. You can even leave and rejoin the same company to get another grant, as dumb as that is. Make sure you actually ask for a new grant before quitting, nobody is going to give you money for free. You also need to be good but that…
You will have to re-interview to get a new grant, and even for a strong performer with a well-established historical track record at the company can be a very probabilistic event.
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Re: Signs that it's time to leave a company
#26Two years and six months. If you do not get any promotion, perks or increase of benefits during that time, your not going to get any ever. Waiting with the mindset of "maybe I will this year" will only cause you mental anguish, to the point you'll become disgruntled and end up shooting yourself in the foot. Why two years six months? It's takes three months of constant effort just to score an interview/new job and thr…
Jumping ship stops bringing in more money once you get old, unless you transition to management (which not all of us can or want to do).
And once you are in the management jumping ship is even more difficult.
Re: Signs that it's time to leave a company
#27Definitely feeling this at another FAANG I think there’s something about post-pandemic work in software that just isn’t working. I don’t think it’s just interest rates or a hiring downturn, nor immediate causes like founders leaving (because I see this sickness at most big tech companies these days). Personally, I believe that hybrid work is not going well. Fully remote teams are good, fully onsite teams are good. Wi…
Hybrid companies need the full remote AND on-site apparatus at the same time. They can't be half remote or people will be left off of office discussions all the time and they have to maintain expensive real estate. Imagine having to wait for the office day in a hybrid company to discuss something important. Nobody does that.
It’s easiest to schedule meetings on remote days, since they are not constrained by conference rooms or commute blocks.
Re: Signs that it's time to leave a company
#28Amazon's tech innovation died a while ago. It will continue to operate its successful business lines until it runs out of steam and shrivels up, just like IBM & co. It will never catch up to things like AI and will fall behind.
And it's not a bad thing for Amazon, at least for now. They are in a better position than Google, where they have a more diverse revenue stream, and can out-compete everyone else. They don't need to innovate.
Re: Signs that it's time to leave a company
#29Two years and six months. If you do not get any promotion, perks or increase of benefits during that time, your not going to get any ever. Waiting with the mindset of "maybe I will this year" will only cause you mental anguish, to the point you'll become disgruntled and end up shooting yourself in the foot. Why two years six months? It's takes three months of constant effort just to score an interview/new job and thr…
> If you do not get any promotion, perks or increase of benefits during that time, your not going to get any ever. SV bubble. Getting a promotion every 2.5 years is very rare in traditional engineering companies.
It's partially a SV bubble, and partially a early-career bubble (and partially an I've-only-seen-the-good-times bubble, probably)
When having these conversations people often forget that it's pretty natural for the time between promotions to increase significantly as your experience and role level increases.
FWIW "promotion" i mean a meaningful change int he scope of your role, not a banding exercise to pay you a bit more. That can also be achieved without promotion; companies have different approaches to the 6ish meaningful role buckets in a technical career.
This means that advice about "how long is too long" isn't really general.
Re: Signs that it's time to leave a company
#30Definitely feeling this at another FAANG I think there’s something about post-pandemic work in software that just isn’t working. I don’t think it’s just interest rates or a hiring downturn, nor immediate causes like founders leaving (because I see this sickness at most big tech companies these days). Personally, I believe that hybrid work is not going well. Fully remote teams are good, fully onsite teams are good. Wi…
My company does week in-office, then week remote. Quite a bit of flexibility during the in-office weeks too if you have a doctor appt or whatever. I personally really like it. People get stuff done in-office, and then during the remote weeks we bust stuff out that doesn't need to be face-to-face.
We are not at all a tech company.