I tried that, the boss thought it was a negotiating tactic.
Career advice no one gave me: Give a lot of notice when you quit
361–370 of 405 posts
Re: Career advice no one gave me: Give a lot of notice when you quit
#362Can't help but be mildly amused by the article and many of the comments. Here in Germany the standard "Kündigungsfrist" is often three months to the end of the current month at many tech (and other) places. For example, if I wanted to quit my current job (which I'm currently contemplating), I'd have to make sure to do it in april, otherwise I'll be stuck for another month. It does go both ways, a company can't just f…
Also German here. I always wondered what would realistically happen if you just didn't how up anymore?
Re: Career advice no one gave me: Give a lot of notice when you quit
#363Real Career advice: Do NOT give any indication of leaving to anyone until all your digital stuff is backed up offsite and you know where all your physical things are located. Maybe like the writer, you work for some unicorn with nice and generally well meaning people. They might let you do this. It's more than likely however that your two week notice will be immediate termination.
Physical stuff makes sense but almost all “digital stuff” belongs to the company. What’s missing from your list is making sure that you’ve moved any accounts, mailing lists, certs etc to your personal email.
Re: Career advice no one gave me: Give a lot of notice when you quit
#364The one time I tried to do this my employer would no longer approved vacation requests and refused to pay out my 3 weeks of unused vacation.
> and refused to pay out my 3 weeks of unused vacation That is overtly illegal in most/all of the US. Accrued vacation is like money, it is already yours. It's why so many companies have now switched to unlimited vacation, to get that liability off the books. The icing on the cake being that most people end up taking less vacation, not more, when you remove the limit.
It is in fact legal in many states. Only 20 require it to be paid out, there are states besides California.
Re: Career advice no one gave me: Give a lot of notice when you quit
#365> 2 weeks notice is the gold standard In the US... In most of the rest of the world 1 to 3 months is normal and expected.
2 weeks imperial is 2 months metric and that’s why we do it this way in the US.
Re: Career advice no one gave me: Give a lot of notice when you quit
#366>"Everyone will thank you and appreciate you because you are really doing them a favor. working is a business transaction. "appreciation" comes in the form of cash. if you're not being offered more cash to stick around (beyond the wages that were clearly insufficient motivation), then no, they don't appreciate it.
People at your company besides those with the authority to pay you can also be appreciative.
Re: Career advice no one gave me: Give a lot of notice when you quit
#367Earlier quoted context omitted.
> there are good odds your company will say "we accept your resignation effective immediately. Goodbye." No, it's not common practice for tech companies to immediately fire anyone who resigns. A 2 week notice period is basically standard in the US tech industry. Some companies will take resignations and then remove the employee's access to sensitive material (code, chats, documentation, etc.) but require them to be a…
> No, it's not common practice for tech companies to immediately fire anyone who resigns It doesn't matter if it's a common practice. It's whether you want to deal with the uncommon outcome. The odds might be long but the stakes are high. Imagine in the United States giving 2 months notice thinking you're a good guy doing a mitzvah for your employer and then getting walked out the door and having to figure out COBRA…
Eh, you are always at risk of being fired, too. You’d have to have some kind of data to make the claim that this risk is more meaningful than the 1000 other risks you take every day.
Otherwise you’re just accepting status quo risks blindly, and thereby letting the mob make decisions for you. That seems risky.
Re: Career advice no one gave me: Give a lot of notice when you quit
#368Earlier quoted context omitted.
> midwest isn't more forgiving As with all social etiquette, it's a guideline, not a law. The outcome depends entirely on your relationship with your boss and what kind of position the team is left in when you leave.
Don't you have it defined in your contract typically? It is in the UK. Two weeks is about the minimum it'd be for a professional job, often more with seniority or time at a company (i.e. contact will say +1 week for every two years or whatever).
Most employment positions in the US are at-will, meaning either party is legally allowed to terminate at any point for no reason given, barring legal protections against discussion and retaliation.
It's different if you're a contractor (i.e. not an employee but hired for a specific contractor term) or in a union (not an issue for most software engineers). My experience with both is indirect.
Re: Career advice no one gave me: Give a lot of notice when you quit
#369Reading the comments in this thread really feeds into my bias that worker rights in the US are ... n't? I vividly remember a job posting from last year that listed '15 allowed sick days' as a benefit. What does that even mean? In Scandinavia, you set a mutual duration of notice for both parties when signing the initial contracts to start working. For IT jobs, the standard is 2-3 months. This gives both parties ample…
That's correct. There are labor laws but definitely no general concept of worker rights. It's a free market -- they can fire you at any time, and you can quit at any time. Generally speaking, the idea of injecting "rights" into a free, voluntary exchange of money for labor isn't a very American idea.
In American thought, rights are generally thought of as protections from government control/abuse. Right to free speech, association, religion, movement, etc. While when it comes to private negotiating with an employer or employee or landlord or tenant, "rights" aren't really an applicable concept. Although freedom from discrimination in protected categories (e.g. sex, race, religion) is a newer right that's now become fairly generally accepted in both the workplace and housing.
I'm not arguing this is god or bad, just that it's a different way of thinking from many European countries.
Re: Career advice no one gave me: Give a lot of notice when you quit
#370This comment section is nuts. Obviously don’t jeopardize an offer by trying to push your exit back. Duh.
But if you are already quitting, and you’re not immediately starting another job, why not extend your departure date? Best case they send you home day 1 but respect your effective date. Worst case they send you home day 1 and stop paying you immediately. So if you push it out maybe you get a few extra paychecks. And if not, hey, you were already quitting. Who cares?