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As a senior programmer with a bit more life experience, I quit somewhere after only 2 months. They valued me, the pay was great, the tech challenges were intere

As a senior programmer with a bit more life experience, I quit somewhere after only 2 months. They valued me, the pay was great, the tech challenges were interesting, but their processes drove me potty. I have never regretted it and only feel relief whenever I think about it. I walked straight into another job. If I were to stop freelancing and get a job again, I would just leave it off my CV.

usmeteora 9y ago
Its so true, if you have skills and high standards for your work environment, you can walk straight out of these jobs in to other ones. I don't have issues getting jobs, I've just become understandably picky about new prospects for the right reasons. Ultimately it ends with career moves to last longer and higher quality experiences.
matwood 9y ago
> As a senior programmer with a bit more life experience, I quit somewhere after only 2 months. They valued me, the pay was great, the tech challenges were interesting, but their processes drove me potty. I've done something similar twice, except there were no interesting technical challenges. Both were government jobs where I was lured in to do all this cool work and then get told to sit there and do nothing. The pay and hours were awesome, but for my 20 something self it was a terrible fit.
- jcadam 9y ago
  I was hired into my current position (as a contractor at a government facility) to be a 'software architect and software engineering subject matter expert.' The way the position was sold to me, it sounded like a good step-up in responsibility and an opportunity to grow. What I'm actually doing could be considered a cross between 'IT guy' and 'generic office staff' (I go to tons of meetings, write lots of system-engineering-esque documents no one will read, and because I am 'a computer guy', I'm bombarded with annoying IT technician-level questions all the time). I'm extremely overpaid for what I'm doing (I'm bored out of my skull most of the time), but the local job market is such that I'd probably spend several months unemployed if I were to just up and quit.
  - phkahler 9y ago
    ... but the local job market is such that I'd probably spend several months unemployed if I were to just up and quit. Just keep looking for something else. It's easiest to find a job when you already have one. That's because there is no financial pressure to take whatever comes along. You can take a little time to find a good fit. Don't feel that this reflects in any way on your attitude toward your current job. Do your best at that, but when you go home spend at least a few hours a week looking for something else. If you stay in your present job for too long (years) it will stunt your professional (and possibly personal) growth.
  - caseysoftware 9y ago
    Then take advantage of it! Pay off as many debts as you can and bank the rest. A few years ago, the single most powerful thing I did was knock out all our non-mortgage debt. It's freeing to know that if something happened, I could take a pay hit of $Xk/month and still have the same lifestyle. Being unemployed for several months is way less scary if your monthly expenses are lower and you have cash in the bank.
    - jcadam 9y ago
      In a way I suppose I am. My side project is getting a lot more love than it used to, given that my day job is pretty much a straight 40-hour gig that just isn't all that mentally taxing. I'm also taking some MOOC courses, etc.
    - cr0sh 9y ago
      > Being unemployed for several months is way less scary if your monthly expenses are lower and you have cash in the bank. I call this being "Dave Ramsey Debt-Free" - and everything you say is true. There's a lot more to it than that (how to properly pay down debt, how to properly use credit cards, buying vs leasing automobiles, plus buy used only, etc) - but the "debt free" part of it is spot on. The money in the bank? That's f-u money, meaning you get tired of things, tell yer boss to take the job and shove and walk out the door. I've done this a couple of times, and both times it was ultimately worth it, and wasn't scary because I knew I had enough saved that I could keep going at my expenses level for a couple years or more if I had to. It's a very freeing position to be in.
- ensiferum 9y ago
  So you could have spent time doing your own stuff and get paid. Sounds awesome
- ensiferum 9y ago
  So you could have spent time doing your own stuff and get paid. Sounds awesome
dasmoth 9y ago
but their processes drove me potty. Out of curiosity, in what direction? (Also in the process-driving-me-round-the-bend camp, but concerned that a lot of alternatives might be a case of "out if the frying pan, into the scrum"...)
- mattmanser 9y ago
  Bad agile, bad tools, bad QA, dysfunctional ops. Their sql ops said they'd get me a backup within 2 days and then 3 weeks later still no sign of it and we had to go live without testing. The agile bits were standups before we'd even got anything to do, card votes on how long features would take and I was saying months and everyone saying days, but I was the only one with any significant experience. Lo and behold 4 weeks later when I left it still wasn't done. There was some nonsense around the kanban board when they'd move things when nothing happened, tasks were really poorly split up so some bits would just get stuck, etc.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
auserperson 9y ago
I had to do this too.... Was in a job where they were misogynistic an had to quit. I leave out of my CV.

usmeteora 9y ago

Its so true, if you have skills and high standards for your work environment, you can walk straight out of these jobs in to other ones. I don't have issues getting jobs, I've just become understandably picky about new prospects for the right reasons. Ultimately it ends with career moves to last longer and higher quality experiences.

matwood 9y ago

> As a senior programmer with a bit more life experience, I quit somewhere after only 2 months. They valued me, the pay was great, the tech challenges were interesting, but their processes drove me potty. I've done something similar twice, except there were no interesting technical challenges. Both were government jobs where I was lured in to do all this cool work and then get told to sit there and do nothing. The pay and hours were awesome, but for my 20 something self it was a terrible fit.

jcadam 9y ago
I was hired into my current position (as a contractor at a government facility) to be a 'software architect and software engineering subject matter expert.' The way the position was sold to me, it sounded like a good step-up in responsibility and an opportunity to grow. What I'm actually doing could be considered a cross between 'IT guy' and 'generic office staff' (I go to tons of meetings, write lots of system-engineering-esque documents no one will read, and because I am 'a computer guy', I'm bombarded with annoying IT technician-level questions all the time). I'm extremely overpaid for what I'm doing (I'm bored out of my skull most of the time), but the local job market is such that I'd probably spend several months unemployed if I were to just up and quit.
- phkahler 9y ago
  ... but the local job market is such that I'd probably spend several months unemployed if I were to just up and quit. Just keep looking for something else. It's easiest to find a job when you already have one. That's because there is no financial pressure to take whatever comes along. You can take a little time to find a good fit. Don't feel that this reflects in any way on your attitude toward your current job. Do your best at that, but when you go home spend at least a few hours a week looking for something else. If you stay in your present job for too long (years) it will stunt your professional (and possibly personal) growth.
- caseysoftware 9y ago
  Then take advantage of it! Pay off as many debts as you can and bank the rest. A few years ago, the single most powerful thing I did was knock out all our non-mortgage debt. It's freeing to know that if something happened, I could take a pay hit of $Xk/month and still have the same lifestyle. Being unemployed for several months is way less scary if your monthly expenses are lower and you have cash in the bank.
  - jcadam 9y ago
    In a way I suppose I am. My side project is getting a lot more love than it used to, given that my day job is pretty much a straight 40-hour gig that just isn't all that mentally taxing. I'm also taking some MOOC courses, etc.
  - cr0sh 9y ago
    > Being unemployed for several months is way less scary if your monthly expenses are lower and you have cash in the bank. I call this being "Dave Ramsey Debt-Free" - and everything you say is true. There's a lot more to it than that (how to properly pay down debt, how to properly use credit cards, buying vs leasing automobiles, plus buy used only, etc) - but the "debt free" part of it is spot on. The money in the bank? That's f-u money, meaning you get tired of things, tell yer boss to take the job and shove and walk out the door. I've done this a couple of times, and both times it was ultimately worth it, and wasn't scary because I knew I had enough saved that I could keep going at my expenses level for a couple years or more if I had to. It's a very freeing position to be in.
ensiferum 9y ago
So you could have spent time doing your own stuff and get paid. Sounds awesome
ensiferum 9y ago
So you could have spent time doing your own stuff and get paid. Sounds awesome

dasmoth 9y ago

but their processes drove me potty. Out of curiosity, in what direction? (Also in the process-driving-me-round-the-bend camp, but concerned that a lot of alternatives might be a case of "out if the frying pan, into the scrum"...)

mattmanser 9y ago
Bad agile, bad tools, bad QA, dysfunctional ops. Their sql ops said they'd get me a backup within 2 days and then 3 weeks later still no sign of it and we had to go live without testing. The agile bits were standups before we'd even got anything to do, card votes on how long features would take and I was saying months and everyone saying days, but I was the only one with any significant experience. Lo and behold 4 weeks later when I left it still wasn't done. There was some nonsense around the kanban board when they'd move things when nothing happened, tasks were really poorly split up so some bits would just get stuck, etc.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

auserperson 9y ago

I had to do this too.... Was in a job where they were misogynistic an had to quit. I leave out of my CV.