1) Business is business. I find that companies and managers talk about loyalty from employees but if they're budget gets cut you're out the door in a heartbeat

1) Business is business. I find that companies and managers talk about loyalty from employees but if they're budget gets cut you're out the door in a heartbeat. You need to do what's right for you, in regards to stress level and your career, just like a business will do what's in it's best interest. 2) References aren't much to count on these days. Some large companies won't give them as a policy (good or bad). Furthermore, if they're going to give you a bad reference now, they will likely do it in 6 months too. 3) It's hard to predict who will freak out and who won't. I've seen people who normally freak out take it very calmly and even, nicely. And then I've seen someone who is normally calm (and who I'd done a lot for) get angry at me when I left with plenty of notice and not in a crunch time. 4) If the rats are already abandoning ship, go with them. When I have left a couple of places, it did trigger a couple of other people to quit and when I inquired back to the companies, it only got worse and worse. I've seen that happen for other people too. The moral of the story is get out while you can.