"I can still turn this boat around" -- my limited perspective here is if you're getting 'feedback' regarding your tone on emails, then maybe you are being warne

"I can still turn this boat around" -- my limited perspective here is if you're getting 'feedback' regarding your tone on emails, then maybe you are being warned that people don't want to steer the boat in the direction you want to. Sounds like this is a team/environment where technical acumen isn't valued or incentivized. That is, you are in a place where technical acumen is not relevant to your success there. That's pretty common in my experience. I also wouldn't be so quick to say that's good or bad -- it just is. Instead, what you've got is a highly political environment I would guess. Here's a great quote I found on HN: "There are basically three levers of power in any organization - relationship, expert, and role. In that order of importance. " — https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20749147 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20749147 The 'expert' lever has no power where you currently work. No one cares. (Except in terms of tribal knowledge, which you don't really have yet there). In the grand scheme of things, it's just a job. Why pick battles that don't matter? Unless you're curing cancer or studying climate patterns, it most likely that whatever this company does simply does not matter at all. So, focus on your own career and do what's best for you, not the organization (which is good to do in general, regardless of the organization/mission). If you aren't facing undue stress, then you can stay and play the game (and try to practice resume-driven programming as well, to the extent you can). However, truly incompetent teams can be stressful due to the disorganizaton and firefighting become very draining; I don't know if that's what you're facing or not. Up to you if you want to stay or not, but be honest with yourself about what kind of place it is, rather than wishing it were something else.