11 ms·

Poll: Why are you staying at your job?

80 points by willcipriano 5y ago

If you aren't currently looking for new work, why are you staying at your current role?

KaniniMan 5y ago
I am in a role now as a Director of Engg. I see my tech skills dropping and not as sharp as they used to. I am focusing more on managerial skills. So, my opportunities are also less outside with Immigration as an added bonus.
makeitrain 5y ago
I quit a job to start my teaching and consulting venture. Teaching devs, and consulting companies on building teams.
akulbe 5y ago
I wish I could pick multiple. Team is great. Comp is great. Management is great. I enjoy what I'm working on.
- minkzilla 5y ago
  You can pick multiple.
nathanaldensr 5y ago
Your poll assumes that I am, indeed, staying at my job.
- roberto 5y ago
  Yes, if not you can vote here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29937305 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29937305
  - nathanaldensr 5y ago
    Ah, yes, I saw that only after posting here. Thanks! :)
executesorder66 5y ago
The company I work for is one of the top employers in my country/region. Top in terms of pay/culture/getting recognized/opportunities for growth/benefits. There are maybe 5 other companies that can compete on everything, except maybe culture. I'm very happy where I am, and risking moving to a new place for basically the same thing seems pointless. So unless I move overseas, I'm staying.
bobbygunderson 5y ago
Immigration
- br4m 5y ago
  same here!
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
roberto 5y ago
^ all of the above I really love my job. I believe in the product (it's open source), coworkers are great, management and leadership are excellent. Compensation is competitive, and I enjoy the problems I'm solving. I have no plans nor reason to leave.
- RexM 5y ago
  Where do you work?
- willcipriano 5y ago
  Open source work would really move the needle for me, something about working in public for living feels like it would be a lot more fulfilling.
racl101 5y ago
Where's "Got no other prospects. Need the money. Got 3 kids from 3 different women."?
- rpmisms 5y ago
  That's called fuzzy golden handcuffs.
wnevets 5y ago
IMO a worthy poll option would be the modern developer interview process. Even if I was interested in looking for a new opportunity I wouldn't want to go through that unless I really had to.
- dokka 5y ago
  ^YES! This is 100% of the reason I'm not looking for another job.
- Gigachad 5y ago
  I applied at 3 jobs at once last year, two sent me take home coding tests, one just asked questions during the interview. I took the offer for that one.
- ghaff 5y ago
  Honestly, for most people even at the current time, searching for a good job is time consuming and a bit stressful.
- willcipriano 5y ago
  Fun thing I just learned, HN polls are mutable. Option added.
- illwrks 5y ago
  I know a tech recruiter, one person he was interviewing refused to do a further interview with the hiring manager because there was no technical test as part to the role he was recruiting for...
cwitty88 5y ago
I feel stuck. I am a C-level executive but dread every day of my job. I want to change careers at this point but have a family that depends on my income to get by. However, the company I work for is actually really great, I just happen to be burnt out.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- lghh 5y ago
  > family that depends on my income to get by I doubt they depend on your income as much as they are used to a certain type of life. Do you think your family could get by with less in exchange for a happier family member?
  - cwitty88 5y ago
    Most definitely. It feels selfish in some ways to make my family change their lifestyle just because I'm whining that I hate my job. On the other hand my wife tells me this exact thing all the time.
    - WORMS_EAT_WORMS 5y ago
      Wish you best. Grass is always greener, but, as crap as it is, income and savings can be greenest. Edit: Saw you deleted your post... Long ways to go but you're crushing it... I'm not sure your location, income, or potential equity pay-day opportunities, but your monthly overhead is quite low for the family of 5 - congrats that is so huge. A long time ago, I used to work as a cashier at a grocery store. I did it because I was in college, but for most of my co-workers, it was their permanent 9-5. As ruthless as it sounds, in their world, these minor irrelevant/annoying day-to-day things such as a SKEW/PLU not in the system, running low on bags, or someone being slow for a cash drop became these world-shaking miserable events that could totally make or break their day. I guess what I'm trying to say is people create these boxed realities and define their own problems on what makes the day great or not. I remind myself often to "realign" what matters. The easiest route? Stop caring and take things a little less seriously. Your day will get exponentially better and your day-to-day stresses can become less important. The world is not going to stop spinning. Obviously there is no good answer on burn out or you wouldn't be here. I personally found having a super passionate hobby helped (you can force something for you to obsess over every single day and week that is not work or even family related). Then find budget to outsource as many other things in your life as possible to make your plate tiny (e.g.: stop looking at bills for a year if your wife can wrangle solo, long-term financial plan go yolo blind with a trusted advisor, annoying chores like cleaning or maintenance pay for, etc...). You can't control it all... so just make your world as small as possible for what you can personally manage. Then of course working out and go cold-turkey on pr0n. Getting on a super strict schedule if you aren't already too can help. It sucks, but no late nights and no missed early mornings. Change in my experience is always good, even if you are making the wrong choice. Just changing a setting on where you work from in the office or at home can make the world of difference. You could just say F that job and just do something else even if it's the same role somewhere else, and I promise you it will be 100% better. Maybe try that before blowing it all up to a less-paying job or doing a complete industry bail. Burn out is like an injury of the mind and took me a full year to recover and "realign". The passionate young-buck mojo mindset you probably compare with is never coming back to a full 100% so get used to it and be reasonable about your injury. Anyway, sorry for the rant. Your words got to me. I promise it will get better and easier. Best of luck and hope you see this and helps just 1%.
hirundo 5y ago
Inertia
kstrauser 5y ago
I get up each morning excited to go to work, and this is after being here for 6 years. I keep waiting for the honeymoon phase to wear off, but it keeps going. I'm doing important work, I'm surrounded by smart people, and I have the support of the company to grow my career in the direction(s) I'd like to take it. They'd have to pry me out of this job with a crowbar.
- skinkestek 5y ago
  And you now have (had?) exactly 10000 points. (I checked your profile to see if I could see where you work : ) Edit: I'm feeling childish but in a good way.
  - kstrauser 5y ago
    I screenshotted the milestone. :) I work for amino-dot-com, a healthcare/financial wellness startup. Elevator pitch: big companies contract with us to tell their employees which doctors they should go to and how much it'll cost, and we'll even book the appointment for them.
    - midasuni 5y ago
      It’s no wonder the US health care system is twice (or more) the cost of every other county
      - kstrauser 5y ago
        How so?
        jrs235 5y ago
        I assume they are implying it's because there are [so many] middlemen (that take a cut and therefore increase the bill).
- goldenManatee 5y ago
nfw2 5y ago
Combination of "started recently", "compensation is good", and "you can't get a mortgage without a job, regardless of how much savings you have"
animal_spirits 5y ago
I'm finishing my second year at my very first programming job. This is the only real employment I've had in my career path and I'm proud to have gotten it. It's a small/medium sized company, I think we're around 60-70 people. I wouldn't say I'm being compensated as equally as engineers that live in the same place I do, but I enjoy the people I work with most of all. I'd rather have that then go to a bigger company with more salary, with a possibility of not enjoying the people. Devil I know is better than the devil I don't I suppose
vax425 5y ago
Health care. I’m in the USA, and quality health care is tied to employment.
- ghaff 5y ago
  The poll seems to make the assumption that you're currently employed and presumably wouldn't leave until you had another offer.
notesinthefield 5y ago
It offers unconditional full tuition remission for a masters degree I just started. Other than that - I dont know what else to pursue and I dont seem to gel in any work environment other than the one Im in. No pursuit is interesting when I depend on it for income.
avgDev 5y ago
Other: high pay, flexible hours, low stress, recent child, health issues.
BossingAround 5y ago
Inertia and/or fear. Health issues mean that if I leave my position and I find out my new position is more demanding, I'm fucked. I have a mortgage to pay. I am getting kind of sick and tired of the pressure though. Partly put on by myself, partly put on by expectation of continued excellence in face of stressful deadlines.
- masteruvpuppetz 5y ago
  Seems like my story. Also being in a country (middle east) where you are dependent on the employment visa gives you little room to experiment or take chances. One wrong move and your life changes. You'd have to go back to your own country and start over again. Nevertheless the fault lies with me for not trying as well.
nostrademons 5y ago
There's also "accumulated trust built up with coworkers" (perhaps a subset of "enjoy coworkers"), "don't want to reset the parental leave clock", and "have family and hence no time to learn a whole new problem domain".
ghaff 5y ago
I imagine for most people it's an interplay between most things being at least "good enough" and the effort/risk (things don't always work out) of job hunting and starting in a new place in a possibly new role.
yardie 5y ago
Other: Because I fucking hate the interview process. Video interview, phone screen, take home test, management interview, team interview, dozen technical interviews. It's a full-time job to look for another job. So the slightly annoying job I have is way less annoying than searching for another one. Rant over.
- ewagsjr 5y ago
  Full-time job to look for another job...while you work your full-time job might I add. I get home and gag a little when I look at my computer. The last thing I want to do is paperwork when I get home from slave labor. cough I mean work*...
- ryandrake 5y ago
  Have an upvote, was going to post the exact same reply. The tech interview process is so irritating, so friction-filled, and ultimately so random in outcome that it doesn't seem worth it for maybe a ~1% bump. Grind leetcode. Apply at 100 companies. Get 10 call backs. Go through the whiteboard hazing rituals and ghosting. Maybe get 1 offer. Back when I was 25-30, maybe I'd expect a double-digit percent bump for all that work, but now, I'm pretty much at the ceiling, and the great pain of interviewing just doesn't seem worth it.
  - yardie 5y ago
    I had one unforgettable experience where the company strung the process along for 3 months. And then they forgot about it. Called me back to restart the interview process. I tagged their emails as SPAM (accidentally, but in retrospect correct) and moved on. The last one was 2 quick phone calls the same week. The third call was what laptop I wanted and where should the send it.
- lazyasciiart 5y ago
  +7000
- jjav 5y ago
  Exactly that. Interviewing has become so ridiculous, it's not worth it. One has to wonder if there isn't collusion among larger companies to make the process so painful to reduce employee turnover and consequently also salaries. I was working in tech in the 90s and interviewing was just a chat on what I'd like to do, what they need done and if it looked like a match, let's do it. And I'll argue that jobs were more technically difficult then (assembly language, C, kernel work, attention to optimization since hardware was slow, etc) compared to the typical job these days of gluing AWS components together for yet another CRUD app functionally identical to every other.
Buldak 5y ago
I keep procrastinating on the regimen which (I assume?) is necessary for me to become competitive in interviews.
standardUser 5y ago
I'm absolutely god-awful at technical interviews. Avoiding many hours of tedious interview practice is the one and only thing keeping me from finding a higher paying and more satisfying job. Which is too bad, because otherwise I am a fantastic interviewee and I'm very eager to dive into a new role somewhere interesting.
blakesterz 5y ago
The only 2 I didn't hit was "Started recently" and "Golden handcuffs" I'm VERY lucky to be where I am. The work, the people, the company, nearly everything is VERY good. I'm not retiring SOON, but soon enough to think I'm not really interested in starting over again unless I must. Hoping I can retire from here! I might be able to make more someplace else? I'm not even sure. But it would need to be A LOT more to make it worth to even consider moving.
msk-lywenn 5y ago
I started the company, it's not doing great, I still enjoy it more than working somewhere else. More and more doubt though...
Apreche 5y ago
I can't find a better job. I can easily find a job that pays more money, but I can't find a job that checks all the boxes. 1. Not an immoral business. (My moral standard is extremely high.) 2. Pays more. 3. As much or more PTO as I have now. (I have a lot, relative to the US at least) 4. No more than 40 hours of work a week under any circumstance. 5. Stable business, not some startup that will disappear in two seconds. 6. Needs/wants the skills that I have. Recruiters contact me off the hook. It's extremely rare that any job posting even passes the morality test.
- EEBio 5y ago
  Can you give an example of a job offer that wouldn't pass your morality test?
  - feoren 5y ago
    Not the person you asked, but for me: fintech, adtech, anything trying to track people or coerce them into doing something they don't want. Anything that enables rich assholes to get richer and more assholish. Anything that helps companies get away with being dicks to the planet or to poor people. Anything cryptocurrency related. Although even with that list, it's not that rare that jobs pass the morality test. For me it's more about the fact that virtually every company in existence is just plain boring. They're doing boring payment facilitation or a boring knockoff of another boring product. They're just not contributing anything to society at all, have seemingly no reason to exist, and just feel like something an MBA came up with by filling out the "start a company Mad-libs" book his archaic business school gave him upon graduation.
  - Apreche 5y ago
    Defense, advertising, finance, MLM, crypto, and gambling are the major ones that I can describe with a single word each. There are many many more, though.
dim13 5y ago
Inertia. Compensation is good, as well as work-no-work-balance. Problems to solve are also nice most of the time. But mostly inertia.
godshatter 5y ago
I chose "Retiring soon anyway", but it's more complex than that. I've been here more than 30 years where I work, and I can retire with full benefits soon. But I have no reason to because I like what I'm doing and my retirement will only be better the longer I wait.
- ghaff 5y ago
  I could retire but I'm not in an especially big hurry to--particularly during COVID when a lot of activities are foreclosed, uncertain, or a hassle.
wayoutthere 5y ago
Mostly because nobody at product companies wants to interview people from a consulting background. I do a lot of consulting in the product dev space, I just haven’t worked at a product company since much earlier in my career. I make plenty of money and my job prospects are fine within the consulting industry, but I would kind of like to get out of the rat race and into something more stable. But every role I apply for in product / engineering management only gets hits at places I don’t want to work (e.g. Amazon, Facebook).
gravypod 5y ago
I choose "Believe in product" & "Other". I really love the product I work on. I've had a lot of friction on my team, a few issues related to comp, but in the end of the day I'm really passionate about what I get to build and this product is only really viable in a company as large as the one I work for. And, this brings me to the "Other": brand recognition. When I used to meet people and say "I work at X as a programmer" people had no idea what I worked on. Inside of companies when someone had no ground to stand on for a technical argument they'd say "My friend from $FAANG said my way is better" and it was basically pointless to try and argue from there because I didn't have FAANG on my resume. Now I get to skip all of that and people actually attempt to evaluate me, and my technical propositions, based on their own merit instead of tribalism. Or... at least the tribalism works in my favor.
throwaway8927 5y ago
I seem to be the only guy in our company who can spell 'BGP' correctly. This makes me nigh unfirable. Since, on a technical level, the network is pretty much 'done', and generally doesn't break randomly if you design it with a modicum of care, I spend my work days attending meetings where I get to explain IP to colleagues across the whole org. Actual workload is maybe four hours a day, and as such, I would need a total comp increase beyond 100% for a job change to even make sense.
throwaway94156 5y ago
I work in newsgathering for a major international news organisation, I have oodles of flexibility, great work-life balance, massive variety, the ability to do all sorts of things that I wouldn't be able to in a different job, no responsibility other than what I put on myself, a great team, pretty much unfireable, and the bulk of the problems I (and the rest of my team) used to have with work a few years ago have all been solved. However the flip side is that pay is relatively terrible. It's good for the UK, but not great (top 15%), and pretty terrible for tech. Just had a recruiter knock me up for what seems like quite a junior job, fully remote (like my current), but offering a 40% pay rise. I'm fairly confident I'll be able to stay where I am until I retire - I'm about in mid-career, but expenses are increasing, and there's no way I'll be able to keep even a cost-of-living raise in this industry. If money wasn't an issue I'd stay where I am, I think there's some interesting challenges coming up in the next few years, but ultimately money is a big issue.
- ghaff 5y ago
  There does come a point where you start to look at the size of your savings account even if you really like what you're doing. I was in a job that I mostly really liked--at least until latterly. But between dot-bomb and other things it was not great financially. Fortunately, where I went from there got me back to where I wanted to be.
sys_64738 5y ago
Nobody else would hire me as I'm a dinosaur (>35).
- kstrauser 5y ago
  1. It hasn’t been a problem for me. My skills are still current and I have a fairly deep knowledge of how things work. If you can say both of those things, getting a job isn’t hard. 2. Love that username.
bittercynic 5y ago
Adequate compensation, people are generally kind to one another, and many colleagues hold themselves to a very high standard and do excellent work. I like it here.
l0b0 5y ago
I'm finally spending most of my time at work contributing to actual open source software. (Several of the other reasons also apply, but being a full-time open source contributor is really rewarding.)
wegwerf123 5y ago
I cant afford to add any financial risk as long as recovery from a costly and complex to treat illness is ongoing.
honestthrow1 5y ago
Throw away for reasons. It’s the first time I’m working somewhere that is doing something I don’t mind talking publicly about; and people may see a point to it. When I first started developing I loved it all on it’s own. Coding was fun, no matter what I coded. That short lived joy was the entirety of my decision making for my first job. I got an offer in a location I liked and I took it. I didn’t really fit with the company, or the industry; even if I liked the folks I interacted with just fine. Then I changed jobs as a way of just changing jobs hoping I would fit better. Again didn’t work out like that. Enough iterations and I landed somewhere I fit better in. I like what the company does, and I can fit within this industry. But comp could be better; and I have concrete reasons in real ways that a better comp could improve my life. But I would be terrified of changing jobs again, and risk not fitting and not liking what the next company does.
lsiunsuex 5y ago
Because I promised I would and I want to see it through to the end. I had an offer on the table. Same work, same level, little better pay. Current job convinced me to stay. They made a huge effort in giving me what I asked for, some up front, some goal based. They WANTED me to stay, which was a first in my career. It's a shit show for sure, but we're working on fixing it. I want to see that through. They committed to me; I'll commit to them.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
The only real complaint I have about my job anymore is the commute, but considering how much of a pain in the ass it is to switch jobs I'm just going to let it slide.
jxidjhdhdhdhfhf 5y ago
My wife and I will have our first child this year and my employer offers 4 months of paid parental leave, so I guess that is sort of a golden handcuff at this point.
- yks 5y ago
  Same. I don't even want to get promoted cause that could ruin my WLB in such an important year.
philocatterham 5y ago
Other: I'm preparing for the interviewing process because I want the ideal job so I don't have to do this again for a long time. Current state: overall decent job with fair compensation, good group, semi-interesting set of problems to solve. Ultimately, though, nothing outstanding (Canada-based thus compensation could be more competitive, field itself is not interesting). I'm also not greatly experienced (barely intermediate). Regardless, I'm ambitious and want a dreamy job so I can focus on learning important stuff (not leetcode solutions) and build cool stuff. Aside: the interview process, particularly based on the monthly "Who's Hiring" threads, is pretty disparate, so prepping is a broad task! I swear it's more than just code puzzles and a portfolio.
Pacers31Colts18 5y ago
I like my job, my manager and the people I work with. I'm paid well and have good benefits. 2 years in and don't have any complaint
ZhangSWEFAANG 5y ago
Because my purpose in life is to "crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and hear the lamentation of their women". Doing my job satisfies that life path.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
notacoward 5y ago
Other. I'm not looking for work because I'm already retired. :-P Before I retired (just over a year ago) my main reason would have been that I enjoyed the problems I was working on and my coworkers. Even though I've barely touched a line of code since I quit, I still miss both. Also, I'd have to echo some of the other comments about modern tech interviews. I would have run the gauntlet again if I had really needed to, but I strongly preferred to avoid that need. It's worth noting that it gets worse as you get older. Every year, your knowledge base and that of most interviewers will diverge. Sooner or later some poorly-trained interviewer will judge you because you don't know a two-year-old algorithm that they still remember from school, which neither of you ever has used or will use in your day-to-day work, but nobody will ever ask about the ten things that you do know ... even when the lack of that knowledge locally is your value-add and the very reason why the company should hire you. They're the "unknown unknowns" and even if you bring them up yourself their value will be dismissed for lack of experience and context. It's intensely frustrating, but frustration is another thing you don't want to show in an interview. Gotta put on a happy face and stroke the kids' egos. It's no wonder senior people are leaving the industry even faster than natural "aging out" would suggest. I put up with a lot of crap in my last year just because the alternative seemed even worse.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
rufus_foreman 5y ago
I was laid off a couple years ago and thought about retiring. I ending up spending my time sitting in front of a computer monitor making no money. I would rather spend my time sitting in front of a computer monitor making money. Not really a strong preference though at this point.
whitesilhouette 5y ago
Other: I can easily get a job 3x my existing salary. But I do the work of someone 8x my salary but nobody is ready to give my that jump because that would disturb the "industry standard" (read HR KRA). Also, the low pay in my current job gives me a freedom to do what I want how I want it done. Because even they don't want to pay 3x salary to someone else either. In return I get massive work-life balance. And I get to pursue my hobbies and interests apart from getting to spend quality time with my family.
8note 5y ago
* Updating a visa is hard in covid times * the work I'm doing isn't at odds with my org structure
unmole 5y ago
Excellent management sort of covers it but I think good work life balance should be an option by itself.
bradlys 5y ago
Joined somewhat recently. Don’t feel like interviewing again so soon and giving back sign on bonus. Part of me feels like I might still be able to get something out of this experience - as it’s my first larger tech company rather than startups and what not. That said - I feel management people are a whole other level of toxic within SV. Nothing but lies and deception in almost every company I join. It’s very obnoxious when you’re hungry AF. I will leave either late this year or early next year. I will likely need to figure out if I am really going to stay in SV as well. After my last company’s IPO busted (stock lost 75% of value) - I’m feeling super deflated about staying since my hard work basically imploded. I’m in my 30s now and recently single. I know my chances of getting a partner here are infinitesimal. I just don’t know where I’d go - tbh. As it seems culturally, a racially ambiguous software engineer isn’t exactly a hot item in any dating market. I need to start lying about my job - I swear it’s off putting in itself. Another reason to consider a career change - tbh. I can’t stand the stigma anymore. I get too much prejudice immediately. Everyone assumes I must be autistic if I’m a software engineer before I even say a word. It’s a damn annoying profession.
robtherobber 5y ago
Other: a combination of factors. Interviewing - as others pointed out, going through the interview rounds can be exceedingly and unnecessarily daunting and stressful since, as an employee, there's a massive imbalance in power between yourself and your potential employer. Inertia - things are good so far, why upset the apple cart? They could be better, but not without initial (or long term) headaches: adjusting to a new culture, new colleagues and management, different rules, re-establishing social boundaries etc. Remuneration: OK money, better than being a nurse, a teacher and plenty other, more useful and more important jobs than mine. So it's mixture of gratefulness and other, not so positive feelings. Financial stability: being employed and doing something I know how to do well beats being a freelancer in terms of regular income, especially since I'm not great at finding clients and doing business. They require different skills and it's one of the main reasons many brilliant people (which I most certainly am not) can't start their own thing: being an excellent engineer / scientist / writer / carpenter doesn't make you good or patient enough with people in order to actually do business. Some degree of freedom: my employer doesn't measure every aspect of my work or transforms social relations into KPIs (a dystopic thing, to say the least), doesn't actively spy on me and, because I work from home on my own machine, I don't need to go through an infantilisation process whereby I have to ask IT Dep to update a piece of software or install something new just because I want to try it. You know, like an adult should be able to. Say what you will about risks, they are all observed from the business' perspective; I find it extremely difficult and infantilising to accept that I am unable to control my own machine and everyday tools because the business can't cope with risks. My needs as a human being should not come after the needs of the business, because the only reason we have businesses is to make life better for human beings. Changing jobs right now would mean navigating - yet again! - this complex reality where one is forced to research, apply, seduce, negotiate and maintain professional relationships. Which I'll have to do anyway sooner or later.
girafffe_i 5y ago
I took the leap, left a startup 3 months ago to be a full-time interviewee. Personal top priority is to get to an established company with attractive talent and tech which comes with a high barrier of entry. There are zero ways I could have done these interviews (esp in parallel) pre-covid, or at all if I: had a job that required my physical presence, had children, required healthcare, had debt, was single, didn't make enough to save for this unemployment, had an addiction, had an H1B ... Would love to see some far-futured economic analysis where we find out for every $1 we invest in helping and educating our public, we get $10 back through taxes or services.
khaiai 5y ago
Other: I suck at interviews. No one wants to hire me for the roles I want. I don’t have the skills yet to influence how I want people to perceive me so that I can get a job in another role. I don’t like my current role, so wouldn’t want to change jobs just to stay in the same role.
WelcomeShorty 5y ago
> Retiring soon anyway Yeah, I took a low level job to spend my last 10 working years to get to do what normal people do. I mean, get a hobby and so on. Been at it for a couple of years now and found nothing that really triggers me. Miss my 60+ hour job and dread the enormous amount of days off. But I am afraid I can not deliver any more so I stay where I am, attempting finding a hobby that grabs me.

80 points by willcipriano 5y ago

If you aren't currently looking for new work, why are you staying at your current role?

I am in a role now as a Director of Engg. I see my tech skills dropping and not as sharp as they used to. I am focusing more on managerial skills. So, my opportunities are also less outside with Immigration as an added bonus.

makeitrain 5y ago

I quit a job to start my teaching and consulting venture. Teaching devs, and consulting companies on building teams.

akulbe 5y ago

I wish I could pick multiple. Team is great. Comp is great. Management is great. I enjoy what I'm working on.

minkzilla 5y ago
You can pick multiple.

nathanaldensr 5y ago

Your poll assumes that I am, indeed, staying at my job.

roberto 5y ago
Yes, if not you can vote here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29937305 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29937305
- nathanaldensr 5y ago
  Ah, yes, I saw that only after posting here. Thanks! :)

executesorder66 5y ago

The company I work for is one of the top employers in my country/region. Top in terms of pay/culture/getting recognized/opportunities for growth/benefits. There are maybe 5 other companies that can compete on everything, except maybe culture. I'm very happy where I am, and risking moving to a new place for basically the same thing seems pointless. So unless I move overseas, I'm staying.

bobbygunderson 5y ago

Immigration

br4m 5y ago
same here!
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

roberto 5y ago

^ all of the above I really love my job. I believe in the product (it's open source), coworkers are great, management and leadership are excellent. Compensation is competitive, and I enjoy the problems I'm solving. I have no plans nor reason to leave.

RexM 5y ago
Where do you work?
willcipriano 5y ago
Open source work would really move the needle for me, something about working in public for living feels like it would be a lot more fulfilling.

racl101 5y ago

Where's "Got no other prospects. Need the money. Got 3 kids from 3 different women."?

rpmisms 5y ago
That's called fuzzy golden handcuffs.

wnevets 5y ago

IMO a worthy poll option would be the modern developer interview process. Even if I was interested in looking for a new opportunity I wouldn't want to go through that unless I really had to.

dokka 5y ago
^YES! This is 100% of the reason I'm not looking for another job.
Gigachad 5y ago
I applied at 3 jobs at once last year, two sent me take home coding tests, one just asked questions during the interview. I took the offer for that one.
ghaff 5y ago
Honestly, for most people even at the current time, searching for a good job is time consuming and a bit stressful.
willcipriano 5y ago
Fun thing I just learned, HN polls are mutable. Option added.
illwrks 5y ago
I know a tech recruiter, one person he was interviewing refused to do a further interview with the hiring manager because there was no technical test as part to the role he was recruiting for...

cwitty88 5y ago

I feel stuck. I am a C-level executive but dread every day of my job. I want to change careers at this point but have a family that depends on my income to get by. However, the company I work for is actually really great, I just happen to be burnt out.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
lghh 5y ago
> family that depends on my income to get by I doubt they depend on your income as much as they are used to a certain type of life. Do you think your family could get by with less in exchange for a happier family member?
- cwitty88 5y ago
  Most definitely. It feels selfish in some ways to make my family change their lifestyle just because I'm whining that I hate my job. On the other hand my wife tells me this exact thing all the time.
  - WORMS_EAT_WORMS 5y ago
    Wish you best. Grass is always greener, but, as crap as it is, income and savings can be greenest. Edit: Saw you deleted your post... Long ways to go but you're crushing it... I'm not sure your location, income, or potential equity pay-day opportunities, but your monthly overhead is quite low for the family of 5 - congrats that is so huge. A long time ago, I used to work as a cashier at a grocery store. I did it because I was in college, but for most of my co-workers, it was their permanent 9-5. As ruthless as it sounds, in their world, these minor irrelevant/annoying day-to-day things such as a SKEW/PLU not in the system, running low on bags, or someone being slow for a cash drop became these world-shaking miserable events that could totally make or break their day. I guess what I'm trying to say is people create these boxed realities and define their own problems on what makes the day great or not. I remind myself often to "realign" what matters. The easiest route? Stop caring and take things a little less seriously. Your day will get exponentially better and your day-to-day stresses can become less important. The world is not going to stop spinning. Obviously there is no good answer on burn out or you wouldn't be here. I personally found having a super passionate hobby helped (you can force something for you to obsess over every single day and week that is not work or even family related). Then find budget to outsource as many other things in your life as possible to make your plate tiny (e.g.: stop looking at bills for a year if your wife can wrangle solo, long-term financial plan go yolo blind with a trusted advisor, annoying chores like cleaning or maintenance pay for, etc...). You can't control it all... so just make your world as small as possible for what you can personally manage. Then of course working out and go cold-turkey on pr0n. Getting on a super strict schedule if you aren't already too can help. It sucks, but no late nights and no missed early mornings. Change in my experience is always good, even if you are making the wrong choice. Just changing a setting on where you work from in the office or at home can make the world of difference. You could just say F that job and just do something else even if it's the same role somewhere else, and I promise you it will be 100% better. Maybe try that before blowing it all up to a less-paying job or doing a complete industry bail. Burn out is like an injury of the mind and took me a full year to recover and "realign". The passionate young-buck mojo mindset you probably compare with is never coming back to a full 100% so get used to it and be reasonable about your injury. Anyway, sorry for the rant. Your words got to me. I promise it will get better and easier. Best of luck and hope you see this and helps just 1%.

hirundo 5y ago

Inertia

kstrauser 5y ago

I get up each morning excited to go to work, and this is after being here for 6 years. I keep waiting for the honeymoon phase to wear off, but it keeps going. I'm doing important work, I'm surrounded by smart people, and I have the support of the company to grow my career in the direction(s) I'd like to take it. They'd have to pry me out of this job with a crowbar.

skinkestek 5y ago
And you now have (had?) exactly 10000 points. (I checked your profile to see if I could see where you work : ) Edit: I'm feeling childish but in a good way.
- kstrauser 5y ago
  I screenshotted the milestone. :) I work for amino-dot-com, a healthcare/financial wellness startup. Elevator pitch: big companies contract with us to tell their employees which doctors they should go to and how much it'll cost, and we'll even book the appointment for them.
  - midasuni 5y ago
    It’s no wonder the US health care system is twice (or more) the cost of every other county
    - kstrauser 5y ago
      How so?
      - jrs235 5y ago
        I assume they are implying it's because there are [so many] middlemen (that take a cut and therefore increase the bill).
goldenManatee 5y ago

nfw2 5y ago

Combination of "started recently", "compensation is good", and "you can't get a mortgage without a job, regardless of how much savings you have"

animal_spirits 5y ago

I'm finishing my second year at my very first programming job. This is the only real employment I've had in my career path and I'm proud to have gotten it. It's a small/medium sized company, I think we're around 60-70 people. I wouldn't say I'm being compensated as equally as engineers that live in the same place I do, but I enjoy the people I work with most of all. I'd rather have that then go to a bigger company with more salary, with a possibility of not enjoying the people. Devil I know is better than the devil I don't I suppose

vax425 5y ago

Health care. I’m in the USA, and quality health care is tied to employment.

ghaff 5y ago
The poll seems to make the assumption that you're currently employed and presumably wouldn't leave until you had another offer.

notesinthefield 5y ago

It offers unconditional full tuition remission for a masters degree I just started. Other than that - I dont know what else to pursue and I dont seem to gel in any work environment other than the one Im in. No pursuit is interesting when I depend on it for income.

avgDev 5y ago

Other: high pay, flexible hours, low stress, recent child, health issues.

BossingAround 5y ago

Inertia and/or fear. Health issues mean that if I leave my position and I find out my new position is more demanding, I'm fucked. I have a mortgage to pay. I am getting kind of sick and tired of the pressure though. Partly put on by myself, partly put on by expectation of continued excellence in face of stressful deadlines.

masteruvpuppetz 5y ago
Seems like my story. Also being in a country (middle east) where you are dependent on the employment visa gives you little room to experiment or take chances. One wrong move and your life changes. You'd have to go back to your own country and start over again. Nevertheless the fault lies with me for not trying as well.

nostrademons 5y ago

There's also "accumulated trust built up with coworkers" (perhaps a subset of "enjoy coworkers"), "don't want to reset the parental leave clock", and "have family and hence no time to learn a whole new problem domain".

ghaff 5y ago

I imagine for most people it's an interplay between most things being at least "good enough" and the effort/risk (things don't always work out) of job hunting and starting in a new place in a possibly new role.

yardie 5y ago

Other: Because I fucking hate the interview process. Video interview, phone screen, take home test, management interview, team interview, dozen technical interviews. It's a full-time job to look for another job. So the slightly annoying job I have is way less annoying than searching for another one. Rant over.

ewagsjr 5y ago
Full-time job to look for another job...while you work your full-time job might I add. I get home and gag a little when I look at my computer. The last thing I want to do is paperwork when I get home from slave labor. cough I mean work*...
ryandrake 5y ago
Have an upvote, was going to post the exact same reply. The tech interview process is so irritating, so friction-filled, and ultimately so random in outcome that it doesn't seem worth it for maybe a ~1% bump. Grind leetcode. Apply at 100 companies. Get 10 call backs. Go through the whiteboard hazing rituals and ghosting. Maybe get 1 offer. Back when I was 25-30, maybe I'd expect a double-digit percent bump for all that work, but now, I'm pretty much at the ceiling, and the great pain of interviewing just doesn't seem worth it.
- yardie 5y ago
  I had one unforgettable experience where the company strung the process along for 3 months. And then they forgot about it. Called me back to restart the interview process. I tagged their emails as SPAM (accidentally, but in retrospect correct) and moved on. The last one was 2 quick phone calls the same week. The third call was what laptop I wanted and where should the send it.
lazyasciiart 5y ago
+7000
jjav 5y ago
Exactly that. Interviewing has become so ridiculous, it's not worth it. One has to wonder if there isn't collusion among larger companies to make the process so painful to reduce employee turnover and consequently also salaries. I was working in tech in the 90s and interviewing was just a chat on what I'd like to do, what they need done and if it looked like a match, let's do it. And I'll argue that jobs were more technically difficult then (assembly language, C, kernel work, attention to optimization since hardware was slow, etc) compared to the typical job these days of gluing AWS components together for yet another CRUD app functionally identical to every other.

Buldak 5y ago

I keep procrastinating on the regimen which (I assume?) is necessary for me to become competitive in interviews.

standardUser 5y ago

I'm absolutely god-awful at technical interviews. Avoiding many hours of tedious interview practice is the one and only thing keeping me from finding a higher paying and more satisfying job. Which is too bad, because otherwise I am a fantastic interviewee and I'm very eager to dive into a new role somewhere interesting.

blakesterz 5y ago

The only 2 I didn't hit was "Started recently" and "Golden handcuffs" I'm VERY lucky to be where I am. The work, the people, the company, nearly everything is VERY good. I'm not retiring SOON, but soon enough to think I'm not really interested in starting over again unless I must. Hoping I can retire from here! I might be able to make more someplace else? I'm not even sure. But it would need to be A LOT more to make it worth to even consider moving.

msk-lywenn 5y ago

I started the company, it's not doing great, I still enjoy it more than working somewhere else. More and more doubt though...

Apreche 5y ago

I can't find a better job. I can easily find a job that pays more money, but I can't find a job that checks all the boxes. 1. Not an immoral business. (My moral standard is extremely high.) 2. Pays more. 3. As much or more PTO as I have now. (I have a lot, relative to the US at least) 4. No more than 40 hours of work a week under any circumstance. 5. Stable business, not some startup that will disappear in two seconds. 6. Needs/wants the skills that I have. Recruiters contact me off the hook. It's extremely rare that any job posting even passes the morality test.

EEBio 5y ago
Can you give an example of a job offer that wouldn't pass your morality test?
- feoren 5y ago
  Not the person you asked, but for me: fintech, adtech, anything trying to track people or coerce them into doing something they don't want. Anything that enables rich assholes to get richer and more assholish. Anything that helps companies get away with being dicks to the planet or to poor people. Anything cryptocurrency related. Although even with that list, it's not that rare that jobs pass the morality test. For me it's more about the fact that virtually every company in existence is just plain boring. They're doing boring payment facilitation or a boring knockoff of another boring product. They're just not contributing anything to society at all, have seemingly no reason to exist, and just feel like something an MBA came up with by filling out the "start a company Mad-libs" book his archaic business school gave him upon graduation.
- Apreche 5y ago
  Defense, advertising, finance, MLM, crypto, and gambling are the major ones that I can describe with a single word each. There are many many more, though.

dim13 5y ago

Inertia. Compensation is good, as well as work-no-work-balance. Problems to solve are also nice most of the time. But mostly inertia.

godshatter 5y ago

I chose "Retiring soon anyway", but it's more complex than that. I've been here more than 30 years where I work, and I can retire with full benefits soon. But I have no reason to because I like what I'm doing and my retirement will only be better the longer I wait.

ghaff 5y ago
I could retire but I'm not in an especially big hurry to--particularly during COVID when a lot of activities are foreclosed, uncertain, or a hassle.

wayoutthere 5y ago

Mostly because nobody at product companies wants to interview people from a consulting background. I do a lot of consulting in the product dev space, I just haven’t worked at a product company since much earlier in my career. I make plenty of money and my job prospects are fine within the consulting industry, but I would kind of like to get out of the rat race and into something more stable. But every role I apply for in product / engineering management only gets hits at places I don’t want to work (e.g. Amazon, Facebook).

gravypod 5y ago

I choose "Believe in product" & "Other". I really love the product I work on. I've had a lot of friction on my team, a few issues related to comp, but in the end of the day I'm really passionate about what I get to build and this product is only really viable in a company as large as the one I work for. And, this brings me to the "Other": brand recognition. When I used to meet people and say "I work at X as a programmer" people had no idea what I worked on. Inside of companies when someone had no ground to stand on for a technical argument they'd say "My friend from $FAANG said my way is better" and it was basically pointless to try and argue from there because I didn't have FAANG on my resume. Now I get to skip all of that and people actually attempt to evaluate me, and my technical propositions, based on their own merit instead of tribalism. Or... at least the tribalism works in my favor.

throwaway8927 5y ago

I seem to be the only guy in our company who can spell 'BGP' correctly. This makes me nigh unfirable. Since, on a technical level, the network is pretty much 'done', and generally doesn't break randomly if you design it with a modicum of care, I spend my work days attending meetings where I get to explain IP to colleagues across the whole org. Actual workload is maybe four hours a day, and as such, I would need a total comp increase beyond 100% for a job change to even make sense.

throwaway94156 5y ago

I work in newsgathering for a major international news organisation, I have oodles of flexibility, great work-life balance, massive variety, the ability to do all sorts of things that I wouldn't be able to in a different job, no responsibility other than what I put on myself, a great team, pretty much unfireable, and the bulk of the problems I (and the rest of my team) used to have with work a few years ago have all been solved. However the flip side is that pay is relatively terrible. It's good for the UK, but not great (top 15%), and pretty terrible for tech. Just had a recruiter knock me up for what seems like quite a junior job, fully remote (like my current), but offering a 40% pay rise. I'm fairly confident I'll be able to stay where I am until I retire - I'm about in mid-career, but expenses are increasing, and there's no way I'll be able to keep even a cost-of-living raise in this industry. If money wasn't an issue I'd stay where I am, I think there's some interesting challenges coming up in the next few years, but ultimately money is a big issue.

ghaff 5y ago
There does come a point where you start to look at the size of your savings account even if you really like what you're doing. I was in a job that I mostly really liked--at least until latterly. But between dot-bomb and other things it was not great financially. Fortunately, where I went from there got me back to where I wanted to be.

sys_64738 5y ago

Nobody else would hire me as I'm a dinosaur (>35).

kstrauser 5y ago
1. It hasn’t been a problem for me. My skills are still current and I have a fairly deep knowledge of how things work. If you can say both of those things, getting a job isn’t hard. 2. Love that username.

bittercynic 5y ago

Adequate compensation, people are generally kind to one another, and many colleagues hold themselves to a very high standard and do excellent work. I like it here.

l0b0 5y ago

I'm finally spending most of my time at work contributing to actual open source software. (Several of the other reasons also apply, but being a full-time open source contributor is really rewarding.)

wegwerf123 5y ago

I cant afford to add any financial risk as long as recovery from a costly and complex to treat illness is ongoing.

honestthrow1 5y ago

Throw away for reasons. It’s the first time I’m working somewhere that is doing something I don’t mind talking publicly about; and people may see a point to it. When I first started developing I loved it all on it’s own. Coding was fun, no matter what I coded. That short lived joy was the entirety of my decision making for my first job. I got an offer in a location I liked and I took it. I didn’t really fit with the company, or the industry; even if I liked the folks I interacted with just fine. Then I changed jobs as a way of just changing jobs hoping I would fit better. Again didn’t work out like that. Enough iterations and I landed somewhere I fit better in. I like what the company does, and I can fit within this industry. But comp could be better; and I have concrete reasons in real ways that a better comp could improve my life. But I would be terrified of changing jobs again, and risk not fitting and not liking what the next company does.

lsiunsuex 5y ago

Because I promised I would and I want to see it through to the end. I had an offer on the table. Same work, same level, little better pay. Current job convinced me to stay. They made a huge effort in giving me what I asked for, some up front, some goal based. They WANTED me to stay, which was a first in my career. It's a shit show for sure, but we're working on fixing it. I want to see that through. They committed to me; I'll commit to them.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago

The only real complaint I have about my job anymore is the commute, but considering how much of a pain in the ass it is to switch jobs I'm just going to let it slide.

jxidjhdhdhdhfhf 5y ago

My wife and I will have our first child this year and my employer offers 4 months of paid parental leave, so I guess that is sort of a golden handcuff at this point.

yks 5y ago
Same. I don't even want to get promoted cause that could ruin my WLB in such an important year.

philocatterham 5y ago

Other: I'm preparing for the interviewing process because I want the ideal job so I don't have to do this again for a long time. Current state: overall decent job with fair compensation, good group, semi-interesting set of problems to solve. Ultimately, though, nothing outstanding (Canada-based thus compensation could be more competitive, field itself is not interesting). I'm also not greatly experienced (barely intermediate). Regardless, I'm ambitious and want a dreamy job so I can focus on learning important stuff (not leetcode solutions) and build cool stuff. Aside: the interview process, particularly based on the monthly "Who's Hiring" threads, is pretty disparate, so prepping is a broad task! I swear it's more than just code puzzles and a portfolio.

Pacers31Colts18 5y ago

I like my job, my manager and the people I work with. I'm paid well and have good benefits. 2 years in and don't have any complaint

ZhangSWEFAANG 5y ago

Because my purpose in life is to "crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and hear the lamentation of their women". Doing my job satisfies that life path.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

notacoward 5y ago

Other. I'm not looking for work because I'm already retired. :-P Before I retired (just over a year ago) my main reason would have been that I enjoyed the problems I was working on and my coworkers. Even though I've barely touched a line of code since I quit, I still miss both. Also, I'd have to echo some of the other comments about modern tech interviews. I would have run the gauntlet again if I had really needed to, but I strongly preferred to avoid that need. It's worth noting that it gets worse as you get older. Every year, your knowledge base and that of most interviewers will diverge. Sooner or later some poorly-trained interviewer will judge you because you don't know a two-year-old algorithm that they still remember from school, which neither of you ever has used or will use in your day-to-day work, but nobody will ever ask about the ten things that you do know ... even when the lack of that knowledge locally is your value-add and the very reason why the company should hire you. They're the "unknown unknowns" and even if you bring them up yourself their value will be dismissed for lack of experience and context. It's intensely frustrating, but frustration is another thing you don't want to show in an interview. Gotta put on a happy face and stroke the kids' egos. It's no wonder senior people are leaving the industry even faster than natural "aging out" would suggest. I put up with a lot of crap in my last year just because the alternative seemed even worse.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

rufus_foreman 5y ago

I was laid off a couple years ago and thought about retiring. I ending up spending my time sitting in front of a computer monitor making no money. I would rather spend my time sitting in front of a computer monitor making money. Not really a strong preference though at this point.

whitesilhouette 5y ago

Other: I can easily get a job 3x my existing salary. But I do the work of someone 8x my salary but nobody is ready to give my that jump because that would disturb the "industry standard" (read HR KRA). Also, the low pay in my current job gives me a freedom to do what I want how I want it done. Because even they don't want to pay 3x salary to someone else either. In return I get massive work-life balance. And I get to pursue my hobbies and interests apart from getting to spend quality time with my family.

8note 5y ago

* Updating a visa is hard in covid times * the work I'm doing isn't at odds with my org structure

unmole 5y ago

Excellent management sort of covers it but I think good work life balance should be an option by itself.

bradlys 5y ago

Joined somewhat recently. Don’t feel like interviewing again so soon and giving back sign on bonus. Part of me feels like I might still be able to get something out of this experience - as it’s my first larger tech company rather than startups and what not. That said - I feel management people are a whole other level of toxic within SV. Nothing but lies and deception in almost every company I join. It’s very obnoxious when you’re hungry AF. I will leave either late this year or early next year. I will likely need to figure out if I am really going to stay in SV as well. After my last company’s IPO busted (stock lost 75% of value) - I’m feeling super deflated about staying since my hard work basically imploded. I’m in my 30s now and recently single. I know my chances of getting a partner here are infinitesimal. I just don’t know where I’d go - tbh. As it seems culturally, a racially ambiguous software engineer isn’t exactly a hot item in any dating market. I need to start lying about my job - I swear it’s off putting in itself. Another reason to consider a career change - tbh. I can’t stand the stigma anymore. I get too much prejudice immediately. Everyone assumes I must be autistic if I’m a software engineer before I even say a word. It’s a damn annoying profession.

robtherobber 5y ago

Other: a combination of factors. Interviewing - as others pointed out, going through the interview rounds can be exceedingly and unnecessarily daunting and stressful since, as an employee, there's a massive imbalance in power between yourself and your potential employer. Inertia - things are good so far, why upset the apple cart? They could be better, but not without initial (or long term) headaches: adjusting to a new culture, new colleagues and management, different rules, re-establishing social boundaries etc. Remuneration: OK money, better than being a nurse, a teacher and plenty other, more useful and more important jobs than mine. So it's mixture of gratefulness and other, not so positive feelings. Financial stability: being employed and doing something I know how to do well beats being a freelancer in terms of regular income, especially since I'm not great at finding clients and doing business. They require different skills and it's one of the main reasons many brilliant people (which I most certainly am not) can't start their own thing: being an excellent engineer / scientist / writer / carpenter doesn't make you good or patient enough with people in order to actually do business. Some degree of freedom: my employer doesn't measure every aspect of my work or transforms social relations into KPIs (a dystopic thing, to say the least), doesn't actively spy on me and, because I work from home on my own machine, I don't need to go through an infantilisation process whereby I have to ask IT Dep to update a piece of software or install something new just because I want to try it. You know, like an adult should be able to. Say what you will about risks, they are all observed from the business' perspective; I find it extremely difficult and infantilising to accept that I am unable to control my own machine and everyday tools because the business can't cope with risks. My needs as a human being should not come after the needs of the business, because the only reason we have businesses is to make life better for human beings. Changing jobs right now would mean navigating - yet again! - this complex reality where one is forced to research, apply, seduce, negotiate and maintain professional relationships. Which I'll have to do anyway sooner or later.

girafffe_i 5y ago

I took the leap, left a startup 3 months ago to be a full-time interviewee. Personal top priority is to get to an established company with attractive talent and tech which comes with a high barrier of entry. There are zero ways I could have done these interviews (esp in parallel) pre-covid, or at all if I: had a job that required my physical presence, had children, required healthcare, had debt, was single, didn't make enough to save for this unemployment, had an addiction, had an H1B ... Would love to see some far-futured economic analysis where we find out for every $1 we invest in helping and educating our public, we get $10 back through taxes or services.

khaiai 5y ago

Other: I suck at interviews. No one wants to hire me for the roles I want. I don’t have the skills yet to influence how I want people to perceive me so that I can get a job in another role. I don’t like my current role, so wouldn’t want to change jobs just to stay in the same role.

WelcomeShorty 5y ago

> Retiring soon anyway Yeah, I took a low level job to spend my last 10 working years to get to do what normal people do. I mean, get a hobby and so on. Been at it for a couple of years now and found nothing that really triggers me. Miss my 60+ hour job and dread the enormous amount of days off. But I am afraid I can not deliver any more so I stay where I am, attempting finding a hobby that grabs me.