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Been there, done that. 10+ different jobs in a span of 15 years (contracting). Let's start with the basics. Be a nice person, approachable and someone easy to

Been there, done that. 10+ different jobs in a span of 15 years (contracting). Let's start with the basics. Be a nice person, approachable and someone easy to work with. This will remove the barriers and your co-workers will be more willing to contact you first! Honestly, these qualities will get you far. Get "into" the company's culture. There might be internal pain points (ask questions, people will be more than willing to share their pains. If you listen you will easily make connections). Same goes for the inside jokes. Finally, from experience I know the first to three months are the most difficult ones. And that's fine! Accept it and don't be harsh on yourself. You sometimes will be doubting yourself, feeling low, but all of that will pass. It always does!

OJFord 5y ago
> Been there, done that. 10+ different jobs in a span of 15 years. I don't mean any offence, but you haven't really then have you - that's quite a different situation, your average tenure is less than 1.5y, more than tenfold less than OP's. I imagine (haven't done it myself) it's psychologically quite different to leave somewhere you're so established, and start somewhere new when it's so long since you've done that. You're used to it. I'm not saying it doesn't have challenges, but I think they're at least different, and anyway you're used to embracing them.
- tclancy 5y ago
  That isn’t necessarily true. If you contract, it can be like that, but you’re also under pressure to come up to speed faster than a full-time employee. I’ve done short gigs and worked places for 2, 3 and 7 years and the ramp up is the same. I started a new job in January that I hope to be at for years and my approach was the same as suggested here. Be self-effacing about your ignorance, don’t walk in deciding you know better about X just because of how your last company did it and find pain points that bother everyone but haven’t been addressed because there is no stakeholder to drive them. The upside to being useless the first few months is you can use the time to clean out the Nemean stables or whatever mess is lying around.
  - wbond 5y ago
    Off topic, but nice to see you around here after years since we’ve met in person! Also nice to see other engineers from NH represented. I’ve also done gigs for 7, 5, 2 years, one for 8 months and now I’m 2 months into my new gig. I would concur that ramp up speed has been pretty similar at most. I’m not sure the first move (after 7 years) was harder than the others. Honestly, I think it tends to be harder emotionally to walk away from the situation. From the familiarity to the network, it can feel weird leaving that all behind, even if there are obvious reasons you need to leave. Once you’ve made the break, starting new tends to be similar: spending a few months getting familiar with the exact tech stack, the people, projects and business. Usually after a handful of months you’ll start feeling in the groove and know enough of the environment to feel like you are making serious contributions.
    - carterschonwald 5y ago
      Should I be worried for ST without you?:) Congrats on new things! I just switched to a new thing myself!
      - wbond 5y ago
        Nah, ST is going well. Jon is the mastermind behind it all, and Ben has been doing excellent work, and Tim is rounds out the ST team. On the Merge side, Dylan and David are hard at work. I think Sublime HQ is hiring in the Sydney area also. That said, I am still contributing the community, albeit a little slower. Hoping to have a first-rate Swift syntax done in the next month or two, plus continuing to plug away on some Package Control work. Congrats on the new role and continuing to push yourself!
    - tclancy 5y ago
      Hey! Yeah, I started a new gig at the beginning of this year and the only thing different is this is far and away the largest tech company I have worked at. The one thing I am struggling with is coming to grips with the scale and accepting I will never have my head or hands around the whole thing. One other point worth repeating came from a friend who was a Marine: "You have 6 months before you're part of the problem." Once you are on your feet anywhere, do try to create the change your teammates have been desperate for but lack the enthusiasm to push for. Use your New Person Karma up-front.
garrickvanburen 5y ago
Riffing off the first few months being the most difficult: you may not even know how you can best contribute for the first 3 months. That’s ok, it’ll come to you. As others have mentioned, the most valuable thing you can do in that time is understand current state at the company (culture, processes, etc) so having 1:1 conversations just cuz you’re new is one way to do this. Also - maybe find where the async conversations are happening (eg Slack) and reading the archives
- vertigolimbo 5y ago
  Spot on.
paulcole 5y ago
> Finally, from experience I know the first to three months are the most difficult ones Compared to the OP, your situation doesn’t tell you this at all. It tells you that you know for you, the first to three months are the most difficult ones. You have no way to know what years 4-6 are like or years 8-10 or years 14-15. The problem OP has is very different from the one a job-hopper has. You’re experiencing months 1-3 with a plan of leaving in 1 year. OP is likely thinking of months 1-3 with years 5-10 in mind.
- nuclearnice1 5y ago
  What are the likely consequences of this difference ?
  - paulcole 5y ago
    If I’m going to know you for less than a year before I bounce, it’s easier to tell you what I think you want to hear instead of being myself and being honest with you. I don’t need to be that concerned with the consequences of my actions. Everything I do is gonna be somebody else’s problem soon enough. I can probably keep some kind of fiction together long enough to get to my next VC-funded shitshow gig. But if I do that, after 2,3,4,7,12 years, it’s going to be obvious to the people I work with I’m a fake weirdo who’s miserable to work with and not a genuine person. This will be true even if nobody else works there for 15 years — it’ll get passed down from new hire to new hire.
    - SimonPStevens 5y ago
      My experience was the opposite of this (not saying yours is wrong, just that it might be different for different people) I did a 7 year stint as a contractor in which I worked at 7 different places, plus multiple smaller ad-hoc projects. Most contracts started with 1-3 month engagements. Most were also extended multiple times. But I never made any assumptions about extensions. Knowing that I was only ever going to be somewhere short term made it a while lot easier to be be fully honest with people, instead of just telling them what I thought they wanted to hear. I found it put me in a great position to point out problems or give advice and recommendations for improvements based on my experience without any worries about upsetting anyone who was personally invested in the existing status quo. Because the consequences of the personal relationships weren't so critical, I would be leaving anyway Knowing I was only there temporarily also made me much more conscious of writing up or handing over knowledge of the things I worked on. I always tried to make sure I was building up the client to succeed after I left. I always wanted to do a great job, so doing something poorly because I didn't have any long term consequences was never really a factor. Many clients reached out and offered repeat business too, so the lack of long term consequences isn't really true anyway. If you do a good job, it adds to your future revenue stream. I try to carry this mentality forward now I've returned to more conventional employment. Being honest about improvements needed, and working to help the team succeed in the long term.
roflc0ptic 5y ago
Do you feel like that number of job changes has limited your career opportunities? I had a string of years where I changed jobs several times for fairly good reasons (substantially better paying jobs, family illness, spent a year trying to get a non-profit off the ground), but it left my resume feeling kinda blotchy, and I've resolved to try to stay in my current (very awesome) job for at least 4 years (~1.5 down so far). People have commented on the blotchiness directly, so I do wonder how many conversations I just haven't had because of it.
- vertigolimbo 5y ago
  That's not true. If you had an emergency appendix surgery in the middle of the nowhere and there was only one surgeon, would you question how many hospitals he worked at before? If you are good at your job and can prove it, then it doesn't matter. We, tech people, have it really easy compared to other jobs. If anything, it's the opposite. I have more career opportunities than ever: 1. You learn new skills -> you become more employable 2. You leave on good terms -> most of your previous companies are waiting for you with open arms (more opportunities, safety net, upper hand in negotiating salary) 3. You discover yourself -> what you want, what are you good at and where can you go next. I would take it with a grain of salt. Contracting and living in a big city is very different to small towns and/or permanent roles.
  - metafunctor 5y ago
    Interesting that you see yourself as being more employable. And if you say so, probably it's true! So, I'm wondering what you bring to the teams you're hired into. When I hire, staying at previous jobs for only 1—2 years is a red flag. And you've done it 10 times! We're looking for people who would like to stay with us for, say 3–5 years, at least. While our tech stack, culture, etc. isn't that special, it still takes time to acclimate. Perhaps you are a very talented specialist in very narrow niche? People like that are always useful, and can skip between jobs as they please. Although, I'd probably do stuff like that on a consulting basis, instead of a salaried employee.
    - 5y ago
btbuildem 5y ago
I don't think your situation is comparable to OP's: contractor with frequent client changes vs full timer with an order of magnitude longer tenure in one place.

OJFord 5y ago

> Been there, done that. 10+ different jobs in a span of 15 years. I don't mean any offence, but you haven't really then have you - that's quite a different situation, your average tenure is less than 1.5y, more than tenfold less than OP's. I imagine (haven't done it myself) it's psychologically quite different to leave somewhere you're so established, and start somewhere new when it's so long since you've done that. You're used to it. I'm not saying it doesn't have challenges, but I think they're at least different, and anyway you're used to embracing them.

tclancy 5y ago
That isn’t necessarily true. If you contract, it can be like that, but you’re also under pressure to come up to speed faster than a full-time employee. I’ve done short gigs and worked places for 2, 3 and 7 years and the ramp up is the same. I started a new job in January that I hope to be at for years and my approach was the same as suggested here. Be self-effacing about your ignorance, don’t walk in deciding you know better about X just because of how your last company did it and find pain points that bother everyone but haven’t been addressed because there is no stakeholder to drive them. The upside to being useless the first few months is you can use the time to clean out the Nemean stables or whatever mess is lying around.
- wbond 5y ago
  Off topic, but nice to see you around here after years since we’ve met in person! Also nice to see other engineers from NH represented. I’ve also done gigs for 7, 5, 2 years, one for 8 months and now I’m 2 months into my new gig. I would concur that ramp up speed has been pretty similar at most. I’m not sure the first move (after 7 years) was harder than the others. Honestly, I think it tends to be harder emotionally to walk away from the situation. From the familiarity to the network, it can feel weird leaving that all behind, even if there are obvious reasons you need to leave. Once you’ve made the break, starting new tends to be similar: spending a few months getting familiar with the exact tech stack, the people, projects and business. Usually after a handful of months you’ll start feeling in the groove and know enough of the environment to feel like you are making serious contributions.
  - carterschonwald 5y ago
    Should I be worried for ST without you?:) Congrats on new things! I just switched to a new thing myself!
    - wbond 5y ago
      Nah, ST is going well. Jon is the mastermind behind it all, and Ben has been doing excellent work, and Tim is rounds out the ST team. On the Merge side, Dylan and David are hard at work. I think Sublime HQ is hiring in the Sydney area also. That said, I am still contributing the community, albeit a little slower. Hoping to have a first-rate Swift syntax done in the next month or two, plus continuing to plug away on some Package Control work. Congrats on the new role and continuing to push yourself!
  - tclancy 5y ago
    Hey! Yeah, I started a new gig at the beginning of this year and the only thing different is this is far and away the largest tech company I have worked at. The one thing I am struggling with is coming to grips with the scale and accepting I will never have my head or hands around the whole thing. One other point worth repeating came from a friend who was a Marine: "You have 6 months before you're part of the problem." Once you are on your feet anywhere, do try to create the change your teammates have been desperate for but lack the enthusiasm to push for. Use your New Person Karma up-front.

garrickvanburen 5y ago

Riffing off the first few months being the most difficult: you may not even know how you can best contribute for the first 3 months. That’s ok, it’ll come to you. As others have mentioned, the most valuable thing you can do in that time is understand current state at the company (culture, processes, etc) so having 1:1 conversations just cuz you’re new is one way to do this. Also - maybe find where the async conversations are happening (eg Slack) and reading the archives

vertigolimbo 5y ago
Spot on.

paulcole 5y ago

> Finally, from experience I know the first to three months are the most difficult ones Compared to the OP, your situation doesn’t tell you this at all. It tells you that you know for you, the first to three months are the most difficult ones. You have no way to know what years 4-6 are like or years 8-10 or years 14-15. The problem OP has is very different from the one a job-hopper has. You’re experiencing months 1-3 with a plan of leaving in 1 year. OP is likely thinking of months 1-3 with years 5-10 in mind.

nuclearnice1 5y ago
What are the likely consequences of this difference ?
- paulcole 5y ago
  If I’m going to know you for less than a year before I bounce, it’s easier to tell you what I think you want to hear instead of being myself and being honest with you. I don’t need to be that concerned with the consequences of my actions. Everything I do is gonna be somebody else’s problem soon enough. I can probably keep some kind of fiction together long enough to get to my next VC-funded shitshow gig. But if I do that, after 2,3,4,7,12 years, it’s going to be obvious to the people I work with I’m a fake weirdo who’s miserable to work with and not a genuine person. This will be true even if nobody else works there for 15 years — it’ll get passed down from new hire to new hire.
  - SimonPStevens 5y ago
    My experience was the opposite of this (not saying yours is wrong, just that it might be different for different people) I did a 7 year stint as a contractor in which I worked at 7 different places, plus multiple smaller ad-hoc projects. Most contracts started with 1-3 month engagements. Most were also extended multiple times. But I never made any assumptions about extensions. Knowing that I was only ever going to be somewhere short term made it a while lot easier to be be fully honest with people, instead of just telling them what I thought they wanted to hear. I found it put me in a great position to point out problems or give advice and recommendations for improvements based on my experience without any worries about upsetting anyone who was personally invested in the existing status quo. Because the consequences of the personal relationships weren't so critical, I would be leaving anyway Knowing I was only there temporarily also made me much more conscious of writing up or handing over knowledge of the things I worked on. I always tried to make sure I was building up the client to succeed after I left. I always wanted to do a great job, so doing something poorly because I didn't have any long term consequences was never really a factor. Many clients reached out and offered repeat business too, so the lack of long term consequences isn't really true anyway. If you do a good job, it adds to your future revenue stream. I try to carry this mentality forward now I've returned to more conventional employment. Being honest about improvements needed, and working to help the team succeed in the long term.

roflc0ptic 5y ago

Do you feel like that number of job changes has limited your career opportunities? I had a string of years where I changed jobs several times for fairly good reasons (substantially better paying jobs, family illness, spent a year trying to get a non-profit off the ground), but it left my resume feeling kinda blotchy, and I've resolved to try to stay in my current (very awesome) job for at least 4 years (~1.5 down so far). People have commented on the blotchiness directly, so I do wonder how many conversations I just haven't had because of it.

vertigolimbo 5y ago
That's not true. If you had an emergency appendix surgery in the middle of the nowhere and there was only one surgeon, would you question how many hospitals he worked at before? If you are good at your job and can prove it, then it doesn't matter. We, tech people, have it really easy compared to other jobs. If anything, it's the opposite. I have more career opportunities than ever: 1. You learn new skills -> you become more employable 2. You leave on good terms -> most of your previous companies are waiting for you with open arms (more opportunities, safety net, upper hand in negotiating salary) 3. You discover yourself -> what you want, what are you good at and where can you go next. I would take it with a grain of salt. Contracting and living in a big city is very different to small towns and/or permanent roles.
- metafunctor 5y ago
  Interesting that you see yourself as being more employable. And if you say so, probably it's true! So, I'm wondering what you bring to the teams you're hired into. When I hire, staying at previous jobs for only 1—2 years is a red flag. And you've done it 10 times! We're looking for people who would like to stay with us for, say 3–5 years, at least. While our tech stack, culture, etc. isn't that special, it still takes time to acclimate. Perhaps you are a very talented specialist in very narrow niche? People like that are always useful, and can skip between jobs as they please. Although, I'd probably do stuff like that on a consulting basis, instead of a salaried employee.
  - 5y ago

btbuildem 5y ago

I don't think your situation is comparable to OP's: contractor with frequent client changes vs full timer with an order of magnitude longer tenure in one place.