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> 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 tel

> 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.
  - vmception 5y ago
    > I can probably keep some kind of fiction together long enough to get to my next VC-funded shitshow gig. ha, love to see this so pragmatically written
roflc0ptic 5y ago
I'd comment that we don't know why so many job changes, so whether or not they're _planning_ on leaving is conjecture.
vertigolimbo 5y ago
It's true. I don't know what years 8-10 feel like. But author is not asking that. I gave advice for author's question: _How do you go from the "new clueless person at work" to "oh hey Mike, I'll need your help this afternoon"?_ My advice merely helps the author to speed up the process to get there. In addition, I never join and plan on leaving in 1 year. In contracting, sometimes you work a month, sometimes 4 years. But you always go all in, regardless of the assignment.
- paulcole 5y ago
  > I never join and plan on leaving in 1 year Just like the scorpion didn’t plan to sting the frog?
  - vertigolimbo 5y ago
    Why so much negativity? Are you aware that there's this whole side called "contracting"? Agile made it very dynamic - sometimes assignment is completed sooner that agreed because company's priorities change. Sometimes you stay longer because they need your help. I've been to many gigs where burned out or incompetent permanent (!) employees made a complete mess almost running company to a ground. Incompetent leads, even CTOs desperate for a fix. Yet, as a contractor you come and help the companies * * there are incompetent or selfish contractors as well.
vmception 5y ago
> OP is likely thinking of months 1-3 with years 5-10 in mind. You don't know that

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.
- vmception 5y ago
  > I can probably keep some kind of fiction together long enough to get to my next VC-funded shitshow gig. ha, love to see this so pragmatically written

roflc0ptic 5y ago

I'd comment that we don't know why so many job changes, so whether or not they're _planning_ on leaving is conjecture.

vertigolimbo 5y ago

It's true. I don't know what years 8-10 feel like. But author is not asking that. I gave advice for author's question: _How do you go from the "new clueless person at work" to "oh hey Mike, I'll need your help this afternoon"?_ My advice merely helps the author to speed up the process to get there. In addition, I never join and plan on leaving in 1 year. In contracting, sometimes you work a month, sometimes 4 years. But you always go all in, regardless of the assignment.

paulcole 5y ago
> I never join and plan on leaving in 1 year Just like the scorpion didn’t plan to sting the frog?
- vertigolimbo 5y ago
  Why so much negativity? Are you aware that there's this whole side called "contracting"? Agile made it very dynamic - sometimes assignment is completed sooner that agreed because company's priorities change. Sometimes you stay longer because they need your help. I've been to many gigs where burned out or incompetent permanent (!) employees made a complete mess almost running company to a ground. Incompetent leads, even CTOs desperate for a fix. Yet, as a contractor you come and help the companies * * there are incompetent or selfish contractors as well.

vmception 5y ago

> OP is likely thinking of months 1-3 with years 5-10 in mind. You don't know that