2 ms·

I have trouble communicating to my parents, who are in their 80s and worked for the same company for 35 years, that me switching jobs every couple years is the

I have trouble communicating to my parents, who are in their 80s and worked for the same company for 35 years, that me switching jobs every couple years is the norm for my industry, and not a sign that I'm a troublemaker, or anything like that. A lot of people switch jobs frequently because they feel it's the only way to advance, or at least the most cost efficient way. That's not the case for me: I would love to find a place to work for the next 20 years, and if they give me cost-of-living increases and the occasional attaboy raise, I'm not asking for more than that. I make plenty of money, am not looking for a fancy title, and run the other direction from leadership positions. I don't even care about "solving interesting problems at scale" or whatever people say they're chasing. BUT, the reality is, I haven't found a good company — one where I think I'd like to stick around due to culture and stability and so on — and in this industry we have the option to move on without penalty. So, why not do that, until the right company shows up?

scruple 4y ago
I've been inside of 2 such companies. Over time, they both changed (for the worst) and I left (along with many others). My tenure in both was 6.5 years and 8.5 years, respectively. If I had had any degree of confidence that management could or would have fixed the culture problems the organizations were experiencing, I'd have stuck it out. In fact, in the case of the second employer, that actually did happen, and I stayed specifically because I thought that management could fix the issues and that I could help them. Both of those things were true, and because I was helping us move in the "right" direction, I experienced a ton of professional growth, but then the culture shifted again (we were acquired) and the place simply became inhospitable. I was part of the initial exodus of engineers who left. I've heard from colleagues who have remained that ~50% of engineering has turned over in the last year. I suspect that I will have some short tenures (1-2 years max) on my resume now, as I try to navigate my way through to another long tenure employer.

scruple 4y ago

I've been inside of 2 such companies. Over time, they both changed (for the worst) and I left (along with many others). My tenure in both was 6.5 years and 8.5 years, respectively. If I had had any degree of confidence that management could or would have fixed the culture problems the organizations were experiencing, I'd have stuck it out. In fact, in the case of the second employer, that actually did happen, and I stayed specifically because I thought that management could fix the issues and that I could help them. Both of those things were true, and because I was helping us move in the "right" direction, I experienced a ton of professional growth, but then the culture shifted again (we were acquired) and the place simply became inhospitable. I was part of the initial exodus of engineers who left. I've heard from colleagues who have remained that ~50% of engineering has turned over in the last year. I suspect that I will have some short tenures (1-2 years max) on my resume now, as I try to navigate my way through to another long tenure employer.