8 ms·

I've generally given a lot of notice as an IC, 2-3 months in some cases. and I have to say, I think it's not been appreciated, not even once. I've tried to sp

• pfranz 4y ago
  I completely agree. I've been asked to stay on an extra week or two and I think it was a terrible decision. Nobody really cared or paid attention in hand off meetings (I'd like to think careful documentation was later appreciated when someone had to take those things on later) and I was interested in moving on.
• hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago
  I completely agree. The part about infecting people with my attitude is especially relevant. It's normal that we talk. And when they ask "why?", it feels awkward. If I tell them all the reasons, it will influence their perception of their situation (which might be quite positive) and I prefer not to do that. But if I avoid answering, I will be perceived as dishonest or hiding something. So usually I invent some excuse so that nobody feels bad.
  • yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
    > But if I avoid answering, I will be perceived as dishonest or hiding something. So usually I invent some excuse so that nobody feels bad. So you avoid the perception of being dishonest and hiding something by actually being dishonest and hiding something?
    • ghaff 4y ago
      You don't need to lie. There are plenty of generic reasons you can give why you're leaving that probably even have the virtue of having some truth to them. (Was time to make a change.) No reason to get into a blow-by-blow of why now and what all the things that made the situation less and less tolerable were. It's not lying. It just not telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. ADDED: Companies can also obviously be in a place where at least some of your reasons are so blindingly obvious they don't need to be stated.
      • brookst 4y ago
        This is the way. You can be honest, and authentic, without running down the company or your coworkers.
      • projectazorian 4y ago
        “Love it here, just looking for a new challenge” or “Love it here, but I couldn’t pass this opportunity up” have gotten me far. You can always be more honest behind closed doors if you want.
        • q7xvh97o2pDhNrh 4y ago
          I'm impressed (and a bit envious) you were able to say that first part. I wish I'd worked at place where I could honestly say the same. Every place I've left, the best I could muster with a straight face was a bland tautological platitude — something like, "Oh, you know, just going to do something different." I don't exactly have tons of experience quitting jobs or ending relationships, but I've never understood the relentless navel-gazing of "why" that seems to come along with most people quitting their jobs. And, besides, what's the point of expounding on how things could be better (in an "exit interview" or otherwise), when everyone knows all that feedback will have no impact? It seems to me the practical part of the conversation is simply, "I'm ending our relationship." And then — everyone moves forward from there.
• matwood 4y ago
  Like most things, it depends. I've given employers no time up to 4 weeks. Smaller ones will definitely receive more grace if they have been good to me. And, when I was an employer I tried to do the same for others. Another note is that I'm always succession planning. Document, share what I'm doing, etc... I learned early on that if I couldn't be replaced, I also couldn't be promoted.
  • catchnear4321 4y ago
    not a lot of companies seem to recognize this pattern and encourage it. benefit from it, sure.
  • falcolas 4y ago
    > I learned early on that if I couldn't be replaced, I also couldn't be promoted. Nailed this on the head. At the same time, the extra work this requires is often not appreciated by management either - I've seen some (admittedly poor) managers comment on lower productivity due to the documentation efforts.
    • projectazorian 4y ago
      It may not be appreciated by management in terms of someone saying “wow, your documentation was incredible, here’s that raise/promotion.” But the people who interact with your documentation will appreciate it, which raises your stature in the organization long term. And management priorities change over time, it’s not uncommon for companies to emphasize documentation more as they mature.
  • JohnFen 4y ago
    > I learned early on that if I couldn't be replaced, I also couldn't be promoted. Even as someone who has zero interest in being promoted, I think this is good practice. It's part of helping to maintain a healthy organization. If anyone is actually indispensable, that's a very dangerous situation for the team and the company.
• hinkley 4y ago
  I’m doing wrap up now, and I’ve only just started job hunting. You don’t have to tell them that’s what you’re doing.
• indymike 4y ago
  > But now when I "give notice" and they don't even let me try to work the next 2 weeks, I'm grateful. Life hack: Put your resignation in writing with a date in the future. In many states, if the employer attempts to move the termination date (without compensation), they will award wages until your resignation date... I've used this twice, and in both cases, I was sent home, but HR told the manager that any severance would start after my resignation date which in one case led to a really awkward call when my manager tried to get me to come back for a month after having me pack up my desk and leave.
  • morepork 4y ago
    Isn't that just normal? How do people normally resign? I've always written up a letter saying my last day will be x
  • cassac 4y ago
    I don’t know they’d have to award you wages, but the only alternative to that would be firing you. Some might try to do that out of spite but it would be far worse for them than you.
    • jethro_tell 4y ago
      They'd usually have to prove they fired you with cause not because you said you quit. i.e. if you get caught stealing or are sexually harassing your co-workers, they can still fire you. They are not however required to let you work. They can revoke access and continue to pay, they can give you a package and terminate you employment. If you don't want to take the package, they can just walk you out of the building and terminate your employment two weeks later.
      • cassac 4y ago
        I’d guess most people, in the US at least, are employed at-will and could be fired right on the spot with no cause given. The problem with that though is you could turn around and file for unemployment which might end up increasing the associated taxes for them with increased headaches. I’d agree that most reasonable HR departments wouldn’t let it go that far but some people like to play dirty irrespective of the costs.
• michaelcampbell 4y ago
  > and I have to say, I think it's not been appreciated, not even once. This mirrors my experience, but for one time where my manager had been a friend for some years prior to me reporting to him.
• zdragnar 4y ago
  I've never given less than a month's notice, and the notice has always been tied to the end date of whatever project or current workload I happen to have. My direct bosses have always expressed appreciation for this, but then again, I've only ever left a company once because I was dissatisfied working there. Culture and relationships are a two way street, and you are always responsible for your own part in building it. You might have a shit boss or work for a shit company and it's not going to end well, and if that's the case and there's nothing you can do, then all that's left is to look out for yourself. I wouldn't ever advocate for that to be the default position, though.
  • michaelcampbell 4y ago
    Question: Are you in Europe? I get the feeling this sort of thing is much more common there (or at least "not the US")
    • ysavir 4y ago
      Maybe not. I'm in the US and this is generally my practice as well. Unless I'm dying to get out or have other circumstances encouraging a quick exit, I offer a month at least. Sometimes more.
    • zdragnar 4y ago
      Nope, midwest US. Two weeks notice is social etiquette as a minimum to avoid burning a bridge, so to speak. There's nothing against giving further notice. Thinking back on it, though, I would absolutely not give further notice if I was only doing "busy" work (as someone suggested elsewhere). I try to maintain a good relationship with my employers as a professional courtesy. Putting out notice beyond what active work I have would, I think, send a signal that I'm looking to collect an easy pay check and disconnect. Lining up my resignation with my active work sends a message that I am still invested in contributing to my team's success, and that's a good way to have people be more than happy to give you referrals or networking opportunities in the future.
      • Freedom2 4y ago
• snarf21 4y ago
  Totally agree. Two weeks for knowledge transfer should be it. Remember that most leadership view all engineers as replaceable cogs. Just wrap up what you can and loop others into the things that can't and move on with life. Big companies probably don't want you around from a liability. Small companies want the knowledge transfer because you have "blind-sided" them. (Despite asking for a raise for the last two years and told no chance.)
  • ghaff 4y ago
    My experience is that two weeks is probably about right most of the time--especially for ICs. The company expects it as the norm. And it's either enough time to do a reasonable handoff or no sensible length of time is going to be enough. (And I'll always answer the odd "help!" question for the coming month or two.) Go much beyond that and you're in this odd extended winding down situation where you can't really take anything new on and you're increasingly checked out. And, in a physical office environment, you're probably also increasingly just a distraction.
  • jethro_tell 4y ago
    I gave 6 weeks on my last one to a fanng, Never again. That was when the project I was working on was slated to finish, and I continued working on it until then. I but it was a bit unexpected for me and I had a 4 day weekend scheduled to take my kids on a school trip. Came back on Monday, incompetent fuckers had locked me out and terminated me as a no call no show. lol, uh, it's in the fucking time off tool you fucks. The thing that really sucked was that I was a high preforming employee, I canceled a promotion review to give notice. 7 years in and some jerkoff needs your seat and 6 weeks isn't appreciated. The got me reconnected after a couple days and then my manager never talked to me again. that was a long three weeks there at the end.
    • ricardobayes 4y ago
      Yep this is more like the real word experience. Never be "nice" to companies, they don't give a shit about you. I'm not even bitter or anything like that is just the reality. Your coworkers will forget about you in a week. Work is transitional, don't make it your life.
• 93po 4y ago
  One time I gave 4 week notice and my lead HR person (~2000 person company) who I have never spoke to before called me very upset and yelled at me for several minutes about how rude I was being by doing 4 weeks instead of 2.
• lumost 4y ago
  Something I realized. After you give notice, at most, the business needs about a week to decide what to do with the work you were handling. In tech, most projects can be deferred, and most services can go into KTLO. After the week is done to figure that stuff out - no one really cares about you anymore. There is likewise a tacit assumption that you won’t deliver anything again (why would you?). As such it’s usually best to let someone out the door after a week. Typically when I give notice, I simply state that the employer can do whatever over the next 2 weeks. 70% of the time, when given the choice, they will decide on a fast transition of 1 week. There hardly is anything to do the second week.
  • JoeDaDude 4y ago
    On the day I give notice, there is a bit if a shock and a "what are we gonna do now?" attitude. On the second day, word has got around and everyone wants to know where you're going, etc. On the third day, i brief whoever will take over my job. On the fourth day I am no longer invited to meetings or really have anything to do for the next several days until I leave. In practice, even two weeks is more than enough for your role to be taken over by someone. I really see little value in giving more notice that that for either the employer or employee.
  • onion2k 4y ago
    After you give notice, at most, the business needs about a week to decide what to do with the work you were handling. In tech, most projects can be deferred, and most services can go into KTLO. Ideally, sure. In real life the employee needs to do a brain dump of handover documents because no one writes anything down.
    • throwaway98797 4y ago
      does anyone ever read those braindumps?
      • onion2k 4y ago
        Not top to bottom like a doc, but having it means you can include it in a search when you don't know something. That often proves useful.
• yodsanklai 4y ago
  > I've generally given a lot of notice as an IC, 2-3 months in some cases. and I have to say, I think it's not been appreciated, not even once. I personally think it's the right thing to do, not for the company, but for your colleagues. If staying longer can help your colleagues to take over your stuff, some will be grateful and will remember it if your paths cross again.
  • P_I_Staker 4y ago
    IDK. All my colleagues leave after 2-3 weeks, sometimes less. It's just how things are done. My last employer moved my end date so the could claw back several hundred to a thousand off my last pay check, after I stayed a bit longer. I know now I might have been able to fight this, and may have done that knowing what I know now. On the other hand it might not be worth the effort. If you're wondering how, I think I didn't "earn" vacation until the end of the month, and was technically using "borrowed vacation". I stayed with that company for 7 years... I can't think of any other reason for them to end my employment two days early, right before the end of the month.
• WalterBright 4y ago
  > I absolutely loathe the modern corporate culture[...] If you've been on the other side of that - having employees sabotage or steal in the process of leaving - you'd at least understand it. Not many people do that, but it's always the bad apples who ruin it for everybody.
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• JamesBarney 4y ago
  I gave several months notice one time. They didn't use any of the time to onboard someone else, and afterwards talked about how I left them high and dry. From now on I'm giving 2 weeks and getting the fuck out of there.
• ricardobayes 4y ago
  Yeah exactly. The experiences around me agree with you: once someone is "out" most managers will look to "eliminate" that person from the group ASAP. I've even seen someone being asked not to come in from tomorrow, which shocked everyone since that person was well liked, a good performer - even had multiple patents associated with him. It was just a power trip from that manager.