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Will you learn more (career-wise) by staying and observing the fall & aftermath, or by leaving now? I would put forth that you'll learn more by this experience
by chiph 13y ago
Will you learn more (career-wise) by staying and observing the fall & aftermath, or by leaving now?
I would put forth that you'll learn more by this experience about how people deal with failure and what happens afterwards than you would if you left. Will there be shouting & tears? Probably. Will people get fired? Almost certainly. Will you get fired? Chances are low, but not zero. Worst case scenario - you get some severance money.
Given the track record of successes in the software industry (few/poor), learning what not to repeat will probably take you further than anything you could learn by swapping jobs and doing CRUD work. And if you get asked about it, you say "I could have left, but I intentionally stayed on, as I felt that this was something that I needed to experience so that I wouldn't repeat these errors."
The important thing is to act strictly as an observer (do your work, but .. observe what is going on around you), and not to engage in any schadenfreude or gloating. The people that lost their jobs -- for the majority of them, what happened was not their fault and they shouldn't be blamed or made fun of.
So build up some savings (you should have 6 months of fixed expenses saved up, anyway), sit back, and enjoy the ride.
- charlieflowers 13y agoI disagree, but respectfully so. You will learn a lot by staying, but as you said, it truly is a toxic situation. You'd learn a lot by shoveling toxic checmicals every day for 6 months too, but that has semi-permanent effects on you, and it's just not worth it. I recommend you get the hell out, ASAP. Take your time enough to try your best to pick a new landing spot that is not so dysfunctional (even then, there's no guarantees, but give it a good shot). Life is short. Pick a new spot that will be as enjoyable as possible on a daily basis, while also carrying your career in the direction you want to go, and GET THERE ASAP. (And I say that from experience -- I've found myself in a few of these messes myself).
- derekp7 13y agoBut if you're young enough, you may be able to quickly recover from this situation. Better than if you ended up in a similar situation towards the middle / end of your career. One thing that a similar situation in my early twenties helps me with now, is no matter what, I can always say "At least it isn't near as bad as that company". Or, I can properly assess my current situation and know if it is getting just as bad / worse.
- darkarmani 13y ago> I would put forth that you'll learn more by this experience about how people deal with failure and what happens afterwards than you would if you left. Will there be shouting & tears? Probably. Will people get fired? Almost certainly. Will you get fired? Chances are low, but not zero. Worst case scenario - you get some severance money. No one is getting fired. This project is in steady-state.