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Ask HN: Why are you still at your current job?

12 points by dsk139 ↗ HN
I've seen posts lately about large disparities in salary comp even within organizations and unhappiness with current roles/responsibilities (engineering specifically). I was wondering for people who do not feel valued or are not in great environments at their current company: 1. What in your job do you enjoy? (comp, responsibilities, learning, people)

2. What in your job are you missing?

3. Why are you still there even when the job market seems to be extremely healthy right now?

4. What would give you the push to leave?

Feel free to e-mail me answers too if you don't want to post. I'm just curious.

25 comments

[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 57.3 ms ] thread
eip
Hard to find another remote position that pays more but doesn't suck more.
throwawaytrain
1. It pays the bills. I make more than 97% of people in the US. I'm going to get paid a guaranteed 15% bonus at the end of this year. There ain't no way I'm getting fired from here: I know that this employer really can't afford to fire even mediocre people due to the sky-high cost of replacing them.

2. The people here are .. mediocre. I'm not learning anything. I'm not 100% sure whether anyone gives half a turd about the project I'm working on. And I have to dress like a damn fool. (Business casual sucks.)

3. I'm still here because I haven't found anything better just yet. The roof isn't on fire & this job kind of does what it's supposed to do for my family, so I can afford to take the time to find something better. I am actively doing that.

4. I'll leave once I've found an opportunity that I love. I'll know it when I see it.

victorhugo31337
Lol, Nice! I'm in the same boat--glad I'm not the only one.
extrapickles
Same thing for me.

While I'm looking for other opportunities, I'm mainly looking for something I would love doing with nice working conditions, and not another pays the bills type job, even if they paid a little more.

dsk139
Thanks for sharing it seems like a sentiment shared by a a lot of people
dionidium
And I have to dress like a damn fool. (Business casual sucks.)

I realize that this wasn't the main point of your post, but I do have some thoughts on this. My first job after college was at a Fortune 500 company that required business casual. I dressed like an idiot. My shirts were too big (and all of the same single-color button-up variety). My pants didn't fit right (and weren't altered to match my actual height). There was no diversity in my outfits.

You don't have to make those same mistakes.

1. Get the stuff you buy altered to fit you.

2. Look to the web for basic fashion patterns and advice. This is easier than ever.

3. Give up and order from Trunk Club or an equivalent service. It's basic fashion for the fashion illiterate.

tedmiston
Even well fitting doesn't matter when you feel like you were born to wear hoodies, shorts, and sneakers. I currently work for a startup and that's something I place a lot of value in. I would turn down a job at my current salary + $10k if it required business casual attire every day (of course that implies further cultural differences too).
tedmiston
> 1. It pays the bills. I make more than 97% of people in the US.

Any chance you have a reference to the data used to determine that percentage? I'm curious about the overall numbers but had no luck turning up a reliable data set.

throwawaytrain
I went to google and searched for "US income percentiles". Various sources yield between 96% and 99% percent when I punch in my total compensation.
rubynav
Great questions and sometimes life just works out quirky, but here's my thoughts... 1. I do not enjoy anything! 2. I will not miss anything! 3. Pay is descent and benefits are great! 4. I would need to just go after my dreams and stop second guessing myself and my abilities!

Great topic!

dudul
1. Some of the people. Half of my team is awesome, the other half mediocre

2. More money. More responsibilities. More opportunities to learn new things (both technical and "soft skills")

3. I'm currently looking for something else

4. Already decided to leave, just waiting to find the right opportunity.

twunde
1) Some management responsibilities, a good team, pretty good comp 2) Best practices. I want to be able to write automated tests, have architecture documents, good tooling and work with great people. And preferably use a different language other than PHP 3)I've been allowed to work from Europe for months at a time and been given the opportunity to manage a small team. This has been a great opportunity to improve my soft skills, but I feel like my tech skills are rusting away 4) Finding a remote job that pays the equivalent salary or higher. Alternatively, I may leave for a brand name tech company like Google or Facebook where I would work with best practices and great people.
bjw181
1) I'm stuck. Can't make it at a programming job since my major was not CS.

2) Freelance doesn't really work without a portfolio to gain traction

Horrible situation because money was never an issue to me. I just wanted to pursue my passion. If I was able to remotely work for $20/hr. I would gladly move to a low cost of living country.

jliechti1
Are you in the US? If so, not having a CS major shouldn't hold you back too much.

My major was not CS and I am working for a well-known technology company as a software engineer. Feel free to reach out to me privately (email in profile).

bjw181
I have a finance degree and am in the US. I've been self taught for the past few years. I know the basics of programming and its easy for me to learn a new language but proving to tech firms here has proved difficult except for small short term gigs ironing out wordpress issues and writing data mining scripts. Any advice how to break out into the industry would be greatly appreciated.
iSloth
Interviewers normally care about education when they've not got much else to go on. Build something impressive to show them, your proving what your actually capable of, so they don't have to guess capabilities based on your education.
dsk139
As a former teacher with no CS degree and now on my 3rd developer job that I really enjoy I +1 this sentiment. I have some other tips if you need some, e-mail me I'd be happy to help. david at moja dot io
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JSeymourATL
> 2. What in your job are you missing?

There's thought provoking lecture by Richard Hamming on considering your job and career. He asks -

1) What are the most important problems in your field?

2) Are you working on ONE of them?

3) Why NOT?

Timeless advice, applicable to a variety of professions > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1zDuOPkMSw

blabla_blublu
1. The environment is generally positive, love my co-workers and I do a reasonable job as a platform engineer.

2. Would love to have more input in the direction of certain aspects of the product.

3. My #1 priority is work-life balance. It is taken care of here.

4. If work starts becoming tedious (monotony?) and starts eating into my free time / weekends, I would leave right away.

dsk139
Does your company have more product engineer roles that you can shift to?
bryan11
1. Being remote lets me work varied hours as needed with clients but still have a good work/life balance. My manager and co-workers are all generally good and we get along well. I currently get to lead projects involving Devops, scalability testing, performance, and various other things so work is interesting and challenging.

2. The size and culture of the company can make us slower to adopt new things. Both human and physical resources are tight.

3. When I look at new positions, the opportunity there with the risks involved generally don't seem to be better.

4. If my current manager left, work becomes tedious and micro-controlled, I'd likely be looking actively.

dsk139
As a fellow remote employee with good managers it definitely is tougher for me to risk it and make the jump.
a-saleh
1. People, I have some really good colleagues. Then the flexible work hours, nobody really cares if I come in at 6, have a 4 hour lunch break and the finish my work from home, as long as I am able to attend our meetings, and all of those I can do online. I finished my drivers licence this way. Third is the breadth of technologies I get to use.

2. Better compensation. I know the company I work for is below average in my location/profession. Second, I'd like to see more drive towards quality and less on showing barely running mvp's out of the door.

3. I have a small child, so I am willing to forgo better pay if I know that nobody will even blink if I suddenly get from my desk at noon that I need to run an errand and don't return. Second reason is, that in a year we will release new mayor version of our produce and I would really like to see it in better state than barely working MVP :)

4. If my current situation changes, i.e: if my daughter is in kindergarden and wife at work I would exchange the flexible hours for higher pay.

dsk139
It's hard to give up flexibility. I'm single so I don't even need flexibility per say but I'm in a 100% remote situation and it's hard to leave for higher compensation.

would you be interested at all in a service that curates all job boards and e-mails you jobs only if a job matches your criteria (in your case it might be comp, flexibility, and a wide use of different technologies)... if so shoot me an e-mail david at moja dot io. would love to hear your thoughts.