Would you quit a job three months in?

19 points by thisiswrongggg ↗ HN
Hi. Not sure if HN is the right place to ask this but would you quit a job three months in? The job per se is not too bad but the immediate bosses are insufferable.

Put another way if I was past the 2 year watermark I wouldn't even wonder. I'd just start looking but getting out so soon I'm afraid it's going to tank my chances.

36 comments

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Nobody is going to care about you having one short stint somewhere because it didn't work out. That happens.
One can even omit mentioning the position on the resume, if the total break is less than 6 months. It should be fine.
Better now than to be fired or forced out due to personality conflicts in a year. Sometimes a bad fit is invisible until you are in the trenches - insufferable bosses might be hard to see before. Is it worth slogging on? I don't know your bosses, perhaps you will learn to tune it out or they will back off when you aren't new any longer.

(And it is refreshing to see per se used correctly. Thanks!)

I once quit a job five days in, because the boss (on day 4) berated me in a way that indicated a lack of anger control. I gave it a day to think it over, then quit.

I had been hired through an agency, and called them, being apologetic and saying I hoped I hadn't endangered their relationship with their client (although no way I was staying). They said I hadn't, and by the end of the call it became apparent that I wasn't the first person to quit in this way.

One thought exercise you might consider, to see if you are being unreasonable or not. Imagine, as a thought experiment, that you were needing to explain to someone (say at your next job interview) what was wrong with your "insufferable" bosses. If you have a hard time explaining (even as a thought experiment) why your immediate bosses are insufferable, then you would want to introspect a bit more as to what is really bothering you. But, if you are able to explain the problem clearly (and professionally), perhaps to a non-work friend or something, then it's probably not just you being in a bad mood or whatever, and you should start looking.

One additional thing to mention is you can start looking before you quit, just to see what the market currently is like for you.

I put in notice at the 3 month mark at my last job. It wasn't a problem at all, though I don't bother to list it on my resume.
Yes.

Though, given that you have nothing to lose, you could consider first kindly telling the bosses what is insufferable. Maybe that could help, idk?

Or I guess I'm curious too: what makes the immediate bosses insufferable?

A combination of things. My concerns are usually dismissed. When shit I predict actually happens there is no credit or even acknowledgement. At times I don't feel respected and when I raise it it is equally dismissed with a "grow up" attitude. While technically I am probably amongst the best devs around the bosses tried to manage me into a test position (sugar coated as test lead) in order to bring in an older acquaintance of them in my position. Finally even though nobody told me so there is some travelling that is mandated (because they are insecure and they want to show up as much as possible to their bosses). This kind of thinking permeates them and is the reason why my concerns are dismissed (if we complain we will look bad so stop complaining and cheer up).

OTOH the pay is ok, the rest of the guys are ok and I left the previous dumpster fire of a company before the 1 year mark.

Oh man that sounds pretty bad... I feel you. Hmm I guess one way of looking at it is just in terms of power. Like your immediate boss has power over you and treats you like shit. So I wonder, is there any way to gain power elsewhere, like demonstrating value to higher ups or other people? Like if the concerns you raise are really hurting the bottom line, that really should get known or else it's an inefficient organizational system.

But yeah if there's no opportunities to increase your visibility or power, it's pretty hard to overcome a shitty manager... and especially if he doesn't value your work, why even bother doing good work?

Sure, I quit at 4 months once I realized my boss (CTO) had no experience managing senior people US based like me, and had only managed cheap offshore devs that he could yell at.
I have. Hiring manager lied about the job and put his two weeks in the week I started. I wasn't on the team I interviewed with nor doing the work I was promised. Noped right out of there.
I quit a job 3 weeks in because my coworkers were dead inside. Employers prolly won't ask about such anomalies on your resume unless it looks like a pattern. GTFO. Have a prepared response just in case
I would simply not include it in my resume - especially with that brief a period - but I would be surprised if anyone actually noticed a gap (I sure as hell wouldn't). But then if they did ask @monsterofcookie is entirely correct, it's not their business, have a canned response ready in case, I'd go with something generic along the lines of "the work didn't seem relevant to this job so I didn't include it" (side note: you should try to tailor your resume to each application even if just a little), or in Silicon Valley tech companies at least we didn't have a good culture fit (do not disparage former employers, even if true).
My shortest full time salaried position was less than 6 months I would guess. There were a bunch of issues, but at the core I think you could legitimately call it a bad culture fit. There were a few explicit issues - I reported to three distinct people for a single project, I will be clear that they were all fine personality-wise it just ended up feeling unclear who was actually my boss.

But the main issue was company culture/values and I could never really get comfortable. I mostly took the job for improved commute, knowing that there were places our opinions diverged but I thought it would be manageable, after all it is just a job. In the end I decided the I couldn't so peace out'd.

But I do want to be clear - the people I actually worked with were great, it was the company as a whole that didn't work out.

Yes.

I once took a job where I had exactly one condition for hire. They assured me it would never come to pass. In fact, the 3rd day it came to pass. I asked "don't you remember this was the only condition I set?" They replied "I don't care, just get it done."

I quit on the spot. I don't list this job on my resume. Life is entirely too short to put up with people that walk all over you. Just move on and find something healthier.

If you're okay with sharing, is this condition about the tech stack?
With apologies for the delay…

It was unrelated to the tech stack; I’ve always worked in IT/operations where that sort of condition generally doesn’t fly.

It was related to an ethical line I refused to cross, and that’s all I will really say. It was a disappointing episode in my life, where I realized after the fact that I could’ve made better choices & avoided the situation entirely.

I quit a day after three months and a day, once.

I was fresh out of university and I took a job doing software with a company who only had one developer overseeing me.

He was extremely rude to me, and extremely strict with me, getting angry if I showed up 5 minutes late or took even one extra minute for lunch. At my three month review his feedback was very negative and he clearly wanted to get rid of me but his bosses convinced him (and me) to agree to one more month of probation. I raised some of my issues with how he was treating me, so we drew up some revised expectations for both of us, then both of us signed them.

The very next day he pulled me over to his desk. I had designed a three column layout for a page he'd assigned me to build. I had left-aligned the text in the header columns. He wanted them center aligned. He communicated this to me by highlighting the text, slamming his mouse on the desk and shouting "does this look good to you!?". It would have taken me thirty seconds to fix at most, but he was furious about it.

I walked away from him, into my manager's office, and quit on the spot.

The real cherry on top of this story is they were only paying me $13 an hour.

It’s fine. Bolt if it’s not for you.
People join for the company and leave because of the boss.
The answer is always yes. When people think frequently and decisively about quitting, especially if one works in a worker-unfriendly country like the United States, and setting aside financial concerns, I always advise to move on.

Consider the alternative. You are staying otherwise in a workplace you hate or it is not good enough for you for two years or more because, in that way, maybe some recruiter would not you cross you out from their 3000-strong list of people suitable for the job they are advertising for.

I would probably hesitate but, if I had some financial safety, I would eventually decide to quit. Is there a lot of upside to staying in terms of career growth and/or compensation?
Yes, businesses only seem to care what you've been up to lately. If you jump onto something else, this 3 month stint will be meaningless within a few years.
Yes. I actually have done this. I left my last job around 4 months in. I also have a few gaps on my resume, each approaching a year long.

YMMV, but in my experience, it will not tank your chances. I got plenty of interviews whether I was totally upfront about my reasons for quitting or not. Searching for a job sucks, but you'd be doing it anyway. It will suck worse if you don't have enough reserve cash.

But if you've got enough cash to float you for several months, don't waste another 3 months or more of your life hating it. I've never regretted the times I quit abruptly or didn't work.

In my opinion, people quit managers most often, and ocassionally projects. People don't quit jobs or organisations in general.

Bolt out of there real quick. Like others mentioned, start looking, skip this stint on your resume, and have a canned response when asked.

Unless finding a new job that pays similarly would be significantly difficult, there's no real reason to stick around a place where you can't stand the people you work with.

Your chances of finding a new or better job won't be impacted at all imo. If anyone asks you can say you were not convinced it's a good cultural fit, and even spin it positively as you being decisive rather than sticking around and not doing justice to the job and yourself or some other such brand of authenticity and linkedin heroism.

Yes. You are not invested at two months in. If you are not enjoying it it’s better to leave early if you can rather than suffering hoping it gets better. Follow your senses, two months in should be the honey moon period so it is a bad sign if already asking should you leave.

I did similar recently. The job wasn’t what I was looking for, highly senior team in titles but much more junior / immature in reality than I’m used to and thought I was joining. It felt like a significant step down work wise and as the team was new it had a bunch of new team forming issues I had no time for as I’m a head down and work person. It was a shame as the work itself had potential to be really interesting and the company itself was very good with fully remote, every second Friday of the month off, quality of life perks etc etc.

Leaving early meant loosing RSU’s wasn’t an issue as I could make the difference back in a new salary. If I stuck around for the initial 12 month cliff for 40% RSU’s vesting I’d probably of hated each day, effecting my performance and then in the end leaving before the 12 months anyway but with a greater loss as wouldn’t of been able to make the difference back on higher salary vs RSU’s with time invested.

remember!

To employ means to "use".

All employers are therefore using you.

During the early stages of my training I used to intentionally only take jobs that offered certificated and recognised training programs as part of the package. These jobs usually paid far less than the going rate.

For instance, one job I applied for offered a complete certificated training package as a methadone dispenser.

After 3 months and the completion of the training I left and got a better paid job as a care-coordinator and methadone dispenser at nearly double the money.

A quick and painless way for developing a good CV

I think nowadays such jobs come with the stipulation that you pay them the cost of the training if you quit within x time.
I did that. The job was bad for more than one reason and I couldn't see myself slogging through it for the next 18-24 months, before I can legit-quit.

You options are to either put it on the CV or just hide it. I've chosen to hide it, but I mention it during interviews if my brief experience from there is somehow relevant.

I quit somewhere after a week. Basically it wasn’t what was advertised (job was supposed to be Python backend but was mainly maintaining Ansible scripts) and the turnover on the team was astonishing. The pair that interviewed me had both quit by the time I joined and nobody there at the time I joined knew even what the point of the project was.
I quit one job about three months in. It was out of sheer boredom. The job was remote and the work expectations were so low that it was possible to deliver by working only an hour a day.

There was nothing challenging to do -- just everyday CRUD apps, and the code base was a nightmare of poor decisions. It was driving me demented after only a few weeks and I quickly reached the stage where I had to leave for the sake of my sanity.

It doesn't appear on my CV. I try to blank out the whole experience.

Does having blanks in resume invite more scrutiny from recruiters?
No. I work as a contractor where gaps are common.

Also, two month gaps can be invisible or near invisible. You end one job at the start of June and start the next at the end of July. That's a two month gap that doesn't translate to a gap on a CV at all, as you ended Job 1 in June and started job 2 in July. Gap could be two days, two weeks or two months. For recent jobs I only ever put months on my CV, older jobs I put years. (2006-2009).

My feeling on CVs is to not over complicate things. Keep the narrative as simple as possible. And learn from the three month mistakes so you say no to those jobs next time.

Yep. Life is too short and I am in command of it. Heck, I’d quit on the second day if some dire red flag happened.
I would absolutely do it because of the people and soft issues. Not so much for any other reason.