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Switched jobs, think it was a step back

9 points by ChangedJobs ↗ HN
Quick back story, was a dev working for a small company/startup. We were spread pretty thin and I was the lead dev on a large project, with a few FT devs and contract devs on my team. I had significant exposure to top management. I ran the sprints, deployed the software, performed light operations tasks, and basically had a say in the product. However, when I started, I sort of low balled myself and later on tried to rectify that, but we didn't see eye to eye and because of a few other reasons, I left and gave myself a ~30% raise.

The new place is interesting. Another "startup". I am not working on challenging problems and I am no longer a team lead. I didn't perform enough due diligence, I just figured startup = variety and hard problems with out much hierarchy. I have more leadership experience than my current team lead. I don't see much of an opportunity for advancement in the near term. I feel like a cog.

The money and perks are great, however I'm worried that this was a major step back in my career. I've provided my thoughts to my team lead, but I just don't see things changing.

Do I wait it out, work hard and pretty much start from scratch? Do I move on? (The old company would have me back in a heart beat, but, I REALLY don't want to do that for a few different reasons, pride not really being one of them)

6 comments

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zdgman
How long were you at each job? I doubt that making a move to another startup was a major hit to your career even if you aren't the team lead anymore.

Stick it out and ask for more leadership in your current position. Probably looks worse if you make a commitment and then decide to back out on the job a few months later.

Would be good to provide aprox timelines for all of this as well.

mark_l_watson
That is the key question: how long on each job? I am going to show my age here but I think that it is in general, given no extreme extenuating circumstances, it is not cool to stay less than a year on each job.

I have worked for four bosses on three different occasions each and another two or three bosses on two occasions each. Look out for people and they may look out for you.

As much as possible business should be a win-win situation. I understand that most companies don't put employee's welfare at the top of their priority list, and I believe that we workers are responsible for shepherding our own careers, but all that said it is best "to always make money for your partners" (to steal a line from the Godfather movie).

anti-nihilist
Well, definitely don't go back. Why not start looking (secretly) for a new gig?

What are your priorities? You mentioned dissatisfaction w/low pay, wanting a more leadership role, and wanting to work on hard problems. Maybe provide us with a pie chart or how important each part of what you're looking for in a dev role is?

Might be helpful to post results from this too: http://richardstep.com/self-motivation-quiz-test/

ssylee
I wouldn't advise you to return to your old company. But with the new startup opportunity, you would need to do more homework to see if it fits you personally. Appropriate measures to avoid risks of appearing like a job hopper.
kls
Back when I used to work for other people, I would always start over as a developer when I took a new position. The pay is about the same for a senior developer to a lead and it is also about the same as pure tech management, but the headaches are a lot less. In 3 organizations, I rose to the position of CTO and it was never my ambition. My experience has colored my outlook, but I believe that smart solutions and hard work will elevate you. I have read countless articles about the politics of promotions here on HN, but I take little stock in them. At your current organization think like a businessman, identify the biggest pain points in the organization and fix them, fix them on your free time if you have to. If you start fixing or implementing items that significantly increase revenue for the company it will not go unnoticed. Being a painkiller gets people addicted to your success.
devs1010
You can't always have it both ways, having interesting, challenging problems every day and also making good money, sometimes it works out that way, other times not. I was in a somewhat similar situation where I left a very small startup at one point for a much more boring, but stable job, however I felt it ended up giving me time to explore my own interests relating to programming and even start some personal projects, where I otherwise would not have had the time. Why not take the slower pace and use the extra time to work on some of your own projects and plan out where you want to go next, sometimes some "down time", relatively speaking, in a career, can be a good thing