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Ask HN: Soft. eng. unsatisfied at BigCo. Quit and then look for another job?

7 points by big_co ↗ HN
Hi, I'm a software eng. who graduated from college last year and I, mistakingly, took a job at a BigCo which is in an industry I'm not passionate about at all. And since I didn't have any say in what team I'd be in -- I've been assigned to a team that does 90% support work. I've been updating my dev skills by doing side projects after work (just to learn, nothing anti-competitive or for monetary purposes).

I'm already looking for another job and since the market is quite hot, I'm receiving a lot of requests to interview and meet with companies. This requires me to take time off work, often sporadically. It's only a matter of time before my team begins to suspect something is off, and also I don't feel that great having to take time off work to interview with other companies (not to mention, it often requires rescheduling meetings due to obligations at work).

So, I was wondering if I should just quit and spend all my efforts on looking for a job (and doing side projects in the meantime). How would potential employers perceive that? I know the general advice is to secure a job before you quit your current one, but I think an exception can be made in this market.

Just to add, I've had a few decent internships under my belt during college, which I believe is helping me a lot with getting that first call from potential employers.

6 comments

[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 20.3 ms ] thread
derekja
I had a BigCo manager once who gave me some really good advice, that is to publicly let it be known that you are interviewing at least once a year. Now, in your case I'm not sure I'd let it generally be known how much I was interviewing, but letting people know you're looking at what's out there is usually not too bad an idea. Who knows, maybe they'll be able to do something to address your concerns?

But if not, and you just don't have any passion there, please leave. Life's too short to work on boring crap and decent developers are rarely at risk of starving.

big_co
Right, I have already decided to leave. That's definite. It's just a matter of how to go about doing it. Quitting immediately frees me up to interview with more folks, to pick and choose so I don't make the same mistake again.

The concern here is how potential employers look at this. Would they rather hire someone who's already working, or someone who doesn't have a job? I'd like to get some opinions from people who make hiring decisions if possible.

Thanks

pudakai
Don't leave until you close on other job. As others have noted, your value plunges in the eyes of other hiring folks even though you feel you are the same person.

You also are perceived to be less in a position of strength on compensation negotiations.

And finally, since you don't have a job, there will be a little bit of a question about why you left your last job, a little bit of a non-positive aura about that.

This is just the way the interview/hiring dynamics go, whether we think it is fair or not.

codeonfire
I have to say in my opinion I don't think this is good advice for a developer unless you don't care about being fired, which honestly you shouldn't since being a developer is awesome right now.

Any employee should treat their ability to quit as a loaded weapon. Don't pull it out unless you are going to use it.

[dead] lennexz
Life is too short to work a crappy job. I believe you should do what your heart wants. If you can live comfortably for six months atleast I think you should quit and start looking for a job you like. I recently quit my job, I was a banker. I did it without any plan or money to land on. I know its foolish but life is too short to do something you dont enjoy. Goodluck with whatever you decide.
ssylee
From my experience in a similar situation, employers definitely do prefer to consider candidates who are either working in a job already, or have the opportunity to attract multiple concurrent offers. Think about it like the lone attractive lady in a bar.

In terms of interviewing, if you decide to go with looking for a different job while you still have a job, try to batch together your interviews on a given vacation period, or arrange for interviews to happen at alternative times of the day. As derekja said, decent developers are rarely at risk of starving. However, the HR department usually don't have the ability to tell whether you're a decent developer or not. You will have to pass through the HR filter especially if your network isn't very well-established (which I would presume to be the case for your average college graduate). After you quit, the longer you're out of work, the less likely you'll be able to land a replacement gig before you get desperate and cycle back to the same pattern again.

So at the end of the day, I feel you need to make your decision based on how tolerable you are about the situation (related to how bad the situation progressed).