HACKER Q&A
📣 kopopops

Should I change my job?


Hi folks, I want to get some tips from real experience.

I work as a software engineer remotely the company is so great, the people, the projects we work on is what i actually love to work on my entire life and its used by real users so every change i make has real impact. The company is small to mid, we work on projects mostly for the gov and also we work on our own products. The salary i get is a senior/staff level salary in my country, even tho i only have 1 year of experience, but i dont get other benefits. Working hours are very flexible and there are no very big pressures.

I actually made a good relationship with CEO, and he has a lot of connections, so its another benefit too, i believe.

Its now almost 2 years for me working, and i always think about looking for another challenge, but i just cant, i cant find any place that offers what im currently at. But i dont want to imagine my self working here for 5 or more years.

So i want to ask you, should i change the job?

  👤 toomuchtodo Accepted Answer ✓
My recommendation (n=1, ymmv) is to keep the job and find open source, non profit, or other "meaningful to you" work to do in your non working time. Maybe even ask for 10-20% time to do some of this work on work time, if your employer is open to it. This job sounds unique and hard to replace with something better, find the meaning elsewhere. Most jobs are not meaningful, they are a means to an end (getting paid).

Would you be happy if you landed somewhere much more challenging but with less work life balance and control over your working arrangements, leading you to regret leaving your current role? Ambition and desire to grow are important [1], but so is being mindful of the hedonic treadmill as it relates to work.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive:_The_Surprising_Truth_Ab...

👤 layer8
Keep the job. Why don’t you want to imagine working there for a couple more years? As long as you don’t feel you’re stagnating in terms of skills and personal growth (which is hard to imagine after only two years, the way you describe the company), it’s fine.

The job-hopping culture is bad for software in general, and also bad for personal growth because you don’t get to experience the longer-term results of your technical decisions.

The job market is currently still rather tough, another reason to wait. It’s unclear how long that will take to change, though.

👤 aurizon
See if some benefits are available - CEO might be amenable. Careers are not summer jobs, they are built year by year, often as the company grows and new niches appear that need paid training. Often paid training has a duty to stay 1-2 years and can be pro-rated because some training = $$$ and they want a degree of permanence. Some people do not know how happy they are - until they are not! Insert shot of Bugs Bunny hammering the point of a 500 pound bomb = CRINGE = Marks bomb DUD - or not...