Who Likes Their Job?
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I've always enjoyed software development (I guess the 10-15 hours a week I spend at home reading tech books and coding are testimony to that) but I'm on the verge of quitting my current job - despite it seeming wonderful on the outside. I am paid well (around £40K), work less than 2 miles from home and working in web application development - which is pretty cool. So why would I want to leave?
After 16 years in total (5 big companies) I'm increasingly disenchanted by politics and policies of working for big companies. Working at a FTSE100 company can sound exciting - but it increasingly grates with me.
Annual rounds of redundancies as the latest UK divisional MD (third in two years) looks to cut costs. Working in a slowly contracting department where morale has plumetted and sick leave is multiplying is not lovely. Every development task now has to be assessed as a potentially outsourced development - and when the ropey rubbish comes back from which ever offshore location is cheapest we get to then prop it up. I am the senior on my team which was 10 strong two years ago but will soon have 4 developers. Now that all development budgeted over 10 days now has to be approved by the MD there is little in-house development; so the job has transformed into a third line support position, with some support enhancement work - as no-one dares put their head up and create work; because (Work==Cost && Cost==Redundancy).
My line manager put in a decent business case for servers, software and training three years ago that was approved 'in principle' last year - but was in effect doomed from the moment he was made redundant. In fact his redundancy and the cost of the business case were probably related. It has now been 'satisfied' by allocating a decommissioned web server as a SQL Server and installing SQL Server on the development license that comes with MSDN Universal. My old boss is now working at EDS and loves their more liberal attitude to just about everything! (I am describing EDS as liberal which may give a clue to how conservative my big company is). I've had a couple of line managers since then and avoiding trouble is their modus operandi.
There are lots of other small things that have grated; removal of flexi-time; removal of bonus payments; removal of casual clothes on Fridays (could have worded that better); clocking in/out; office equipment (chairs, desks, monitors etc) that was salvaged from a merger in 2000 and had seen better days then; and so on. I even applied for voluntary redundancy last year and was turned down and my junior (who I recruited six months earlier) was cut instead (he's now at Price Waterhouse Coopers and loving it).
Perhaps as I approach 40, with my son growing up, I'm looking for a change; perhaps I just work for a rotten company; perhaps both. But even writing this convinces me that it is time to go!
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Good luck Anthony in making a change. If it's a bad place, then I'd recommend leaving.
I'd caution you though that the grass isn't always greener at the next company. Move slow, and ask questions, and try to be sure it's a good fit for you.
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Anthony,
Everywhere is the same. The bigger the company, the more politics you have to due with. You are still young, changing career seems a little drastic at this point unless you have a very big interest in doing something else. Also you have a young family to think of. If I don't have a son going to college, I'll quit at no time at all.
Try finding a medium size company, you may enjoy more, when you interview, ask more tough questions. Last time I actually asked the attribution rate of the company and asked the manager about his opinion of outsourcing.
I hope you will find a job you like.
I have been worked for over 10 companies. I found out there was only 1 company I actually hated everything. For the other companies, I liked about something and then I did not like about something. It is all up to what you can tolerate.
my 2 cents.
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Agreed about "grass is not always greener" but unfortunately there's only one way to find out.....sure you can try and locate other employees and sound them out etc.. but more often than not you don't know till you actually join and see if everything they promised during the interview holds out or not...that and of course your "gut feeling"...
ps: what is the "attribution rate of a company" ?!?!
**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!** -
Attribution rate? I guess that's how often your boss takes credit for the work you do... <kof>
Seriously, a while ago I interviewed at a shop that had a team of about 10, and had lost a total of two people over the 10+ years they had been in business. I wasn't the right fit for the position they were adding, but, I certainly keep an eye on their job postings
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that's a great definition right there...I moved (4 months ago) from a company that has over 45k employees to one that has 12 - it's great to know you count and you actually have a name and face to go with your employee# !!!!
**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!** -
Hey... it was too easy to go with that mispelling...
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HEY! Google ate my reply....
apparently spell check can cause some odd stuff to happen.
Anyway, I don't think I've ever worked for anything but a mid-sized company (100-500 employees) big enough for there to be some potential to move up, but small enough you don't get overlooked. I don't think I've ever worked for a company with under 50 employees, unless of course you count two of the bigger places I've worked for that have gone through bankruptcies, and got down to very low headcount. (You really know you count when you're one of the 1 in 10 that survives to work at the new company)
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"Attrition rate of the company" and "attrition rate of the department"
Attrition rate is how many people resigns and leaves the company.
When I interviewed, I asked the attrition rate of the company and the attrition rate of the department, that meant I asked how many people left the company/department the year before or over the last few year (not counting layoff.)
If the company/department has high attritrion rate, it is red light why the company/department cannot retain people, either the company has bad management or the job is lousy.
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Thanks for the supportive replies - I really appreciate it. I've got an annual review today (this will be the second annual review in the last five years) so I think it will be a bit gloves off.
I'm not going to get out of coding/SQL - perhaps doing it somewhere else; or developing a web site (that I've built up to over a million page impressions a month) into a revenue generator.
I'd like to take a few chances but my wife has quit her job and is trying to build up a business making and selling expensive keepsakes to the discerning mothers of south Manchester/Cheshire. So the likelihood is that I will start looking around now, but I can't really do anything that would mean a big pay cut.
Thanks everyone.
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I agree as well about "the grass is not always greener" but it's true--there's only one way to find out.
If you're scared or indecisive about leaving your company, check internally and see if you have other opportunities within the same company. I've had several jobs, but all have been great-building blocks. A long time ago, I left all my jobs because of things I hated about the job, but then I worked for Verizon (a very large company) for 7 years. Towards the time I left, I was scared to leave and very indecisive to what I wanted to do. Well, fortunately, I have my wife to thank for telling me to find some help. I was going through depression. I've been on medication for almost 3 years and I'm no longer scared nor indecisive. Verizon RIFed me, but I'm so glad they did. In this day-in-age, 7 years is a long time with one company. Sure, I miss Verizon, but it was just another building-block.
I'm now in a new job that I still can't stand, but it's helping me learn more skills that I'll be able to take elsewhere. I'm hoping to move on soon and this time I'm not scared to go, I want to learn more and work with more qualified people that enjoy working as a team.
In short, I'm no expert, but if you feel you're scared or you just can't seem to make a decision on your own, try expressing your feelings to your doctor and see if maybe it's just out-of-your control. You'll never know until you try....
Good Luck...
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