
How to Quit Your Job - wheels
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2010/03/10/how-to-quit-your-job/
======
ytinas
Good advice. I just had to do this recently and morale is pretty low where I'm
at. Everyone was saying "so did you complain about <random issue from a
laundry list>?". All were shocked when I said "no, I had nothing but good
about the place. I side stepped every negative point".

The thing is, trashing a company as you leave never does anything positive.
Maybe you can brag about it to your friends, but chances are they will be
laughing _at_ you, not with you. Most of the time the things you would
complain about are something your boss knows about is trying to fix, so it
just makes you look like a whiner.

They will also tend to take it personal. You're leaving, chances are they will
to at some point. How would you like to sell yourself to that same guy 3
contracts down the road after dropping a turd on his desk?

------
j_baker
"Job hoppers NEVER make good employees."

I don't agree with this. I think the author can make the case that job hoppers
aren't good employees in his experience. And maybe he can even say that job
hoppers are _generally_ bad. But human beings are quirky animals. Any
statement about human behavior that contains the word "always" or "never" is
almost certainly wrong.

~~~
ellyagg
This criticism is a pet peeve of mine. People use "never" and "always" all the
time and everyone knows (ok, almost everyone) that they don't literally mean
"never" and "always". For example, in this case he means, "Don't make the
mistake of hiring a job hopper because you somehow think this time it'll be
different. You're _almost certainly_ wrong, and there's no way to tell in
advance besides, so don't bother taking the risk. There are other similar
candidates without that risk."

~~~
j_baker
'People use "never" and "always" all the time and everyone knows (ok, almost
everyone) that they don't literally mean "never" and "always".'

I think it still makes a difference though. I mean consider the following two
sentences:

"Job hoppers NEVER make good employees."

"Job hoppers ALMOST NEVER make good employees."

The former is much more strongly worded to the point of requiring overwhelming
evidence that I feel you won't be able to find when dealing with human
behavior.

~~~
lyudmil
In your criticism you've missed an important factor. The former sentence is
better writing.

I also struggle with this when I write, but I try to catch myself and avoid
going down that slippery slope. You can spend the time trying to make each of
your statements precise so that no one can challenge it like you've challenged
this one. Alternatively, you could choose to put something strongly, trusting
your audience to see your point and find your readers are more engaged and
eager to discuss your ideas.

~~~
j_baker
"The former sentence is better writing."

That's highly debateable. And even if it's true, it's very much situational.

I think it depends a lot on the purposes behind your writing. Are you writing
to persuade people? Then perhaps you should consider the more strongly worded
phrase. Are you writing to inform people (as this author does)? Then you're
likely better off prioritizing accuracy. Like Einstein said: "If you are out
to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor."

Mixing persuasive and informative writing is generally a bad idea (although
informing people of what your opinion is is a bit of a grey area). At best, it
convinces your reader that you're trying to persuade rather than inform and
makes you lose credibility. At worst, it's unethical because it's stating
opinion as fact.

------
seanc
I really don't like the idea of a new boss micromanaging my exit. It's none of
his business.

If we've agreed on a start date and he doesn't trust me to show up on time,
that means he doesn't trust me to live up to my commitments. What other trust
issues might we have in the future?

I've given notices anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 weeks. In the longer ones, when
I've explained my outstanding commitments and the consequences to my customers
and colleagues, new employers have always understood. Taking care of people
when you have little financial incentive to do so is a sign of an ethical
person.

~~~
Periodic
I'm sure it's more of an attempt to be sure you're going to be fine with
leaving. If you sound like someone who is confident and will get this all done
in a reasonable time frame, I doubt you'd get much push.

The important part is making sure the person has thought about their exit. If
you know what you are going to do and are confident in your decision, great.
Lots of people haven't really given it much thought and just try to muddle
through and stay nice.

------
jonnycowboy
Especially relevant, as I have to tell my boss exactly this today!

~~~
robotron
Godspeed, jonnycowboy, godspeed!

~~~
jonnycowboy
the deed is done ;) I think I maybe have had too big of a smile walking into
my boss' office though!!

~~~
aonic
How'd it go down then?

~~~
jonnycowboy
Very well, told him I was dissatisfied with the way employees were treated,
with the way management was going and apparently the big smile was a dead
giveaway that I had already made my decision and that he wouldn't be able to
sway me. So I guess my advice related to this article would be, if you're
hiring somebody and he has to tell his boss that he's quitting, make sure he
looks as enthusiastic as possible about the new job, to make sure the boss
rolls over right away ;)

~~~
imp
Hmm... it sounds like you didn't follow any of the advice in the article.
Shows that there's more than one way to quit a job. What was his reaction when
you said that you didn't like the way employees are treated?

~~~
jonnycowboy
Definately two ways to skin a cat!

I think he knew we were being treated unfairly, but yet he couldn't do
anything about it. One of the problems of a large company like that is that
there are so many layers of 'management' that nobody is left with any
responsibility or autority (like treating employees better).

~~~
imp
Ahh, yes. I know exactly what you mean. I felt that at BigCo. also.

------
pvg
I wonder if this advice is informed by the author's experience in the UK. In
the Northern California software/tech industry, 2 weeks notice is the standard
courtesy. It's also, I've found, widely accepted that having someone who
doesn't want to be there can be corrosive to team dynamics so both employer
and employee have an interest in aiming for the minimum time needed for an
orderly hand-off. That tends to be two weeks or less.

~~~
shpxnvz
So long as your relationship with the company is pleasant, the "proper" notice
to give depends on the specifics of the position and could be longer than 2
weeks. It's polite to give enough time so that you can transition your
responsibilities to whomever will be taking them over. In senior positions
I've often given 4 weeks notice, but I know some people who commonly give 6 or
more.

Continuing to be a productive part of the team during that period of time is
simply a matter of professionalism. It's true that occasionally one party or
the other is incapable of continuing to work together, but that's pretty rare
in my experience.

~~~
bonsaitree
Assuming the employer/employee relationship is healthy, I give the customary 2
weeks, but always allow for up to 4 additional weeks of off-site 1099
consulting and communication.

This can be especially helpful when transitioning a large codebase, or really
any suitably complex project, where some of the undocumented "lore" isn't
readily apparent to either party until after the formal transition effort is
already well underway.

------
zupatol
I think it's really sad to change jobs without a period of a few months doing
nothing in between.

~~~
SandB0x
Not everyone can afford that luxury.

~~~
jasonkester
Sure they can. By definition, if you have a job, it is paying you money.
Anybody can choose to save some of that money every month with the intention
of taking a good long vacation in the future. It doesn't matter how little you
make, you can always adjust your lifestyle to allow for savings.

So while it's entirely possible that _you_ can't afford that luxury right this
minute, that's entirely something you've chosen for yourself. And the
interesting part is that you can do something about it.

With a few basic changes to your life today, you can afford to take 3 months
off next year.

~~~
happenstance
No, not anybody can. What if you have a family and are barely making ends meet
as it is? It's very difficult to convince a wife that you'd like for the
family to spend a little less so you can have a few months off next year
between jobs.

~~~
jasonkester
Assuming you have a job in IT, how does one get to the point where he's only
making ends meet, even with a family in the mix?

Assuming a low-end IT salary, you're still bringing in 5k+/month. Minus $2000
for tax, zero for your 10 year old cheap car, $1000 for rent, and another $500
for food, that leaves $1500 for conspicuous consumption or savings.

If you've chosen to use up that excess by upgrading apartments, leasing a car,
buying a flatscreen on the Visa card, etc., that's what is eating up your
ability to save money.

There's no reason to be living month to month on $60k+ a year. Unless that's
what you've chosen to do.

~~~
starkfist
You're missing a lot of stuff like gas, parking, car insurance, phone bills,
internet connection, electricity, heat, water, diapers, kid insurance, kid
clothes, kid medicine, kid entertainment (toys, books, etc), babysitter, day
care, etc, etc. Your food budget is assuming the family is living on beans and
rice.

~~~
jasonkester
Indeed. Budget it out however you like, but if you can _exactly_ make ends
meet each month, chances are you can make ends meet and have one dollar left
over to save. Look a bit harder and you might find $50 left.

Start thinking that way, and keep at it for a while and suddenly you'll find
you're not living month-to-month anymore.

~~~
watmough
Here's a recipe for living on one 'median' income:

    
    
      * Pay your cars off. 
      * Get down to < $300 / month on food. 
      * Stop eating out except on special occasions.
      * Turn the thermostat up / down in summer / winter. 
      * Cap mortgage or rent at $1000 / month.
      * Live close to work
      * Stop buying lots of crap you don't need.
      * Build some savings
    

The key thing is, if you can manage on one income, a LOT of expenditure just
melts away. Day care, gas for commuting to two jobs, much easier to eat at
home, etc. etc.

~~~
happenstance
Those things would be easy if it's just you. However, imposing those policies
on the wife is another matter. It just devolves into fighting over money all
the time.

------
abecedarius
I've never needed to lie about how soon I've been asked to start working. I've
never needed to be that evasive about why I'm leaving, though it could happen.
I'd have second thoughts about working for this poster after getting all this
micromanaging advice slanted his way.

------
JoachimSchipper
This reminded me of Rands' piece at
<http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2010/01/04/wanted.html>, which is also
an interesting read about getting people to actually show up.

------
tbgvi
If you're really good, your boss is going to do everything they can to get you
to stay. This is great advice on how to leave as quickly and painlessly as
possible.

I usually thought that if someone is interviewing with you they probably made
up their mind on quitting their job, so I didn't push it at all. But I've seen
this happen, where it ends up taking 3 or 4 weeks because they're finishing up
a project. I'm glad they finish what they started, but its true, I probably
could have used them yesterday.

------
wallflower
Unfortunately, in the United States the number one reason people do not retire
early is that they are not yet 65 and qualify for Medicare coverage. Even
well-off individuals are hesitant because of the potential for adverse
personal medical events depleting their nest egg.

Yes, early retirement is not the same as quitting your job when young and
presumably good health - however the fact that in the U.S. medical care is
tied to the company you work for is a major burden on those who want to quit.

~~~
anamax
> however the fact that in the U.S. medical care is tied to the company you
> work for

That's not a "fact". One can buy health insurance and there are other ways to
get it. (For young people, it's often reasonable to "go bare" or just buy
catastropic coverage.)

Employer-paid health insurance isn't free - it's just (mostly) paid for with
money that you don't see.

Would you argue that food/shelter/energy is an obstacle to quitting that
someone should do something about? If not, what makes health care, which is
arguably under more personal control, different?

If you can't afford your lifestyle without an income ....

~~~
stevenbedrick
It's _never_ reasonable to "go bare" in the US, no matter how young and/or
healthy you are. You never know when your gall bladder or appendix will decide
to turn on you, or when a hernia will pop up (or pop out, as it were), or when
an unexpected pregnancy will occur- to say nothing of bike accidents or other
misc. injuries. One day you're feeling fine, the next day you're in the
hospital with a ruptured appendix and end up with a $20,000 bill. Oh, you had
a bad reaction to the anesthetic they used, and needed an extra day in the
hospital? Make that a $25,000 bill. Thank you, come again!

Also, besides the immediate proximal financial impact of having to deal with
any of those situations while uninsured, remember the pre-existing condition
trap: while you're in the hospital getting that appendix out, you'd darn well
better hope that your CT scan doesn't turn up anything else of interest
(cancers, hernias, etc.), as anything they discover while you're uninsured
will be most likely be excluded from whatever future health coverage you might
end up with. Oh, wait-- that'll probably be a moot point, since insurance
companies usually refuse to sell individual policies to people with pre-
existing conditions (even to otherwise-healthy young people with minor
conditions).

Catastrophic coverage is an absolute bare minimum to have, and, even then,
make sure you really read the fine print. A lot of catastrophic or other low-
premium plans have pretty major strings attached in terms of what they will
and won't cover.

~~~
abalashov
Another important point: simply by virtue of having insurance of _some_
description, you will get different pricing than if you're billed directly as
an individual. That's because insurers pay the claim and then settle it with
the policyholder, so the healthcare providers don't factor in the same
delinquency / nonpayment risk that they apply to people who just walk in off
the street and presumably pay in cash. You may get invoiced 2-2.5x more for
the same procedure than you would if the billing were going through some kind
of policy, which is in itself significant, never mind the limits, deductible
or possibility of rescission.

------
SandB0x
I had one month's notice in my contract, knew I was leaving three months in
advance and gave six weeks. Figured that was a good balance between giving a
generous amount of time, and the risk of things turning sour or being asked to
serve out one month only.

I found it quite a hard thing to do, not dissimilar to breaking up with
someone. There was a lot of "it's not you, it's me"...

------
phsr
I just told my boss last week I was leaving so that I could join a startup! I
unfortunately gave a longer notice than I would have liked to because I have
my hands in a lot of the details around. I have the open door here at my
current (for the time being) employer, so if it hits the fan (god forbid), I
do have a job. I wish I had read this last week!! At least I start my new job
in a couple weeks!

------
ggruschow
If the new employer is getting involved trying to make this as easily as
possible, why not just give the present employer a call and work it out? The
employee has their part in it already, why also make them into an emotional
middleman?

~~~
nollidge
Because they're not the middleman, they're the principal actor.

------
Kliment
Very informative article. Seems a lot of startup advice sites will gladly tell
you to quit your job, but this is a great explanation of how exactly that
works out.

------
spuz
I wish I'd read this before I gave my notice to my boss this morning! Who knew
what chaos could be caused by one simple email.

~~~
phsr
You gave notice via email?? I talked to my boss face to face a week ago. His
reaction was priceless "Oh no.....Really?"

~~~
spuz
My boss is 3000 miles away. I wish I was able to talk to him face to face :p

~~~
phsr
Ah, that explains alot

