
Ask HN: When is it too early to leave your first job? - AConsultant
I&#x27;m a new grad with a degree in finance, but I love programming and tackling challenging, weird and new problems. I&#x27;m about 6 months into working for a big consulting firm, but I can already tell that it&#x27;s not going to work long-term - I don&#x27;t like super-structured hours, relatively limited freedoms and a big hierarchy. I&#x27;m very interested in starting working for a very small company or startup.<p>When is too early to start applying for new jobs? How do I go about interviewing if I&#x27;m not sure that the startup I&#x27;m interviewing at is right for me and I don&#x27;t want to leave my current job if it&#x27;s not? What&#x27;s your advice?
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brudgers
Questions:

What do you like about the job?

What are you learning?

Who are you meeting?

Who are you working with?

Free advice:

1\. "Long term" in terms of a new graduates career is pretty long. Some day,
odds are, you'll be sixty three.

Lots of small workplaces have structured hours and limited freedom and in
exchange for a big hierarchy, the boss can start to take ten minutes late to
your desk and long lunches personally even if you stay late every day...which
is to say that big organizations are more likely to have experienced
professional managers than a place where the boss has their child's college
tuition on the line.

I'm not saying that working for a big consulting firm is the right decision.
I'm suggesting that it isn't likely a bad place to gain experience in the
world of work while figuring out a better answer to "why did you leave your
last job" than what sounds like, "I don't really like going to work".

That better answer is probably in terms of a specific opportunity.
Historically, working for consultants is a great way to widen the opportunity
surface.

Good luck.

~~~
AConsultant
1) I like how great the benefits are, and how amenable my firm is to making
sure that I don't totally hate my life (crazy, inconsitent hours and a good
work-life balance). But at the same time, I find the stability to be stifling
- I'm not opposed to working 14 hours/day if I know that I have a tight
deadline coming up, but why do I have to sit at my desk to hit a 40 hour/week
deadline if I don't have 40 hours of work to do?

2) I'm currently in a long-term project, and it's the nature of my firm and
the projects that my group has that you tend to stick to a project over a
fairly "long" time period (1-2 years for consulting might as well be forever).
I am doing a lot of self-education during the times during my 40 hours/week
that I don't have anything to do, but even so, there's only so much I can do.
I've worked on harder projects that taught me more in internships. This is
what I'm most dissatisfied with, but I don't want to rock the boat because I
want to remain in the good graces of higher-ups.

3-4) My current project is in a field that I have relatively little interest
in, and I've found that a lot of the people I am working with want to be
lifers - something I DO NOT want to do. I want a creative and diverse (in
thought) group of people, and I tend to be in a stagnant place.

Like you say, "working for consultants tends to be a great way to widen the
opportuntity surface", but I haven't seen that so far. It may be that I am in
the wrong place in my firm, but as I've already said, I don't want to rock the
boat and possibly jeopardize the current stable state of affairs, which is
significantly better than nothing.

~~~
JSeymourATL
> I've worked on harder projects that taught me more in internships. This is
> what I'm most dissatisfied with...

Turns-out that the lack of feeling personal & professional growth is a very
common complaint with people early in their careers. The pace and variety of
corporate work life can be extremely stifiling compared to university &
internships.

Before you jump to a new job-- one way to consider the next step in your
career is ask:

\- What are the most important problems in your field?

\- Are you working on one of them?

\- Why not?

\- How can you leverage where you are now into the Next Big Thing?

On this subject, Richard Hamming offers brilliant advice>
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1zDuOPkMSw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1zDuOPkMSw)

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monroepe
It's never too early if you really hate it. You just don't want to get in the
habit of leaving companies after working there less than a year. A lot of
companies get turned off by that. The advice I got from multiple people was to
stick with your first company at least a year. I am not suggesting staying a
year, but you should plan to be at your next company 2-4 years at least.

------
rubberstamp
I suggest you should follow what genuinely interests you. But before you quit
your current job, do some course on CS on courseera or edx or MIT. They are
available online for free and if you need a certificate or course credits that
option is available too. By doing a course you will be able to know if you
really like programming or not. Also once you complete it properly (most
shouldn't take more than 3 months), you will be in a better position to start
working as a programmer if you still want to. This will also be the safest
option as you will have an year experience in current job. You can experiment
with your programming ideas and who knows where that would take us. Be
passionate about it. Even if you will be working for no one other than
yourself, without some structured hours, its going to be a bite back long
term. Hating structure is a common feeling with first time job. Part on good
terms. Do not quit abruptly on any job without proper notice period and don't
make enemies.

~~~
AConsultant
I have a lot of experience in programming, and one of my internships was
extremely programming intensive. As well, I have a few side projects where I
am the sole programmer working on them. I really love it, but more from a
higher-up, project perspective. I can get my hands dirty with code, but I feel
like I am best when I can see the forest rather than the trees. I want
something where I have to do a little bit of both.

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staunch
Interview at a few places before leaving your current job. Try to find a place
you're really excited about. But also realize that you might have to repeat
this process multiple times to find a really good match.

The job market is very inefficient. There are are limited number of great jobs
available, so you're unlikely to find them if you don't put in some effort.
It's so hard to find a great job that lots of people start their own companies
(and then fail to create very many great jobs)...

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carlosnunez
Most recruiters make their placing fee within 90 days of placing their
candidates, so for most of us, I would consider 3 months or less to be too
soon. (That said, new agencies pop up daily, so finding someone else to place
you isn't hard.)

Six months? You're fine. I left my job at Google within 8 months and didn't
have an issue landing an awesome gig. (I got a lot of questions for it though)

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laxentasken
\- "When is too early to start applying for new jobs?" Never, imo. Just be
ready to be able to have a good answer when the recruiter/HR asks you why you
are looking for a new place. However people that tend to only work short
stints and jump around might get frowned upon (just my personal guess..)

You cant really know if the grass is greener on the other side, that is the
beauty of life.

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eecks
3pm is too early, I'd stay till 5pm

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dynofuz
I left my job at a big consulting firm 6 months after i finished college. It
was one of the best decisions I made. I left only after i had another job
offer in hand.

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a_lifters_life
Never, never allow an employer to dictate your next move. This is your life,
and your career.

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edoceo
Do you have debit? If yes, make a big dent in that now.

Do you have savings? If no, get some of that too.

Then you can comfortably find the right gig.

