

Ask HN: Should I leave a high paying first job within the first 2 months? - davidchua

Hi HN, I'm in a dilemna right now and I hope that I can seek your advice. Its been a pretty nervewrecking past few days thinking about this and I thought it will be better for my mental health if I could ask for your advice.<p>I'm a recent graduate who managed to secure a high paying job at a Tier-1 Investment Bank doing entry level IT work (Graduates Program). Its been 2 weeks since I've joined my team at my desk after my 3 weeks of training and I don't like it at all.<p>The job is boring, the team is dysfunctional and the corporate systems and processes are just getting depressing.<p>During my undergraduate days, I've started a couple of businesses and was able to survive on doing freelance webdevelopment for startups. I have no idea why I applied for this current job, but I thought it was something I should do after all my peers all did.<p>I'm thinking of leaving my company perhaps to join a small startup or start my own freelance development business again but I'm not sure if its the right move. After all, I'll most likely be taking a significant paycut and I don't know if the new job will be any better.<p>I know most of my peers would kill to be in my current job, but I'm just not happy in it. HN, what should I do?
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endlessvoid94
If you have good software skills and can communicate effectively, the job
market is really, really hot right now. Life's too short to spend it doing
something you hate.

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JoshTriplett
Better to leave now than to string the company along for a while and leave
with more depending on you.

Also: if you're going to post a question like this, I'd suggest not doing it
with a Hacker News handle that looks like a real name. Consider if your
employer read this post before you told them you were leaving, or worse yet if
you decided to stay.

~~~
AppSec
_Better to leave now than to string the company along for a while and leave
with more depending on you._

One thing I learned over the years, there is no large company that truly
depends on an employee. The machine will keep on ticking, even if it has a
little bit of difficulty for a short (relatively) period of time.

To the OP: If you can handle your existing financial responsibilities with the
change, then by all means go for it.

I wish I had followed it as much as I believe, but... if you do what you
enjoy/love then enough money will follow.

Like you, I got sucked in to a job with the salary and then after getting
married the spouse wasn't comfortable with taking the chance on leaving.

EDIT: As far as your friends go.. They are not the one's living your life.
(yet another one of my mistakes).

~~~
jdelsman
I _completely_ agree with the last line here. All too often I hear about
people saying "I will miss my friends/coworkers/boss/family [if I leave my
job]". Life is too short, and they'll move on. Just do it.

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Khao
Make the move and switch. It's always more important to be happy about your
job than to have money. Remember that you spend 5 days a week at work for
about 8 hours so if you don't like being there, every aspect of your life will
be badly influenced because of all these bad feelings you have towards your
current job.

I was in a situation like you not so long ago : Right out of college I got a
good paying job (probably not as good as a bank) but after a year I started to
hate my job. I promptly switched to a small startup and I asked to work 4 days
a week so I can do some freelance work on the side. I love my startup job and
I love doing freelance work and I hope to be able to switch to full time
freelance sometime in the coming years. Overall, it's been the best decision I
have ever made in my life.

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joshuacc
_It's always more important to be happy about your job than to have money._

Not necessarily true. It's more important to be happy about your _life_ than
to have money. But sometimes working at a job you dislike can bring a net
happiness increase. Two ways this can happen:

1\. The income prevents a financial disaster.

2\. The income allows you to save or pay down debt so that you can eventually
achieve other important goals.

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kls
Most are going to tell you to leave and not knowing your thought on what you
really want to do I am hesitant to give that advice. If you are OK with
freelancing then sure jump, but if freelancing is just a notch better than
what you are doing now, then why not use this position as a spring board. Look
at the high pay as a spring board to give you runway on your own ventures. One
of the hardest kinds of capital to procure is seed capital. So if you plan to
pursue your own venture then I would say stay, save a much as you
realistically can and then use that money to support yourself in your own
ventures. So my recommendation would be, if you are going to freelance leave,
if you want to start a venture, put the time in and save.

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byoung2
_I have no idea why I applied for this current job, but I thought it was
something I should do after all my peers all did_

That is rarely a good reason to do something. I would say leave now...jobs you
hate now rarely get better later. I left a job after only 3 months even though
it looked like a dream job - sexy startup, free fully-stocked kitchen, half-
day Fridays, free "Cadillac" health insurance, 4 weeks vacation and bonuses in
excess of 100% of base salary. I just didn't agree with how they ran their
business. I just happened to immediately find a better job, but if I hadn't, I
would have gone the freelance route until I started my own business.

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actionbrandon
Everybody hates their first year (or 5) at a top tier investment bank. since
everyone is telling you to bail, ill tell you to bite the bullet and quit only
after you get your bonus...or even your second one. most people I know take
jobs at firms like yours because of what they can do after they leave...not
because it's the greatest job in the world.

