

Ask HN: Company is changing direction, need career advice - wildmXranat

I have joined the place 2 years ago. The position was advertised as one for an expert in PHP with ability to understand a lot of the nuances of best practice approaches in web application development. The project that I joined on and for was in trouble. Last fall we shipped it. Yay!<p>The subsequent work aside from shipping the main project was to maintain other similar stack applications as well as prepare and implement a new project using the same stack.<p>At some point last year, developers and engineers were notified that the applications used internally and externally will undergo modernization. For all intents and purposes, the new &#x27;stack&#x27; projects were the modernization steps, but managements seemed dissatisfied.<p>Word started to spread that upper and some middle management were less than impressed, and called development efforts as unsustainable.<p>By the decree from the very top, modernization plan was kaibashed and Oracle&#x2F;Peoplesoft RFP is now well underway. Hardware is being sourced, software stack will most likely change.<p>Messaging about the whole thing is tightly controlled. News about eventual implementation is only spread on need to know basis. Questions are simply answered with &quot;When we know something, we&#x27;ll tell you&quot; approach.<p>I have close to 10 years experience developing applications. I&#x27;m on my third contract extension. About half of the engineers are contract and half are FT. I&#x27;m also an optimist, but I&#x27;m starting to get wary about my situation.<p>I would like to ask for your suggestions. If you have any words of wisdom, please share on how one should approach these next couple of months.
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e15ctr0n
According to the Chinese, a crisis is also an opportunity.

You will come to this crossroads many times in life: things are changing in
the workplace - do I have a future here?

The best way to handle this situation is to be ready for both eventualities.
If your contract is terminated, you should be in a position to start a new one
fairly soon. Since you appear to have some lead time, polish your resume and
start interviewing. If your contract is renewed, you may wish to continue, as
it is an easy thing to default to.

The former White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, used to say "You never
let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity
to do things you think you could not do before."

