

Ask HN: leaving a company in silicon valley. - fifteencharacte

Hey HN, i 'd appreciate some advice.<p>Right out of college, I was offered a software job at a certain silicon valley company. I was wowed by the salary, perks, and benefits so i eagerly accepted. I've been working here for under a year now, when I was approached by recruiters at another silicon valley company. I'm fairly content working where I currently am, and my coworkers are great people. But I've always wanted to work at the second company and I know they'll offer more compensation to boot.<p>The problem is, I don't want to leave the first company because I feel obligated to finish my current projects. But i wonder: Is there ever a good time to leave a company? I feel conflicted as this is the first fulltime job I've had out of college...
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reikonomusha
I agree with what everyone here said, but I also must give a counter-point.

Being at a company for less than a year (or even less than two years) can
ultimately cause you issues. When I thought I had a job secured, and was at it
for half a year, I was "let go". Now, to my resume, I had to add "Company X —
0.5 years".

My track record thus far had been between 0.5 and 1.5 years at companies,
either as a contractor or full-time employee. When it came time to interview
at places, I actually had interviewers flat-out say "you are a risk to us"
because I didn't keep a position at any company for 3 or more years, and their
rationale is that I wouldn't hold a position with them much longer than
anywhere else.

I know for at least one position, where I went through the grueling interview
process and did well, I was rejected, solely based off of this fact.

So before you start hopping companies, keep in mind what it will look like on
your resume and how a future employer might interpret it, especially if things
don't happen to work out at the company you might get an offer from.

Lastly, I might note and you might already know this, that just because a
recruiter contacts you doesn't mean a company is very keen to hire you from
the get-go. They are looking for "talent", and thought you were worthy of a
try. I've had both recruiters and VCs approach me as technical recruiters, and
most of their efforts ended up being fruitless in actually landing some offers
(95% of the time it was because I was just not a good fit for the position—my
interests and experiences did not match up—and the other 5% was because I
didn't meet some set of qualifications, such as a particular degree, prior
experience, etc.).

~~~
nopassrecover
Is this cultural to the US? I've never known it to be an issue here in
Australia, and it's always quite a surprise to see someone with a longer than
2 year stint in the first 5-7 years of experience.

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tptacek
It's your current employer's job to retain you. It is not your job to be loyal
to them.

~~~
BrentRitterbeck
These words are so true. Employment is a mutually beneficial economic
relationship. Employers want you to believe they hold all of the power;
however, this is very far from reality in early stage companies.

Employers gotta pay to play. Sometimes pay is much more than cash dispersed
twice a month.

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nopassrecover
I'd say it's unreasonable (though understandable) to feel any guilt/obligation
beyond your contracted/legally required notice projects. Look at the other
side - it would be considered unethical for an investor-backed company to keep
staff on out of obligation rather than business sense.

As you're interested in working at the other company it probably makes sense
to do so - otherwise you may end up resenting your current job for the "what
could have been" opportunity. That your obligation to finish your projects is
your main doubt reinforces this.

Make sure you have a firm offer from the new company first (you may want to
hold off on accepting this offer until you've talked with your current company
though), and then have the talk with your current company.

You obviously have no hard feelings towards your current company and enjoyed
the opportunity working with them so it's quite likely you'll stay good
contacts for down the track. Particularly so if you're able to work something
reasonable out for a handover strategy that works for both you and the two
companies.

Good luck!

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josh_fyi
It's totally OK to leave. There is no need to "finish" complete projects which
can take years.

Just take care to finish off the current phase of each project -- you'll have
to decide in context what that means -- and hand off to colleages.

Good relationships and open communications are the key.

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makerops
I was recently in a similar situation, although not in SV; you are feeling a
lot of unnecessary guilt(?), from a logical standpoint you probably realize it
is not justified, but that does not mean you aren't experiencing the emotions.
You just have to suck it up, and approach it like a chess game, plan your
strategy, and ignore the emotional aspect, not to say you can actually flip a
switch and not feel them, but do your best to just ignore them, and only let
your brain do the work. To help with this, employers don't necessarily need
you as much as you probably assume they do. They go through this a lot more
than you, so it's not a big deal. If you are really afraid of burning bridges,
give 4-6 weeks notice (that's what I did), and reaffirm, that you will help in
any way you can (sitting in on interviews, helping the new hire train if they
find one quickly enough, teaching current employees some stuff that will ease
the transition irt what you were working on).

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BrentRitterbeck
It sounds like there are two things at play here: (1) You really want to work
at this new offer, and (2) the new offer would net you more money.

With respect to (1), your work is going to be the best when you enjoy what you
do. You state that you are content where you are now. Does your current job
get you out of bed in the morning? Do you wake up wanting to go to work? Would
the second job get you out of bed in the morning? Work on the thing you are
most passionate about.

With respect to (2), employment is a two-way street. You have every right to
cut off your employer as your employer has the right to cut off you. I've been
through two rounds of cutbacks. I got hit once. I don't believe in company
loyalty at all. You have to think of your career as a business. If all else is
equal (in this case it might not be), and the pay is better, you should go for
the higher pay. Don't fall into the trap of letting your employer "own" you.

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furqanrydhan
Honestly I'd leave the moment I feel like I'm wasting my time. If you're not
learning anything or there's no real room for growth (learning potential),
then i'd leave. At this stage where you are it's more important to learn as
much as possible from every job situation than pure salary. The compensation
being higher is an added benefit but I would definitely focus on a job that
challenges you (both your skills and your person).

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bsaul
Do you feel like you could talk about that to your current employer ? "I wan't
to leave, so let's plan something to make it painless for both of us" It's
better than just tell them "i'm leaving in two weeks, that was great", and you
still have the option to do it that way if things go wrong with the first way.

Note : i've only worked in the valley for a few months and it was a long time
ago, so take my advice with caution.

