

In Praise of Quitting Your Job, or The New Work Ethic. - pstinnett
http://pieratt.tumblr.com/post/977179815/in-praise-of-quitting-your-job

======
agentultra
I just came out of a 2.5 year stint. Before that I went into consulting
because I couldn't hold down a job for even a year. I figured it was boredom
and thought the solution was to simply expose myself to a constant stream of
new problems. Turns out it was simply _ownership_ that was the problem. I
never felt in control.

By _ownership_ I mean ownership of my domain (area of involvement, etc) in the
project. I don't mean ownership as in control and possession. The kind of
ownership that kept me around at my last gig was the kind that let me make
suggestions, criticisms, and decisions that were taken seriously. I had
responsibility to back up every claim I made and that responsibility kept me
highly motivated to produce software I could. It made the project feel more
collaborative and kept me involved as a part of its development.

What kills that motivation is a loss of that ownership. In the final months of
my last gig we brought on someone who took _total_ ownership of the project
practically from design to implementation. It no longer felt collaborative. I
felt like a monkey in a room of monkeys trying to type out Shakespeare; as if
I could replace myself with a junior programmer at half my salary and things
would still run smoothly. That's not a good feeling and such loss of ownership
(or lack of it in the first place) is completely demoralizing.

I get the sense that the OP was referring to this kind of ownership. The kind
that makes you feel involved and responsible.

But does that mean you should quit your job? I don't think so. Some jobs will
have ups and downs. I didn't leave my job when they brought the new guy on. I
was going to stick it out... just circumstance brought my tenure there shorter
than anticipated. I think you can stick it out in this way as well and avoid
"depression." I take pride in my work and it does affect me very personally..
but you have to keep things in perspective. Especially when you have other
people relying on you to keep your job.

------
watmough
To an extent this is a reasonable way to put it, but in all honesty, there's
much more to software engineers than whether their programming muse is
satisfied or not.

For example, I'm happy whenever I can make users happy. Even if I'm just
writing a data loader script, if the script is fast, gets the users' data
loaded correctly, I'm happy and fulfilled.

Put in a situation, where I'm unable to make users happy, maybe through
clashing with company objectives like making money on a badly written
contract, or bad design, I'm miserable.

Deprived of feedback from users, or stuck writing designs, I'm miserable.

If you are always miserable after 9 months, you need to have a deep think
about what sort of jobs you are applying for, or whether pursuing the work at
all is worth it. There are decent companies out there, that are customer
focussed, and that use new technologies and development methods that stress
individual creativity. Go find them.

------
nroach
This piece struck me as very insightful. Not as advice per se, but as a window
into the motivations of Creators. This part in particular: "Creation is a
deeply personal and rewarding activity, which means that your Work should also
be deeply personal and rewarding."

I think if you talk to founders who have left companies several years out from
the company's inception, the loss of that sense of engagement and "ownership"
in the creative sense is a major driver of departures. Some may stay for the
financial aspects of "ownership", but once things devolve into board meetings
and committees, the _spark_ is gone.

------
wccrawford
I've been with the same company almost 5 years now. While I occasionally have
times that I'm incredibly frustrated, I can deal with that because I know that
I work daily to make things better. (A co-worker would laugh at this because
he thinks we don't do enough better-making. He's leaving.) I've seen this
company's software turn from 'oh ---- that's crazy' to 'man, this sucks' and
it's continuing to get better.

While I'm making it better, I'm also adding features and pleasing the users of
the software. And despite the state of the code, it ALL works. That's very
important.

For me, the key to job happiness is simply to be making things better. For
guys like at this article (and my co-worker), it apparently means having
everything be perfect from the start. I don't know how people can live like
that, since they will always be disappointed.

~~~
hasenj
Things don't have to be perfect from the start, they have to be in such a way
that you are free to make things better.

------
biggitybones
I've been in consulting for 2 years, and switching projects is like leaving a
job and starting a new one. I've gone through exactly what was described, and
by 9 months it was outright defeat.

I just quit that gig for a startup and couldn't be more happier with the move.
This felt like reading what's deep within my subconscious.

~~~
cageface
This article struck a real chord with me too. I stayed far, far too long at my
last job and it's only after finally getting bored enough to quit that I've
realized how corrosive it's been to my motivation for _everything_.

------
mmt
_Ownership not as a percentage of equity, but as a measure of your ability to
change things for the better._

I found this succinct expression to be the most valuable (perhaps even the
tldr summary).

A percentage of equity, as laughably small as it tends to be for non-founders,
might not even serve as an alignment of financial interests.

------
cmarv
Why isn't this person just a consultant?

There is nothing wrong with just being a sprinter, but isn't there something
to be said for being able to run the marathon?

If the spark is gone after only a few months at a company, seemingly no matter
what the company, maybe the problem is within and not with the companies that
you're working with?

~~~
mgkimsal
Or maybe there is no 'problem' at all. Different people work in different
ways.

------
pmichaud
This speaks really strongly to me. This is why I stopped working in the field
too. It's not impossible to find an awesome job, but it's also not easy. It's
maybe as difficult to find a good job as it is to find a good programmer.

------
markstansbury
I can sympathize. I've been at plenty of jobs where my ideas were uniformly
ignored--not rejected, or outvoted: ignored. That's deflating. It makes work
not just menial but downright demoralizing. And it causes the employee to stop
thinking and stop trying, which is bad for everyone.

Now I wanna go watch Office Space.

------
swaroop
This reminds me of the "Self-Determination Theory" that Cal Newport
emphasizes:

"To be happy, your work must fulfill three universal psychological needs:
autonomy, competence, and relatedness."

\-- [http://calnewport.com/blog/2010/01/23/beyond-passion-the-
sci...](http://calnewport.com/blog/2010/01/23/beyond-passion-the-science-of-
loving-what-you-do/)

------
Oxryly
What a load of crap! This is some strange entitled rationalization of his
friend's fear of commitment. And it's an attempt to legitimize the author's
own fear of commitment.

> I’ve worked for a handful of companies over the course of the last 6 years.
> I started all of them with a fair amount of enthusiasm, but within 5 months
> of each I dipped into a depression. By 7 months the work was having a
> tangible effect on my mood and outlook, and by nine months, I’ve quit almost
> every job I’ve held.

Does the author _really_ think that the next job will hold something
different? That somehow there's some magical workplace around the corner where
reality never sets in and the inevitable drudgery of "work", creative or not,
can be put off forever. Pure fantasy.

"Ownership" is missing the point. If you believe you must define your creation
or contribution in terms of some neatly measured production (like code or
design) you are missing the point of your own existence. If you think that
there's some fixed body of work you have control and ownership over -- that
you must defend and slave over -- you are missing the point.

Every second you exist at your job (and everywhere else for that matter) is an
opportunity to create the world as you see it. Every second is an opportunity
to be creative, to express the person that you are in see that borne out in
your work and with your coworkers.

The depression and negative outlook the author points to is a failure to _be_.
It's a shrinking away reality -- the reality of the opportunity and commitment
that he faces each day he comes to work. He does himself and everyone around
him a great disservice by shrinking and turning away like this instead of
waking up to what is in front of him.

I've been at my job for 8 years and there were many times I wanted to storm
out in disgust or just not show up in the morning. But then I realized that
every job will be like this if I do quit, that I was bringing my own fear of
being or committing with me wherever I go and _finding_ perfect opportunities
to manifest it.

I stood up and took responsibility for these fears and the negativity and said
"enough". I still occasionally find myself doing work that doesn't "inspire"
my "muse"... but it really is only a matter of perspective. My muse can be
inspired by change in attitude, but a positive conversation with a coworker,
by seeing change manifest around me as it manifests _in_ me.

I'm no longer defeated by this negativity. I no longer seem my work neatly
delineated -- I no longer need to defend anything or pour enormous effort into
some limited creative endeavor. The opportunities in front of me are always
limitless. Every second is created anew.

------
Construct
_Ownership not as a percentage of equity, but as a measure of your ability to
change things for the better._

In any company it is difficult to find ownership and recognition at the lowest
levels of the corporate hierarchy. If you only work for the company for less
than a year, as the author proudly admits to, then you should not expect to be
given substantial influence in the company.

Influence and recognition must be earned, and that takes time and hard work.
The bigger and more established the company, the more time this will take. If
you're impatient, then you're going to have to work at a startup or start your
own company.

From my experience, the trick is to get engaged and routinely demonstrate that
you care. If you begrudgingly implement or design every request that comes
your way from the confines of your cubicle, of course you will burn out. If
instead you ask your boss about the customer's needs or take the initiative to
track down and talk to the sales person in charge of the account for some
additional detail, you've effectively taken a small piece of ownership and
showed some initiative. This rarely goes unnoticed, and definitely factors
into decisions involved influence, ownership, and recognition in the future.

~~~
mgkimsal
If you only work for the company for less than a year, as the author proudly
admits to, then you should not expect to be given substantial influence in the
company.

=======================

Explain VPs and midlevel execs that come in and are given substantial
influence on day 1. They've not worked at the company, yet are given staff,
budgets, division and respoonsibility, sometimes (often?) before it's known if
a) they're really competent and b) a good corporate fit.

Seeing that sort of stuff happen can lead people like the OP to despair even
more of being able to make any substantive impact.

------
dsplittgerber
One can probably have a good discussion whether one can force the muse to
speak to oneself (see Steven Pressfield - The War of Art). Still, the author
has quit several companies after working for them for just 6-12 months at best
and still sees the companies as being the problem, not himself or his
attitude. To each his own, but it makes you wonder if his advice is valid and
not an excuse.

~~~
madair
_Depression_ isn't _attitude_

~~~
kscaldef
And "unhappy at work" isn't the same as "diagnosed as depressed by a
professional". I have a feeling that the author wasn't using the word in the
clinical sense.

~~~
madair
Depressing response.

It is revealing how many people vote up this protestant work ethic
judgmentalism masquerading as concern for correct professional diagnosis.
What, his emotional concerns are not legitimate to you for some reason? How
about you expound on that a bit, maybe reveal a bit more about your delightful
world view.

Why even dilly-dally with that...why don't you just tell him to grow up and
enjoy his cubicle already like all the rest of the poor schmucks in cubes.

Hell, maybe you could send a message to working stiffs everywhere that they
should get a professional diagnosis before they _leave_ a our soul killing
corporate work culture, feel better, then _encourage others to do the same_.
(OMG, how would the captains of industry stay all captainy with so much free
thinking!? ;)

I hate how people randomly heap shit on the plight of people. Crass. Mean-
spirited. Farcical.

------
jnovek
"The longest was 12 months at [Redacted], and that was only because I wanted
my options to vest. I handed them my resignation on my 366th day."

This made me livid. I don't hire engineers with the intention of firing them
the day before they vest, why would it be ethical to wait until the day after
your cliff to quit?

[EDIT] Let me clarify. This individual seems to have decided months before
that they would quit the day after their vesting cliff. Everyone here thinks
that's ethical and appropriate?

I'm not questioning whether it's legal, of course it's legal. It's just not
very honorable. A vesting cliff exists so that both parties -- employer and
employee -- can have a chance to get to know each other before stock is
granted and make sure that they're making the right decision.

~~~
jayp
Cliff vesting is _deferred compensation_. Your concern about an ethical
paradox is invalid.

~~~
staunch
It's not. It's _contingent compensation_. If it was merely deferred
compensation, and you quit early, the company would owe the pro rata amount
that you worked (at the 1 year mark).

------
haskellforlife
Ownership is grand, but it comes with a price: fear.

~~~
fadzlan
That is not so bad. Without fear, there would be no feeling like adventurous,
which is a kind of feeling when you DO overcome fear.

------
pvdm
"Three elements of true motivation: autonomy, mastery, and purpose" Daniel
Pink

------
JoeAltmaier
Its nice to be able to decide between art, ownership and equity. As my old
minister used to say "We can have all the morals that we can afford".

------
ahoyhere
Yes.

_Your muse can only be treated as the secretary of a subcommittee for so long
before she decides to pack up and look for employment elsewhere. If you aren’t
able to own the product and be creative, then you aren’t able to do your work,
and if you’re not doing your work then you’re negating a very real part of
your personality, which is no good for anyone. No good for you and certainly
no good for your employer._

That is why I quit my jobs… and consulting, period, in the end. I couldn't
stand to watch people wreck my work. My heart couldn't get excited about such
a compromise. And sure, I could have spent a decade learning how to really
work a committee -- but to what end, exactly?

~~~
tocomment
What do you do now?

~~~
thesethings
So she doesn't have to stan herself out, I will.
(<http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=stan>)

Lately... She's a Javascript/ front-end developer (co-creator of Twistori +
everytimezone for example), business thought leader type (did i just say
"thought leader?" Sorry.), and co-founder of the SaaS service
<http://letsfreckle.com>. But none of those things would get much as much
attention as they do if it weren't for the fact that she is an amazing user
experience/ interface maker. These skills make the things she works on (from
books to slides to web form interactions) really friendly and fun.

(I have no professional affiliation with her. But full disclosure: We are
Twitter friends. #realtalk)

