Ask HN: Switching Teams Internally? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Switching Teams Internally?

11 pointskello9 comments

Hi there, has anybody here switched teams internally and had a positive/negative experience they would like to share?

I recently decided to switch, today I told my (current) boss. He expressly asked me to stay with this team and told me he already had plans in place to solve the problems I raised. Now I'm not sure what to do. Do I cancel the transfer and believe him? I realize only I can make the decision for myself, but I am really torn.

I do love the team I'm on _except_ for one particularly toxic coworker who seems to have it out for me. I have stuck it out two years with this guy and had direct conversations, nothing has gotten any better. My boss explicitly told me he'd rather fire the other guy than lose me but I just don't want this other guy to lose his job because I can't deal with his toxicity. Everybody else on the team agrees he is unprofessional and rude, but also kind of shrugs their shoulders and have the "its a job" type attitude whereas I think life's too short to work with people that make you feel small.

Stories and advice of all kinds are welcome.

Thanks!

It's been two years, whoever's "fault" it is, it hasn't been resolved.

Take even the least charitable view: you've been misreading the situation and this person objectively isn't toxic. If others at the team get along with this person, or shrug it off, then it's a sign the team isn't for you.

In either case, the manager makes a choice in their non-action with the 'toxic' teammate. So if anything, the manager is mostly covering up for their own poor management that will come out when you leave the team.

Life is short, frankly you don't owe anyone anything, make the choice that's best for you

Your boss has said that he'd rather fire the other person than lose you, but, at the same time, it's been two years and that other person hasn't been fired or (going by your account) had any disciplinary action taken against them.

I think your boss's actions (or lack thereof) speak louder than words.

>I think your boss's actions (or lack thereof) speak louder than words.

Whatever the cause, the fact that the toxic person is still there says everything you need to know. Bad employees will not be pushed out. So even if the current toxic one goes and a new toxic person comes, you'll have more years of dealing with that new person.

On this topic: I hired my friend of 10 years (someone with whom I am very close) into our tiny company, and I let him go a few months after. This enabled us to protect the team's dynamic and to save our friendship.

His behavior was unacceptable, and his output was unsatisfactory. He consumed too many of my brain cycles and that was not worth it.

I fired him in the office as his manager, then told him let's go outside and we headed to our bards where we had beers as friends and I told him I would support him financially.

I see him very often (every few days) and he always says "I learned X" working with you. As a matter of fact, I'll see him tomorrow.

I reserved a section in my dissertation to a supervisor who fired me. I was conscious I fucked around, and I was grateful for the lesson of "do not fuck around". My problem was wanting to ship something perfect and not reporting progress until it was perfect, and you just don't do that: you need to produce something for it to be improved and perfected. You can't edit a "nothing", you can only edit a draft.

Everything in its right place.

When you say switch teams, will you still be working with the same people on a somewhat regular basis? I've seen that happen, and it probably isn't worth it - just find a new place to work.

I've changed jobs at the same company in a way where my new job had zero overlap with my old job. It was basically a brand new job, just with the same company name. I was very happy with the move.

At a previous job, HR and certain leaders basically did everything they could to handcuff mangers when it came to firing people, which meant it didn't matter what the manager wanted - the most they could do was try to force the people to move to a different team. If the person was toxic and useless, no other team would hire them. I saw some people last 2+ years in their jobs until they were caught in a layoff. Get away from this type of situation as quickly as possible.

As for why the above, my theory is because this was a very old company and they simply couldn't retain most younger employees for longer than 2-3 years. So the attrition rate was pretty bad. So people used crappy tactics to retain employees and improve metrics, which usually resulted in top-down pressure to not fire people.

I’ve changed teams internally at Amazon (2013-2018) a couple of times and it always went well. I’m about to at Indeed. I’m a technical product manager who used to be an engineer.

Another commenter suggests if you do move, move to a team that doesn’t interact with your existing team - I’d agree with that.

Additionally, note that people are almost always happier after a change in situations where it’s difficult to identify whether you should change or not.

What’re your options?

Also, Indeed is hiring! :)

It's kind of hard to assess what impact you'd see, but for me, changing teams has ended up giving me a chance to work with new tech, a broader understanding of our system overall, and it's been a good chance to get to know more people. To be honest, I'd recommend periodically rotating teams, even if things aren't bad on the current one. It's really kept things fresh for me.

If he is toxic towards you, he's toxic towards others. You're doing you and your coworkers a favor if he gets canned.

YOU didnt get him fired. HE got himself fired.

I'd say just find a new job. At a certain point, leaving is the best option

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