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Comment by OJFord | Hacker News Reader

> Been there, done that. 10+ different jobs in a span of 15 years.

I don't mean any offence, but you haven't really then have you - that's quite a different situation, your average tenure is less than 1.5y, more than tenfold less than OP's.

I imagine (haven't done it myself) it's psychologically quite different to leave somewhere you're so established, and start somewhere new when it's so long since you've done that. You're used to it. I'm not saying it doesn't have challenges, but I think they're at least different, and anyway you're used to embracing them.

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That isn’t necessarily true. If you contract, it can be like that, but you’re also under pressure to come up to speed faster than a full-time employee. I’ve done short gigs and worked places for 2, 3 and 7 years and the ramp up is the same. I started a new job in January that I hope to be at for years and my approach was the same as suggested here. Be self-effacing about your ignorance, don’t walk in deciding you know better about X just because of how your last company did it and find pain points that bother everyone but haven’t been addressed because there is no stakeholder to drive them. The upside to being useless the first few months is you can use the time to clean out the Nemean stables or whatever mess is lying around.

Off topic, but nice to see you around here after years since we’ve met in person! Also nice to see other engineers from NH represented.

I’ve also done gigs for 7, 5, 2 years, one for 8 months and now I’m 2 months into my new gig. I would concur that ramp up speed has been pretty similar at most. I’m not sure the first move (after 7 years) was harder than the others.

Honestly, I think it tends to be harder emotionally to walk away from the situation. From the familiarity to the network, it can feel weird leaving that all behind, even if there are obvious reasons you need to leave. Once you’ve made the break, starting new tends to be similar: spending a few months getting familiar with the exact tech stack, the people, projects and business. Usually after a handful of months you’ll start feeling in the groove and know enough of the environment to feel like you are making serious contributions.

Should I be worried for ST without you?:)

Congrats on new things! I just switched to a new thing myself!

Nah, ST is going well. Jon is the mastermind behind it all, and Ben has been doing excellent work, and Tim is rounds out the ST team. On the Merge side, Dylan and David are hard at work. I think Sublime HQ is hiring in the Sydney area also.

That said, I am still contributing the community, albeit a little slower. Hoping to have a first-rate Swift syntax done in the next month or two, plus continuing to plug away on some Package Control work.

Congrats on the new role and continuing to push yourself!

Hey! Yeah, I started a new gig at the beginning of this year and the only thing different is this is far and away the largest tech company I have worked at. The one thing I am struggling with is coming to grips with the scale and accepting I will never have my head or hands around the whole thing.

One other point worth repeating came from a friend who was a Marine: "You have 6 months before you're part of the problem." Once you are on your feet anywhere, do try to create the change your teammates have been desperate for but lack the enthusiasm to push for. Use your New Person Karma up-front.

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