Ask HN: Last day at work after 7 years, last minute things I am forgetting? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Last day at work after 7 years, last minute things I am forgetting?

5 pointsecaron10 comments

I've been at LinkUp.com since October 2005, and today is the day I'm hanging up my code and moving on to other places. I'm leaving 2 great coders behind me, we've spent the last 3 weeks finalizing projects where I've been useful and braindumping everything into a wiki.

I, unfortunately, don't leave with many stock options nor was I smart enough to pen an agreement where I retain ownership of my code. C'est la vie.

My question for HN is what am I missing? Been a long time since I've quit a job and I'm hoping to skip any "OH CRAP I FORGOT TO..." if I can.

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Chances are once you are gone the business will continue as usual. Maybe a few things will come up that your former colleagues wished you were still there to address, yet once you walk out that door on your last day it's no longer your problem.

Button up your projects, do your brain-dumps, exchange contact information with the people you'd like to work with again, grab your personal belongings and head out.

Congratulations, and best wishes on your new adventure!

Delete anything personal from your work computer, including any saved browser logins.

Don't forget your coat.

Make sure the HR/payroll people have your current contact information (and vice versa!) in case there are future questions about your taxes or medical insurance.

If you use a company workstation, DBAN your machine.

That's probably in breach of your employment agreement, and more than likely criminal too.

I wouldn't.

I didn't. I nuked my personal stuff, and then worked hard to put the machine in a state that my replacements would find useful to reproduce my processes.

Very likely it's forbidden at some companies, but last time I left a job (IBM UK), DBANning all one's computers was a step on the official checklist. It seems to be a good idea for any company that allows its employees to use work computers for personal web browsing etc., as the employee then takes responsibility for his own private data, rather than trusting the company's IT admins to deal with it.

Connect to your co-workers on Linked In while you still have their current email addresses.

Stock up on office supplies.

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