Ask HN: How long before you leave?
If you recently started a new job but you are not enjoying it - how long would you stick with it until you leave?
(for sake of discussion - you have enough money to survive a year without working).
(for sake of discussion - you have enough money to survive a year without working).
My opinion is: you should not think of your current job as something terrible you must leave asap. Make some token efforts to change the working environment if you have the say in the management or try to fit yourself for a few months.
Trying to change job is good, but you should have a solid backup plan first because the odds are against you, you are more likely to fail than to succeed going by general statistics. So you need to plan for failure, you should not "all in" even if you have a year of saving to spare.
It's really possible to have a shitty job but a good and meaningful life. Job don't control you, I am the captain of my soul. However especially while we're young there is no reason to muster a good effort to get a good job. Basically if you have a shitty job, you can still do quality things with your life, there is much to one's life outside a job, unless you are at a slavery shitty job.
Our normal day jobs leave us plenty of room to define our lives in other ways - how we treat people, who we get to know, what we do in our spare time, what we see in life and our surroundings. Quality of life is more dependent on self than on external parameters. Irregardless of your peers and your product at work, you can believe in causes like FOSS and fight for it in your spare time, you can get involved in charity and community work, you can read and think and define your way of life, you can get to know people and treat them in different ways. The source of happiness to, variedly, helping other people, being part of something greater than yourself, feeling collective purpose, and other things in that ballpark and if we believe them, then all of those are possible in almost any kind of environment
Background: recently finished paying my university debt after 3.5 years. Started a new job 3 months ago, tried all what I said above but didn't work out but I made my efforts to change the working environment itself. Text above are distilled from all the conversations I had with my friends
Work/life balance is hard to achieve with a great job, let alone if your job is soul-crushing, mind-numbing, impossible, badly managed, poorly located, or in an industry you're incompatible with. So I always advise people to look around if they're unhappy with their position. Even in a down market, there are possibilities out there, and you will never know until you look. And with due diligence, research, networking, etc, you can have some decent assurances about a potential new job is a good match for you.
Now of course there are situations where it may be better to stay where you are for a while, to get experience/build your resume/pay off loans/etc. But life is too short to work in a place that makes you unhappy, and family is far too important to have a job that robs you of energy which you could devote to them.
After that, if I felt the same way, if I had enough money to survive a year without working I'd leave immediately, take time off, then prep for interviews and go for a better job. However this is very situation dependent, I am a single man with no (serious) responsibilities, ymmv.
Of course it was more difficult to find a new job since I had just started one but I was honest in my interviews and after 90 days I left for something else.
Trust your instincts.
In one case I left after about 3 months, only b/c I knew right away that my place wasn't in that particular environment, or with that particular team.
If you're asking due to relevant circumstances, what don't you like about the job, and how long have you been there?
If you were hired through a recruiter, the company that hired you will pay 15% to 25% of your annual salary in fee. In most cases, if you leave within 30 to 60 days, the recruiter will find your replacement for free. If you 1 day after the guarantee period, then the company that hired you have to pay the full fee.
Moral of the story, once you know you want to leave, talk to your manager. Be a nice guy.
Before making sure you have something else lined up first?
This is beneficial both ways:
* A smooth transition can be made. They get to wrap up their last project at the company and have enough time to do a proper knowledge transfer
* We get a head start on hiring a replacement. Typically the person leaving gets to help out during the interview process as well.
* I get to help the person leaving on picking out the right next opportunity and more often than not, help the person negotiate his next job offer.
These days, I'd probable be gone within a month of such a realization. Time to transition and move on.
Although if I had enough money to live for a year why did I take the job? :)