Ask HN: Feeling bad about potentially leaving a job early | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Feeling bad about potentially leaving a job early

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I'm not sure that I'd say my dream career is software development but that is what I'd rather do for a living. I like learning and solving things. Doing new things in general. I currently work for some clients while also working part time at a restaurant.

I don't know it suddenly occurred to me like "Why did I stop looking?" I needed to get hired immediately so I went with dish washing because it's a low-entry barrier job so I got hired within 2 days but the job is a waste of time as far as learning things.

So I've recently started to work here for about a month now, established my "persona" and this week I'm scheduled for 6 days (hahaha) I was fine with 3 days or so because I do contract work (prefer). I can't help but feel bad as I fill out the hired form. At the same time ultimately the truth is I am wasting time, I could be learning/gaining more credentials working for web/tech field.

I will do the 2 weeks notice but yeah I can't help but feel bad.

I would only work this schedule, just tell them something came up and you can't work after this schedule.

Opportunity cost. It's costing you more in lost learning and opportunities than working there.

It is good experience to work in food service so you appreciate that it's hard and low pay and you will treat those who work in that industry.

But definitely get out of there and keep learning, making more per hour doing what you love.

Caveat here is do you make more doing contract work and are getting paid regularly to take care of your expenses? If so definitely get out of there after this week.

If you're just getting started contracting and don't have paying clients consider telling them you can only work 3 days per week.

Good luck.

I was "instantly" denied by Hired hahaha. I was curious why every option was "... engineer" like "Full stack engineer" "Front end engineer". Not bad mouthing Hired. I am still quite a novice and not an expert in fields. I suppose it's good not to burn bridges. Just scream out loud "I QUIT!!!" and then have to return the next day so...

I'm just lucky I'm working for some people but man I do feel behind with things like Docker/Containers, Go, web workers, etc... Things I hear/read about and I'm not using. Of course I'm not dealing with "25,000 requests per second" or anything crazy like that.

It does suck when you become dependable and one day you might have to be like "I have to go." Still I am in a highly-expendable position as a dishwasher.

Thanks

Recalling that Andy Kaufman kept a part-time job as a bus boy> https://youtu.be/oJrrKhBkDBQ

Do right by your boss, give appropriate notice. No need to burn a bridge. He is likely accustomed to seeing good people come and go.

Yeah it's an awkward experience in the future when you run into someone that you "did wrong by". Like "Oh... hello... how are you?..." that awkward feeling.

at the risk of sounding harsh, do you have any savings? how much experience under your belt, presumably if 3 days a week contracting is not enough to feed you and keep the lights on then you are probably just starting out.

build up a pile of cash until you are self sufficient for 2-3 months, then go ahead and innovate/learn what you want.

for now , no point in you quitting today only to come back in 2 weeks looking for the same "low-end" jobs.

Do it properly, it takes more than just learning how to create a "to-do" app with X/Y framework to get a good paying job in the field.

Even looking for a "professional position" in web dev, I don't know. I would rather build a service/product and multiply my time. Doing the whole hourly thing doesn't seem like the right way to go.

Yeah definitely about the savings part, I don't and I have a big debt to deal with (student loans). It does suck when you get paid quite a lot relatively and then it's gone and you're like "Oh crap... I am still broke."

My guess is that it happens all the time in jobs like this - like you said they're often something that people do to pay the bills until something better comes along.

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