Ask HN: New boss I respect, same company. Should I stay? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: New boss I respect, same company. Should I stay?

5 pointsthrowayQBR69 comments

I joined my current employer just over four years ago, and was told that I'd be hired as a Senior Dev then promoted to a Director when the department was reorganized, within 90 days.

During my few months as a (presumed) Director, I'd tried to hire some new developers, some who were highly qualified. All were rejected by the VP for reasons I was never able to pin down exactly. It's probably my fault for not "going to bat" for the hires I wanted, but I was trying to be sensitive to the culture of the new company.

When the reorg came, I was told I was more of a "Software Architect" and not given the position of Director. Two other long-time employees were promoted to Director. I reported to one of them.

The same VP very publicly presented to the board of directors shortly after I'd arrived that we'd have a complete rewrite of our application within ten months, against my advice. In the meantime, anticipating a complete failure to deliver anything at all, I found a way to update the look and feel of the existing application while slowly replacing views. The actual delivery time was around four years (there were numerous "shiny things" distractions). Senior management didn't seem to care, and there were no repercussions for the VP.

There is much, much more.

Now a newer (one year plus) employee has been given the Director role I'd originally been slated for. I have great respect for this person, and our VP and Directors actually seem to listen to them. This Director is asking me to consider an actual role as architect, within the next few months.

My question is: Given the experience I've had so far, should I stick around? I already feel like I've "sunk costs" on this one for way to long. I have little to no trust the VP or legacy Directors, and there are no other employees who have an Architect role. While I do respect my new boss, I'm concerned that my new role will be essentially a "lame duck" position. And the job market is very hot right now.

There isn't a correct answer anyone can give you, it is something only you can choose. Depending on the size of the company having a solid director you report to maybe good enough to insulate you from the VP. But if the company is mid-sized or smaller, that won't likely last long.

Let me give you a small counter view from the VP's side. Maybe s/he was challenging you during that initial period to see how you would respond and you didn't go to bat for people you believed in so they didn't feel you were ready for that type of role. Still the respectful thing would've been to have that talk with you, but it is a possibility. At which point, your counsel also probably weighed less on them and hence the ignored timeline advice. And of course, once you pulled off keeping people happy with shiny object syndrome you basically affirmed the VP's timeline. Not saying you shouldn't have done everything necessary to try and make it work, but you also have to keep raising the schedule issue.

If you like the work you are doing, the company is decent, think the Director is a stand up person and will insulate you from the VP and you are making solid income that might be enough reason to stay. I have seen cases were there is just one senior level person that takes awhile for the company to figure out their game but that the company isn't a bad place otherwise, maybe that's your situation.

That all said, if you distrust the company, that is your sign to get out, staying cause you have a good boss isn't good enough. Find another job and move on once you have it secured.

Imagine somebody else had written your post on HN. What would you say to them? Would you tell them to stay?

You clearly aren't getting what you want for your career. Move to a place that is aligned to what you want.

Having a boss you respect is great, but look at it objectively. Are they going to promote you and give you the responsibility you want? Even if the answer is yes, will they do in a timeline that fits what you want and in a way that makes sense for what you want for your career? Or will that VP (or somebody just like them) create problems for you?

If I were in your position, I would think either this VP has got something personal against me or may be they think I am not suitable for this position. You've been stepped over thrice now. Why not just have a heart to heart with this VP or his boss and directly ask them. Then decide what to do based on the answer.

Personally, I would have left after the company failed to keep their word the first time.

What is your goal for your career?

E.g. my personal goal has been more and more "making positive impact on world", and so I've started shifting jobs based on that.

Maybe yours is "make enough money to pay for early retirement", or "work on interesting technical problems", etc..

Whatever it is, you shouldn't be thinking about this job in isolation. Start with your goals, work backwards from that.

(As per your description this company is pretty messed up, so in general you probably want to leave. Who says new boss will stick around? But there may be specific reasons tied to your goals that do make it worth staying.)

GTFO!

I mean this with respect to you, disrespect to that company of course!

The place sounds like a shit show. I'm not sure why you stuck it out for 4 years.

You need to get out of there, when you have found a better position.

Milk it while you look for a new job.

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