Ask HN: Should I Quit? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Should I Quit?

4 pointssadnewgrad8 comments

I just started a job at my school as a researcher in a neuro lab. I was under the impression that I would be building an open source PET image processing software for rat studies, but it turns out I'm just doing data analysis with Python and using old, abandoned software to analyze the images. It's only been a few days and I'm feeling really down about the whole thing. I've had okay luck applying elsewhere and I am considering just quitting and getting back to the personal project/leetcode/application grind. I am already graduated though, which makes me a bit nervous.

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> It's only been a few days...

No, don't quit. This is the perfect opportunity to immediately learn a critical way to be happy in your career - develop open communications with your boss. That is the best way to make sure that your roles stay on track with your goals and desires. If you talk, and have a good boss, they will help you out. If you talk and they are unsupportive, then you quit and find a better boss. Choosing your bosses drives much more satisfaction in the long run than almost any other factor of your work.

i'm skeptical of agreeing with any sentiment even remotely approaching this, but i'd have to say - i agree!

in general.

a few days is....c'mon man.

then again, i almost quit a job after a few days - i was _so_ close.

and then it quickly turned into the best job i ever had.

a few days? you need more time than that.

i agree, talk to the boss, as excrutiating as it will be. :)

You could schedule a meeting with your manager and discuss the nature of your job. Ask what he thinks your role and responsibilities are and tell him what you though the job would be.

Could be that your vision and theirs might not be that far apart and you have a new project to tailor your job. But do write it down…

If the job is exactly what you do now and you don’t like it. Then it is time to apply for other positions. From my own experience I know that sticking around will not make you more motivated or happier.

It is okay to switch within 2 months, 6 months or a year.

I'd talk to/confront your boss. "You said this, but you have me doing this." Was it a bait and switch? Was it a miscommunication? Or is this just a temporary thing?

If it was a bait and switch, just get out. They lied to you, which means they're toxic, and you should just run.

If it was just a miscommunication, then either they're toxic liars who are gaslighting you, or it was just one of those things. But it still isn't going to be what you thought it was, so I'd at least consider finding something better and then walking away from this one.

If it's just temporary, then either they're toxic liars who are just stringing you along, or there's hope. But ask them for when the real thing is going to arrive, and regard that as a deadline. (Don't make it too firm - slippage happens - but if it's a quarter later and nothing has happened, it's probably time to start looking for something else.)

Could it be that this old, abandoned image processing software glued with Python is what you're expected to improve/modernize?

First you have to play with it the way it's being done now.

Research places always have legacy cruft; it's not like they just heard of image processing and want this new thing now.

How I would approach it would be to focus on reproducibility of old results. OK, you have the legacy cruft, you have Python and you have data. Put that together to create a regression test suite which validates that the processing produces certain results.

Once you have that, you can confidently replace legacy parts of it with new stuff, and show, "look, the tests pass; it's handling the existing data in the same way".

Sounds like tons of opportunity there!

They use software and it’s not in great shape. They need someone smart like you to take them from where they are now to a better, more maintainable future!

This incremental evolution of working software to better software is a more realistic task than a greenfield set of tools disconnected from the current workflow/tooling.

You’ll be refactoring working code, making it better, more usable, automating manual tasks, documenting, figuring out how real users can value from incremental improvements, and potentially delivering value rather early.

You will be more effective dev learning to deal with messy, legacy code than one that starts a greenfield project not connected to users existing work.

So many opportunities for leadership and learning!

I would stick with it. Few days in is like just touching the tip of your toe in the sea… see what you can learn. You have lots of years ahead of you- take each day as an opportunity to learn something new. Giving up this soon is IMO selling yourself short

> I was under the impression

Why did you have that impression? Was it written down and agreed upon by your employer?

Have you talked to your supervisors?

I would say to get another gig lined up if there's no movement and then renegotiate when you have an offer. Then, of course, give at least two weeks notice.

> I am already graduated though, which makes me a bit nervous

Why does that make you nervous?

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