Ask HN: Quitting Job, need some outside opinions

Hang tight. Bring up your concern to your boss, and make sure they understand the implication of what you're saying (eg, that this is something you're ready to quit over).

Sometimes you draw the short straw in consultancies. Question is, is this a permanent short straw, or something that could change 3-6-9 months down the road? Working on interesting projects is where everyone wants to be, and there's a thing we call "paying your dues" ;) Have you paid yours?

My advice: First, have the above conversation. Assume for now that the situation is fixable -- from what you've said I can't see why it isn't. Next, start interviewing. Talks with recruiters are nice, but they'll blow smoke and make you feel like the most in-demand guy on earth with nothing to back it up. Get a few interviews and an offer in before you bail. No debt is great, but cashflow is king. I would hate to see you Office Space your curent situation and then discover that a fresh grad with 8 months of VBA experience isn't as marketable as you thought.

Bottom line -- be smart, take steps to get where you want to be, and keep cash flowing in.

"No debt is great, but cashflow is king.", Very true, its the very reason I've been holding on so long.

This is a far too conservative approach for a debt free new grad. If s/he can take a step back and look around, he could be in a place he wants to be in in a fraction of the time the current employer will (assumingly) take.

I belatedly saw the part about coding hobby projects for a while. If you're really talking hobby projects and need to be re-employed before too long, I guess what I wrote still applies:

Have the other job in hand, before giving any sign you're going.

Your current employer might then offer you a better deal (meaning better work, I take it, as opposed to more pay) -- but, keep in mind how they've already treated you.

I did some important work with marginal technology. Management was very grateful, for a while, but when the position ended, I'd basically gained proficiency in a poorly/unmarketable skillset while my other skills did not progress (what I did was rather draining and didn't leave a lot left over) -- and therefore looked more out-of-date.

Just sayin'.

But don't do anything until you have a place to land, unless you just can't stand it anymore. Especially these days, you're more marketable if you're currently working. And especially at your presumed age; you don't want a bunch of questions/suspicion about why the last job didn't work out.

Or, as a see now with respect to hobby projects, a job end followed by a bunch of idle time.

Now take all the above, and run it through the filter of your own personality. If you are one of those unusual people who can always make a situation work out or convince another party of your argument, that may lead to a different choice.

> Especially these days, you're more marketable if you're currently working. And especially at your presumed age; you don't want a bunch of questions/suspicion about why the last job didn't work out. Or, as I see now with respect to hobby projects, a job end followed by a bunch of idle time.

I know you wrote a disclaimer, but as a general sentiment, this bugs me a lot. Avoiding possible shallow HR issues in the future is not worth constraining your one and only youth.

It bothered me some to write it. I tried to address that, perhaps not very well, in my closing sentences.

Some people have a personality compatible with your perspective -- and a personal marketing position that will allow them to succeed from it. Others don't -- have that kind of personality or credentials that get past some of the current crap in the hiring process.

For myself, I wish I'd listened to less "career counseling advice" and "HR speak" when I was starting out. It really screwed me, to some extent.

I hear/read about a lot of younger workers really struggling to find work, at present. I don't know whether that might apply to the OP, especially if they take some "time off". If it were a startup effort, I might be more positive -- in part because that would look like no/less of a gap in the resume.

The OP currently has what seems all to familiar to me as akin to some of the corporate positions I've held. If they are not permanently exiting that environment, meaning marketplace/ type of employer, some of the concerns I expressed about finding the next job might be relevant.

Anyway, I'll further qualify what I said before as "food for thought". And also say that I screwed myself by being too attentive to others' suggestions (e.g. "pay your dues", "get along"), when I was young.

P.S. Thanks for your reply. I hope it has helped/spurred me to (at least somewhat) better qualify what I said.

P.P.S. Personal aside: I think I need to just shut up for a while and work on some of my own problems.

Thanks for your reply. There definitely valid points there. I guess I'm just of the opinion that most people are capable of overcoming such issues if they consciously sharpen their skills and/or do a little "hustling".

Even if your career ladder does take a hit, is it such a big deal if you've managed to enrich your life in the process? Maybe I read too much HN, but it seems to me that unless you have dependants, debt, or equity, employment isn't really worth being a central pillar of your life.

To also talk personally, I feel that I used the stability of my latter education and the first phase of my career to defer tackling other aspects of my life. That was a mistake.

Hang-in there. You said you feel like your skills in Java among others is rusting.

Here is my suggestion: take it up as a challenge to code start coding for 1 hour every morning. Just pick a language, ruby or python or java & start building something. Just make sure you do it all without copy/pasting. Just create something and brush up your skills.

I have been in similar situation where the feeling that I am not learning new has lead me to look for options elsewhere immediately and the offers I received weren't better than the current one without improving the skills.

So, my advice is focus on your skills and do not look at the job as the only place where you can brush up on those. Try working on something creative by the side which will open up interesting opportunities for you in the short run itself. All the very best.

I was in a very similar position as yourself. I too graduated in May of 2011 and took a job that I wasn't too happy with. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted and spending my nights and weekends working on finding and earning the job I wanted.

I considered just quitting, working on my own projects, and being happier. But for financial reasons, my first choice was to find a job that would pay me to work on projects that I wanted to work on. I was extremely lucky to find such a job and now instead of slaving at a job that I hate and working on the types of projects I want to, I get to work on similar projects 40 hours a week and get paid.

I also moved to Boulder, CO, because of their startup community, since my long term goal is to own my own company.

So my advice is to keep interviewing and stay strong!

Hard call. If it's a big consulting company with a variety of projects available negotiating a bit more than just giving your notice might be to your benefit. Ask to go to 50% time on the VBA to get back to the original promise of Java dev opportunities or something. Of course, if the overall fit just isn't right then no sense sitting somewhere you're unhappy!

That's the problem, I'm the only one supporting/coding this excel thing. Guy who was in my position before me quit the company and person who made these sheets is no longer on the project (Plus there is no documentation!). So while Im here I will be doing only VBA/support until the project ends

Spoke to manager today, basically they really want me to stay since I'm the only one doing it and there is no documentation. They even said they'll move me to what ever project I want, if I just train a new guy for the role. I told them tomorrow when I come in I'll decide.

The right thing would be to train the new guy while looking for other options and telling your boss you're planning on leaving.

Could you possibly ask for telecommuting for part of the week? Then you can use it to improve your Java (and other skills) on projects that could benefit the company.

"The best time to find a job is when you have one" ... do you have something concrete lined up before you take the plunge?

As in another job? No. But something to work on yes, I also went to a couple of interviews in the first week of Jan (had to take PTO days to go to some of these interviews)

I guess the market for developers isn't too bad these days .. you'll probably be fine either way. That said, I'll reiterate ... it is not fun to be in a position where you don't have cash coming in (an MVP typically != stream of cash). Also, not going into work everyday might make it harder to get structure in your life. If you are resolved to pull the trigger and quit, may I suggest you consider joining an incubator, or some other organization that will give you structure.

Best of luck my friend ... whatever you decide!

Thanks for the comments. I will speak with my employer today and see what happens

Also, this is not my first job. I worked in IT for a metal company for almost 3 years before graduation also did math tutoring at a county college for 2 semesters and before that did 3 years customer service.

Do it! Life is too short to be spent on BS jobs.