Ask HN: Do canceled products look bad on your resume?

2 points·amichail··5 comments

Should you move to another team/company if you think the product you are working on may be canceled soon?

Tbh, unless it's well known you don't have to bring it up. Focus on your role. One of my most exciting and most engaging opportunities went under (small multinational company), I often talk of my experiences and contributions, yet no one ever asked what happened to the company.

No one blames devs for the fate of orgs or their projects.

> unless it's well known you don't have to bring it up.

Oh, good point. I don't think that I've ever mentioned (or even been asked about) the fate of any particular project I've put on my resume.

Half the projects I've worked on in the last 30 years got shelved or never shipped. Nobody asks but if they do, it still doesn't reflect badly on you. It was a businesss decision out of your hands.

What you should be more worried about is if you are going to continue to be employed after the project is cancelled. There's an instinct you build over time but every so often you will be cancelled/fired out of the blue and it wasn't your fault. Have some networking in place and prepare your finances for this type of possibility.

When I was still a hiring manager, this was not a negative point for me. If the applicant was committed to the product, was innovative despite a difficult situation and was able to learn from it, the candidate might be a better candidate overall. I would take the candidate over someone without a dead product with same qualifications.

As a dev? No. Potential employers want to see that you can be productive and do good work. That can be demonstrated by your experience on projects even if they were cancelled in the end.

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