Ask HN: Should I leave my Job for Ippon USA? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Should I leave my Job for Ippon USA?

8 pointshelpmewithjobs9 comments

Let me lay it all out there:

TL;DR: I have two great offers, have unofficially accepted both (accepted Ippon, then agreed to stay at my current employer). I am feeling regret for my decision and want to go back and commit to Ippon despite some uncertainty and lack of stability in the future. I'm about to turn 26 and don't have dependents to support. Ippon has encouraged me to ask them any questions I have to get me to join them, despite declining their offer last night. What do I do?

The details:

(Coming in next post)

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So, some questions/statements:

1. I know I'm literally the worst person on the planet. I have two awesome companies fighting over me and I am struggling with this decision. 2. My gut is telling me to join Ippon but my brain says I've already committed to my current employer. Do I have any wriggle room here? Am I being insane not listening to my gut? 3. What sort of questions should I be asking of my employer and of Ippon to help with this situation? I am looking for confidence and solidarity in my decision, and despite both these companies fighting for me, I'm having trouble finding it.

Thank you so much for your help!

Anyone know how I can get a HN mod to kill this story?

The details: I have been in my current position at a consulting company for 8 mo. Offer is with a Java consulting shop named Ippon USA. They are a french Java company that is building their US headquarters in Richmond, VA. They want me to come on as their distributed computing guy, and day one develop a partnership with Databricks (the minds behind Spark), go to them and become a certified Spark trainer. The pay is very nice, about 30% past my old salary.

>>http://www.ipponusa.com

Originally I decided to accept their offer and not ask mu current employer for a counter because I thought this work would be really exciting. However, Ippon hit me with a complicated non-compete, and so I did ask my employer to counter. Simultaneously I asked Ippon to revise their NC agreement and they accepted all of my changes (I didn’t expect this). My employer came back with a counter that was good (proposed by me - meeting me halfway salary-wise) and offering for me to define my career however I want. If I want to go to conferences, pursue data bricks, business development, whatever, do it. They’ll support it.

However, my current employer hasn’t done a good job selling the types of ‘true’ production big data engagements that I’m looking for. Ippon is different; they are exclusively software people, and they are positioned to service Java and open source exclusively. So that puts the big data technologies in a spotlight there and they are in a good position to deliver in them because they understand very well how Java, Scala, and some of the underlying goodies operate.

IN addition, there is some opportunity and risk based on their success in the United States. If something political happens in France or the US, that could affect the financial backing of the parent company. However, I will maintain a good relationship with my current employer and they said I can come back if I decide to leave. The thing I’m unsure about is the risk, whether or not they can land the ‘real’ big data work that I want to be in on, the impact to my personal life (incl. additional travel), and I am feeling some emotional attachment to my current employer. I feel like the cultures are very different, and I think I might fit better into Ippon’s culture. They host hackathons, encourage committing to open source projects, and want to focus on big data as their first practice area in the USA.

Although, I have felt very happy and stable while at my current employer. If I travel for more exciting engagement with them, my situation could change and I could become more stressed (something comparable to Ippon).

Last night, I decided to stay with my current employer (after they exerted some pressure and asked me to decide last night). Even though I find Ippon very interesting, my main concern is their ability to create interesting big data projects. I think my current employer is positioning itself to meet better and more interesting projects in the next 6 months.

My main concern is that Ippon does look intriguing but I'm not sure its going to give me the right type of exposure/experience right away. By negotiating this with my current employer I can keep pursuing my interests with people you know and people who now know I mean business about defining me future.

http://thevetrecruiter.com/important-information-about-recru...

I don't know these rules apply exactly in consulting. The industry and my skill set is extremely competitive. I get offers pretty frequently.

Recruiters don't want employees to accept counteroffers because they don't get a commission if they don't successfully recruit an employee to a new company. That is the only reason they spread that FUD.

Companies recognize (and generally accept) that employees will follow the money. Few industries care about an employee being "committed" to his/her job beyond the employee's willingness to work in exchange for a paycheck. (Though based on anecdotes on this board, this may actually be a problem in the software industry...)

Generally, a counteroffer indicates that the company thinks an employee is worth keeping. In most industries (i.e., except possibly the software industry), a company will not make a counteroffer to an employee they do not want to keep around for the foreseeable future. If an employee is valuable enough to justify a counteroffer, he/she is not easily replaceable (for various reasons, including talent, knowledge, familiarity with the company's processes, systems, etc.). If the employee is easily replaceable, the company will simply deal with the temporary loss of the employee while they recruit a replacement. Either way, the math does not add up to justify retaining an employee with a counteroffer while also spending the money to recruit (and bring up to speed) a replacement.

I agree recruiters don't want employees to accept counter-offers, but that doesn't mean all the arguments are invalid.

Fundamentally, if you have to quit to get a raise, it's not a great company to work for.

As long as your chosen employer doesn't tie you into a restrictive NC agreement, then try them for a year and see how it goes. It sounds like you're already fairly sure of what you want to do now; if Ippon want you this much now, I'm sure they'll take you on in a year, if you decide to move again. Honestly man, at this point in your career (and life, you're still young), you should be as selfish as you can. You don't owe anybody, anything. Be ethical, conscientious and assured; but that doesn't preclude taking a few risks. You have no dependents, after all. When you're in your mid thirties with kids and a mortgage, you won't have many choices at all.

Thanks for this feedback. This is why I regret my decision (to stay with my current employer). I kind of shit the whole situation by even entertaining a counter offer from my current employer. I wish I would've just stuck to my guns and taken the leap.

I would consider the move if I had some confidence it won't kill my relationship with my current employer and make Ippon think I'm afraid of commitment or making decisions.

I think you should take the Ippon job. They want you enough they were willing to revise their offer completely according to your terms, and they already do the type of work you want to do.

Your current company "plans" to maybe start doing the type of work you want to do...within a few months. That's a long time; they could easily change strategy or even drop out of that market entirely by then. Moreover...your current company didn't even accept your counteroffer (which presumably was based on your Ippon offer), and they resorted to pressuring you to accept the counter by time-limiting it. (What was the alternative: they would fire you and you would take the higher paying Ippon job?) Do you really want to work for that kind of management?

However you put it, it sounds like Ippon is your dream job and your current company is a mess that is likely to get worse over time, not better.

Unfortunately, it seems you've chosen to stay with your current company. I hope it works out, but it likely won't.

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