Reminds me that I really liked the blog: "The 10 Tech Commandments for Employment After Age 40" http://java.dzone.com/articles/techie-you-might-want-follow
Disclosure: It's my CEO :D On Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 1:06 AM, Spencer Uresk <[email protected]> wrote: > Interesting topic. > > I changed jobs a lot at the start of my career, and didn't really > think much of it until I was interviewing for a job and one the the > interviewers said "You've changed jobs a lot. How do we know we know > you won't quit in 6 months if we hire you?" I was a little surprised > by that and it really caused me to think about how that sort of thing > looked to potential employers. I've been at that job for almost 4 > years now, which is kind of a long time for me. > > As for why I bounced around a little at first, there are a few > reasons: > > - Salary. I love to write code, but I don't particularly enjoy having > to go to work every day :) So, even though I enjoy what I do, I'm not > going to lie and say pay doesn't matter (although it matters to me > less now than it did 5 years ago). I found that early on, there are > substantial incentives to change jobs - the amount of value a > developer has changes quite a bit between 6 months and 2 years of > experience, but no so much between 6 years and 8 years. Pay kind of > follows that trend - I nearly tripled my salary the first 5 years of > working, but now my potential increases are much smaller. > > - Startups can be incredibly stressful and demoralizing, especially if > you join at the time between being a tiny startup and successful > company. It seems like a lot of startups have growing pains during > that time and don't really know how to hire or manage people very > well. The hours are still usually crazy, but you also don't have as > much upside from stock. It is even worse when you aren't really on the > same page as management - trying to get the website up at 4 am on > Monday morning when you've been there since 8 am on Friday is bad > enough, but when it is for totally ridiculous reasons it is enough to > make you quit. > > - Wanting new challenges. Interestingly, for how much people seem to > disdain working for big companies, there are some really good things > about them. The IT organization I work for now is quite large, so if > you are getting bored or burned out by what you are doing, you can > usually move to another project without the difficulties of getting an > entirely new job. Of course, people still get reputations as project > hoppers, and it isn't instantaneous to move somewhere else - > especially if you are valuable to your current project - but at least > there is always something to look forward to if you aren't thrilled > with what you are currently doing. > > I, too, have wondered about what the "right" amount of time to spend > at any one job is. I don't know that I'd knock anyone I was > interviewing for spending 10+ years at the same place, but for me at > least, it would probably be difficult to adjust to everything new > after being at the same place for so long. As for too short - I think > anything under 2 years on average might cause me to at least ask > questions. It isn't so much a matter of not wanting them to leave too > soon, but rather people who bounce around a lot and get bored easily > often seem to have problems with the mundane tasks required to get a > project done and out the door. I know a lot of guys who are up on the > latest technologies and seem to have a new job every time I talk to > them. I also know guys who aren't as flashy and always seem to get > stuck with the last (and worst) 10% of a project and slog through it > to get stuff finished. I'd rather have the latter in most cases, > although I realize it is never as black-and-white as I just made it > sound. > > - Spencer > > On Dec 4, 10:46 pm, Christian Catchpole <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Perhaps open the question to everyone. I've left good jobs for > > various reasons. Geography, family.. redundancy? :). I interviewed > > with a "premium employer" who i wont name. Their attitude was, > > everyone wants to work here, so we reserve the right to not pay you > > very much. The industry is fast moving so I think the expectation > > that you would just stick with a 'premium employer' is not so clear > > cut. The choice of employer comes down to many personal reasons, not > > just salary and working conditions. Grass is greener. etc. > > > > On Dec 5, 1:47 pm, abnormative <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > The Java Posse seem to have worked at some great places. I'd love to > > > hear them discuss why they have made the job moves that they have in > > > the course of their careers. (But only if they feel that they can be > > > reasonably open about it.) Anyone else curious? > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "The Java Posse" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<javaposse%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en. > > > -- Co. Founder and Chief Architect JFrog Ltd http://www.jfrog.org/ http://twitter.com/freddy33 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
