So, here I am again...
I recently accepted this job with some Internet company but seems like it's falling apart... too much noise, people leaving (4 guys in 2 months i've been here), people unhappy, financial problems. Well part my fault because i didn't ask if my position was to cover someone leaving (or because the company was growing) and i didn't ask about the finance of the company.
I don't want to abandon the ship right away, but all this crap makes me feel uneasy as well, i wonder if looking for a new job right now would burn my CV by arguing that this job wasn't what i expected or should I at least wait until next year and see how things evolve, and then maybe apply for another job.
What do you think?
Leaving job in 2 months?
Two months is not too bad; you can always explain that sort of timespan away. "Oh, I took the job in a hurry because I'd been redundanted and it's just not working out -- it's not exactly how I'd been sold on it."
It's frankly even easier if that's actually the truth...
People leaving is fairly normal -- the IT industry just has perpetual churn, because it's the only real way to get a payrise or a promotion because so few companies actually walk the walk on career paths. Noise is not uncommon either -- is the office overcrowded?
Financial problems are more of a worry; are these real financial problems or just finance being very controlling? If they're missing salary payments, run don't walk. If they're merely taking ages to approve a new laser printer it might just be budget constraints.
It's frankly even easier if that's actually the truth...
People leaving is fairly normal -- the IT industry just has perpetual churn, because it's the only real way to get a payrise or a promotion because so few companies actually walk the walk on career paths. Noise is not uncommon either -- is the office overcrowded?
Financial problems are more of a worry; are these real financial problems or just finance being very controlling? If they're missing salary payments, run don't walk. If they're merely taking ages to approve a new laser printer it might just be budget constraints.
Two months is no big deal if you explain the truth about what happened. And it's especially no big deal if you have a person in a position of note from that job that can give you a good reference.
In the future remember that you are interviewing a company just as much as they are interviewing you.
In the future remember that you are interviewing a company just as much as they are interviewing you.
If they are not making payroll, leave right now. Don't go back to the office, don't give them two weeks, just go. If it's just been two months, you could even just leave it off your resume entirely--I certainly don't put every single job (not even every single tech job) I've ever had on a resume. Unless you're filling out a formal job application that asks for a full employment history, remember that your resume/CV is just an advertisement to get you to an interview.
The question is, are people leaving because the ship is really sinking, or because of something that could reasonably be fixed, resulting in a good place to work?
The question is, are people leaving because the ship is really sinking, or because of something that could reasonably be fixed, resulting in a good place to work?
If it makes you feel better, last year I left a job after only two weeks. It was a contract position at a startup (at least they called themselves a startup). When I joined they pointed me at the SVN repository, gave me a relatively easy assignment, and said "okay go". And that was it. They expected me to go through their entire code repository by hand, learning how the system worked. Documentation? Zero. Giving me an explanation of the code architecture and components? Not really. And for being a startup, this repository was absolutely enormous. After finding some curious naming conventions and comments, I did some research and found out that the code was originally an open source project, which was then bought out by a company. And that company was shutdown and bought out by another company. And then that company failed to pay their employees and went bankrupt. And then somehow the company I worked for sprang out of nowhere. What's even more: the CEO of my company was the CEO for these failed past companies as well.
Eventually I got them to confess it to me. This was not a new start-up. This was a ten year old company that had undergone numerous re-namings and financial troubles. And in all those ten years, not one person bothered to write any damn documentation for this massive code base. I had just completed a previous contract where my job was to go through years of badly written code and make sense of it, and I was not going to do it again. So that and the fact that they withheld important information from me from day 1 told me that this was not someone I was going to be content working for. And if you're wondering, the company website doesn't mention anything about the past history either. Even in the bios of the CEO and CTO, who were both key members of the previous failed companies, it didn't mention their past experience at all.
Sorry I rambled on about that. But I felt no guilt at all leaving after two weeks and felt I made a good decision.
Eventually I got them to confess it to me. This was not a new start-up. This was a ten year old company that had undergone numerous re-namings and financial troubles. And in all those ten years, not one person bothered to write any damn documentation for this massive code base. I had just completed a previous contract where my job was to go through years of badly written code and make sense of it, and I was not going to do it again. So that and the fact that they withheld important information from me from day 1 told me that this was not someone I was going to be content working for. And if you're wondering, the company website doesn't mention anything about the past history either. Even in the bios of the CEO and CTO, who were both key members of the previous failed companies, it didn't mention their past experience at all.
Sorry I rambled on about that. But I felt no guilt at all leaving after two weeks and felt I made a good decision.
If you tell a new employer that the company you work for is having financial problems, and they hold it against you, you don't want to work for that company either.
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Well when I came i found out that the company had red numbers, next week we got new investments and we're financed until the end of the year at least. That's what i mean by financial problems. So it could be a hit if we get more customers and make it grow in the next 6 months or the ship could just sink... that's why i'm uncertain.
Then, I cannot just hide it in my CV because I'm an expatriate, so i got a work permit, and to get that you need a job offer, you know. There are some places where you actually don't, like Canada, but not here. So it's not like "ah yes i just came here to look for a job and they gave me the permit".
That's why i don't know if start looking or just wait a bit to see how things go.
Then, I cannot just hide it in my CV because I'm an expatriate, so i got a work permit, and to get that you need a job offer, you know. There are some places where you actually don't, like Canada, but not here. So it's not like "ah yes i just came here to look for a job and they gave me the permit".
That's why i don't know if start looking or just wait a bit to see how things go.
Oh that's just normal software company financial messes. Funded to the end of the year is pretty good as these things go.
I wouldn't get over-stressed about it yet. Just keep an eye on things.
I wouldn't get over-stressed about it yet. Just keep an eye on things.
Ask yourself one question:
What do you think?
If I stay with this company, is it within my power to turn it around?
I mean, do you think the company is dysfunctional to the point where nothing you can do would fix their problems. If that's the case, then abandon ship right now.
If you think that you could pull things together, other other parts of the company won't sabotage your work with petty crap, and the people in charge of the company will appreciate you for it, stay.
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