So, it's time to put your careers guru hats on.

I've been working as a professional developer in one form or another for about 12 years now. The first 8 or 9 mostly in C++ and the last few in C#/.net. My last few roles were as a "senior developer".

At the end of last year, I was offered a role as a technical lead. The idea was that I would have the main responsibility in a small company and have more opportunity to make the bigger decisions. The company was redeveloping their legacy MFC app in .net.

My last company, while sometimes frustrating, was a good work environment and I got on well with most of my workmates, so I was reluctant to leave, but it was a pretty decent payrise and more importantly, more responsibility/autonomy. So I took the new job.

I've been here 3 days now and I can't help but feel I've made a huge mistake. The work environment is awful, the existing codebase is worse than anything I've seen and I don't see any of the "technical lead"y stuff happening in the near future at all. In short, i now dread getting up each day.

Do I "tough it out" and hope it gets better? (yes, I'm aware I haven't given it much time, but I've hd enough jobs to get the feel of a place). Or do I cut my losses now and just quit (there are other potential roles I could look at)?

Thoughts?

I was in a simlar position to you several years ago. I was at a job witha work environment I liked, got along well with the people there. The pay wasn't that great, and the location wasn't that great, and I ended up taking a job that offered over twice my previous salary, and offered to advance my position. I'll say this. Never again will I take a job based purely on money.

Use the interview to your advantage. Remember, it's not just them interviewing you; you're also interviewing the company. I had several bad vibrations from the interview, but I ignored them. I started the job, and thought, well, I'll though it out. Toughing it out did not work. I thought, well, I'll give it 2 years to be fair. The job went from bad to worse. My mood became horrible. I was angry all the time. My nice salary I found was being spent on just trying to keep me sane. I hated the job and didn't want to be there.

Now, you'll say, why not change jobs? I'm not completely sure about whether or not it's a good thing to change jobs immediately, and how bad it reflects upon you, but it's much easier to change jobs sooner rather than later. Trust me, when you hate your job and are in a state of depression, you do not notice how you reflect upon others. Even when interviewing, you'll be more negative, and companies will be less willing to hire you because of your attitude, even though you think you did fine. I was probably the most negative person at my last job, and after a year removal from it, I've talked to a few old colleague's, people who I thought were all happy-go-lucky, and from my removal, I kind of noticed that they honestly were kind of depressing also. It was just that I was so upset, that in comparison, they appeared to be happy. If you're not happy where you are, the longer you wait, the harder it's going to be to get a new job. At the very least, I would try finding a different division to work under to try to peacefully resolve your issues.

So, it's time to put your careers guru hats on.

I've been working as a professional developer in one form or another for about 12 years now. The first 8 or 9 mostly in C++ and the last few in C#/.net. My last few roles were as a "senior developer".

At the end of last year, I was offered a role as a technical lead. The idea was that I would have the main responsibility in a small company and have more opportunity to make the bigger decisions. The company was redeveloping their legacy MFC app in .net.

My last company, while sometimes frustrating, was a good work environment and I got on well with most of my workmates, so I was reluctant to leave, but it was a pretty decent payrise and more importantly, more responsibility/autonomy. So I took the new job.

I've been here 3 days now and I can't help but feel I've made a huge mistake. The work environment is awful, the existing codebase is worse than anything I've seen and I don't see any of the "technical lead"y stuff happening in the near future at all. In short, i now dread getting up each day.

Do I "tough it out" and hope it gets better? (yes, I'm aware I haven't given it much time, but I've hd enough jobs to get the feel of a place). Or do I cut my losses now and just quit (there are other potential roles I could look at)?

Thoughts?

The existing codebase is bad, that's probably why they need you the most. Stay and leave your mark by improving their codebase. If they don't allow you enough room and autonomy to make the changes you would like to see, then let them know that you are unhappy.

The existing codebase is bad, that's probably why they need you the most. Stay and leave your mark by improving their codebase. If they don't allow you enough room and autonomy to make the changes you would like to see, then let them know that you are unhappy.

I was in a similar situation and i did improved the... well, no, i completely scrapped the old code and started over from scratch. The old code was TheDailyWTF worthy. The new code was much much better. Doing everything from scratch was hard, but...

Anything I do now makes me look awesome compared to the last guy!

If you don't have the authority to make the code shine, then yes, i fully support you looking for other work. Better to work at a gas station and be happy than hate every day of your life.

I don't have much real world experience, but I've worked at a university for 3.5 years with the freedom to scrap and start any project from scratch. If your company can afford it then it's an amazing feeling. I redid all of the university printing servers and software documenting everything from the very beginning and I haven't touched things really in like a year and a half.

It sounds like they hired you thinking you could improve things.

Do I "tough it out" and hope it gets better?

As the technical lead can't you make it better?

On the bad code situation, it is usually your own (collective) fault:

You MUST allocate time in every task to clean up afterward. You must also allocate time for "spring cleaning" as your code base grows over the years.


It is like living in a house but never taking out the trash. Moving to a new house will not solve the problem, you'll just accumulate trash at the new one.

Or never cleaning up your desk. It makes your workplace gradually become more unusable, then unbearable, until ultimately your boss demands change.

You cannot work in a machine shop and never sweep up or clean up the scraps, splinters, and dust. (Well, you can, but then you've got a fire hazard and will be shut down.)

You cannot perform surgery without taking out the sponges and sewing the patient back together.


Okay, enough with the analogues. It doesn't matter how many times the code is rewritten from scratch, if you don't learn to clean up your code as you go you will always end up with a mess.





As for the job, sounds like it is time for soul searching. I recommend hitting the Appendix in the book "What Color Is Your Parachute?" to help with the soul searching. Once you are sure what direction you want to go, then you can use a simple decision grid to help make the choice.

Bad economy cycles are an interesting time to change jobs. Once you actually know what you want, and assuming you believe you could get that job elsewhere, you should consider talking to your current employer. You stuck with them as times have been difficult, now see how willing they are to work with you. A soft touch and gentle persuasion (not the "do it or I leave" attitude) might give you the best of both worlds. You might end up at the same company but working on new growth that the company has been wanting to explore, possibly with a compensation change or a promotion or other benefits. Or it might just give more ammunition to the move. In any event, you will be better off for it.

Thanks for all the replies. To take them in reverse order, Frob, it's really not my fault. I just started and I had nothing to do with this code.

Sirisian, this is part of the problem. I'm supposed to have that kind of authority, but it's been made pretty clear to me that I won't

leiavoia, tempting as it would be to start over. It would be the wrong thing to do. It is a very substantial application and I don't have the resources to scrap it and start over.

Sirisian, this is part of the problem. I'm supposed to have that kind of authority, but it's been made pretty clear to me that I won't

Then leave. They misrepresented the position, and you're not interested in a lateral move to an inferior organization - feel free to tell them so in plain terms. Advertise that you will begin seeking alternate employment from an organization that means what they say in their ads. Also look into whether you can return to your old job.