Help Me Assess Pros and Cons of Changing Jobs
April 22, 2022 8:42 AM Subscribe
I am probably about to get an offer, but I have Feelings about changing jobs right now. I need help deciding if I'm just having some kind of "Stockholm Syndrome" with my current job, or if I'm being precipitate. Insight appreciated. I recognize this is a hugely first world problem to have.
Almost exactly one year ago, I got a new job that was basically a 20% raise after four years of stagnation. I was excited, the job was challenging and interesting, and of course, the pay didn't hurt. In the meantime, I received an incremental raise of about 3%, which isn't much but I wasn't mad. We got paid bonuses this year.
BUT. BUT.
We are heavily impacted by sanctions and the war in Ukraine. I am literally on the phone with Ukrainians every day. Since the war began, I've felt very, very squirrely about my job and its stability. I am the primary earner in my household, I make about 40% more than my partner, and our lifestyle depends on my income. We could make it on his salary but it would basically suck. I started a soft job hunt, and I've met with some success -- I've had two interviews with a different company and I'm fairly certain I will get an offer. However, I am working on some time-crunched, critical work that I will feel like an asshole for quitting while it's going on, and I truly might burn a bridge or two.
I've been thinking about the Pros and Cons here already:
Pros of Current Job: Love my coworkers, work is interesting, pay is good, raises are regular if not huge. Bonus was certainly nice this year and they are paid pretty reliably as I understand. Fully remote, but probably will get pressure to go to an office locally w/in a year, I think.
Cons of Current Job: The Ukraine thing is extremely stressful (not knowing if your coworkers will reappear week to week is, as it turns out, really a lot to deal with); closing of Russian office is impacting our resources (lots of people will quit who cannot relo out of Russia). Clients are not letting us work with resources located in sanctioned areas. I have some concern that a couple of large clients are going to pull work in the near future including the client I mainly work with. I wake up to tons of Slack because I'm offset from my teams, so I'm working at 7am most days, before I even have coffee. While the work itself is interesting, it highly doesn't matter in the scheme of things, and I find some of my clients to be absolutely annoying.
Pros of New Job: Slight raise but money isn't why I would leave anyway. Totally on-shore operation, so no international stress. Variety of clients. Starting their agile practice so I could be part of launching some cool new processes. Very much a diverse workplace. Later start as HQ is in Central Time Zone, but I could still work East Coast hours. Work will be not exactly what I did at a previous job, but related. Of course everyone I've talked to is very very nice and they seem super cool. Award winning, seem to be stable, it's a shop with a good website which I think is a good sign when the cobbler has time to make his own shoes.
Cons of New Job: Obviously you find out a lot of cons when you start a new job, but possibilities include: Working weird hours possibly due to people being all over and also more in Central Time. Department where I would be working is maturing, not really mature, and learning new processes, so maybe chaos?
Almost exactly one year ago, I got a new job that was basically a 20% raise after four years of stagnation. I was excited, the job was challenging and interesting, and of course, the pay didn't hurt. In the meantime, I received an incremental raise of about 3%, which isn't much but I wasn't mad. We got paid bonuses this year.
BUT. BUT.
We are heavily impacted by sanctions and the war in Ukraine. I am literally on the phone with Ukrainians every day. Since the war began, I've felt very, very squirrely about my job and its stability. I am the primary earner in my household, I make about 40% more than my partner, and our lifestyle depends on my income. We could make it on his salary but it would basically suck. I started a soft job hunt, and I've met with some success -- I've had two interviews with a different company and I'm fairly certain I will get an offer. However, I am working on some time-crunched, critical work that I will feel like an asshole for quitting while it's going on, and I truly might burn a bridge or two.
I've been thinking about the Pros and Cons here already:
Pros of Current Job: Love my coworkers, work is interesting, pay is good, raises are regular if not huge. Bonus was certainly nice this year and they are paid pretty reliably as I understand. Fully remote, but probably will get pressure to go to an office locally w/in a year, I think.
Cons of Current Job: The Ukraine thing is extremely stressful (not knowing if your coworkers will reappear week to week is, as it turns out, really a lot to deal with); closing of Russian office is impacting our resources (lots of people will quit who cannot relo out of Russia). Clients are not letting us work with resources located in sanctioned areas. I have some concern that a couple of large clients are going to pull work in the near future including the client I mainly work with. I wake up to tons of Slack because I'm offset from my teams, so I'm working at 7am most days, before I even have coffee. While the work itself is interesting, it highly doesn't matter in the scheme of things, and I find some of my clients to be absolutely annoying.
Pros of New Job: Slight raise but money isn't why I would leave anyway. Totally on-shore operation, so no international stress. Variety of clients. Starting their agile practice so I could be part of launching some cool new processes. Very much a diverse workplace. Later start as HQ is in Central Time Zone, but I could still work East Coast hours. Work will be not exactly what I did at a previous job, but related. Of course everyone I've talked to is very very nice and they seem super cool. Award winning, seem to be stable, it's a shop with a good website which I think is a good sign when the cobbler has time to make his own shoes.
Cons of New Job: Obviously you find out a lot of cons when you start a new job, but possibilities include: Working weird hours possibly due to people being all over and also more in Central Time. Department where I would be working is maturing, not really mature, and learning new processes, so maybe chaos?
Unfortunately, I think your concerns about stability at your current job are very reasonable. I would take the new job. (I am assuming you're not doing, like, support for humanitarian work in Ukraine at the current job--then at least there would be ethical wrinkles you'd want to think through more.)
posted by praemunire at 9:36 AM on April 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by praemunire at 9:36 AM on April 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
Pros of Current Job: ....pay is good, raises are regular if not huge.
Pros of New Job: Slight raise
Just pointing out these pros seem to cancel each other out, so there really aren't too many pros for the current job.
My sense is that the only reason you are hesitating is that you feel bad. In the past, when I felt a bit bad about leaving a job for a better job, I reminded myself that my current job would fire me in a second if they needed to. If you really think at some point you will need these people for a reference or something, maybe offer to see if you can start the new job a month late so you can help train the new person or spend a couple of weeks tying up loose ends, but take the new job.
posted by coffeecat at 3:23 PM on April 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
Pros of New Job: Slight raise
Just pointing out these pros seem to cancel each other out, so there really aren't too many pros for the current job.
My sense is that the only reason you are hesitating is that you feel bad. In the past, when I felt a bit bad about leaving a job for a better job, I reminded myself that my current job would fire me in a second if they needed to. If you really think at some point you will need these people for a reference or something, maybe offer to see if you can start the new job a month late so you can help train the new person or spend a couple of weeks tying up loose ends, but take the new job.
posted by coffeecat at 3:23 PM on April 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
You've said enough that I can tell you won't be happy by staying. So the answer is already in your mind.
One thing that helps for leaving, is to really do your best to leave responsibly. Write up a list of transition tasks to complete before you leave. Ask your manager to add anything else they want help on. Most of the time, it doesn't need more than 2 weeks to complete this work. But you may have the option to extend your end date longer depending on what the new company needs for your start date. I can't think of any normal case where I'd give more than 3 weeks notices.
After you give notice, just work your butt off to do as much as you can to leave your colleagues and company in the best possible place. It will be sad, but it will be okay. The Ukraine connection really pumps up the drama, but in the end, it's just a job and you have a right to leave it for your own happiness.
I just had my last day at a job the previous Friday, where I quit to join another job. So the emotional side of it is fresh in my mind. Just leave well. People will understand.
posted by ErikH2000 at 6:11 PM on April 23, 2022
One thing that helps for leaving, is to really do your best to leave responsibly. Write up a list of transition tasks to complete before you leave. Ask your manager to add anything else they want help on. Most of the time, it doesn't need more than 2 weeks to complete this work. But you may have the option to extend your end date longer depending on what the new company needs for your start date. I can't think of any normal case where I'd give more than 3 weeks notices.
After you give notice, just work your butt off to do as much as you can to leave your colleagues and company in the best possible place. It will be sad, but it will be okay. The Ukraine connection really pumps up the drama, but in the end, it's just a job and you have a right to leave it for your own happiness.
I just had my last day at a job the previous Friday, where I quit to join another job. So the emotional side of it is fresh in my mind. Just leave well. People will understand.
posted by ErikH2000 at 6:11 PM on April 23, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by rpfields at 9:28 AM on April 22, 2022 [4 favorites]