What's keeping you at your current position?
Posted by CocoaTrain@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 247 comments
Each job has its quirks, annoyances, etc
Posted by CocoaTrain@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 247 comments
Each job has its quirks, annoyances, etc
Beneficial_Map6129@reddit
leetcode
symbiatch@reddit
I’ve never had those issues considering I don’t touch FAANG. I wouldn’t think that’s any reason not to switch, it’s not like every company is unable to hire properly?
Beneficial_Map6129@reddit
When you're a man who is in his 30s, relearning some puzzles over the course of a few months that have no real world value just to pass an interview like a trained monkey is kind of messed up
Yes it is the gateway to a 500k salary sure, so it's well worth it, but it's just a lot to do
symbiatch@reddit
Pay is good. Maybe could poke it a bit higher even since I’ve overdelivered on everything. And as a contractor I make more than as an employee for the same cost to the company.
Fully remote. Any time someone is “are you coming to the office for X?” I can just say “nah” and it’s fine. In over a year I’ve been to either office under 10 times. And to the office in the same city less than to the other in another city.
I’m respected, included in many things, my views are taken into account, and I have quite a bit of power.
I can do quite a bit of “I thought this would be good for the product so I implemented it, can we put it into the product?” and usually the answer is “of course.” Might go through some UX design and checks of course.
Management is simple on us. I’ve never had to report my hours or anything. I can even do extra hours and then take days off so I’m paid for every single hour of the work year instead of the usual contractor life of “I’ll pay for my own time off.” (I don’t take time off that much anyway)
The work is challenging in the correct way - solving interesting problems. Not the “I have to navigate this corp hellhole and walk on eggshells.”
The position is quite secure for me. They’re even talking about putting me officially a bit higher in the chain. I already do all that but be more official. So more possibility to have an impact.
Coworkers are nice. I get along with them nicely and some I’ve worked with before already so I know how things are.
It might sound like some dream, but there’s also negatives of course. But I could have it soooo much worse elsewhere. Especially when I don’t work just to get money, it needs to be meaningful and I won’t go for “I do React and Node like all the others” so it’s not like there’s millions of positions available.
Awkward_Past8758@reddit
Not wanting to subject myself to 4+ rounds of interviews for the unknown when I have something relatively chill and remote.
symbiatch@reddit
This always sounds so wild to me. I’m not sure I’ve had even two rounds in most places. I’m assuming USA with its wild ways?
Forsaken-Promise-269@reddit
Absolutely, just finished 6th round of interview for a 2nd tier but profitable large startup and no leetcode thankfully but I'm rating myself as maybe 50% chance of going forward in this given their uncertaintiy.. this with a 20 year background in tech and having lead teams and built startups -its hell out there right now
bravopapa99@reddit
SIX? What do they want. blood? Two is my limit and I don't do tests or leet-code bullshit either. I have 40YOE, take it or leave it.
ScientificBeastMode@reddit
No startup has ever failed due to developers not working 60+ hours per week for more than a few months.
I mean, I get it, sometimes a startup needs a product/feature out by yesterday in order to beat out early competitors or secure funding by end of quarter, and the team needs to scramble to deliver. But those are emergencies…
If your business is always in a state of emergency, you’re either spinning your wheels for little gain, or the business is already failing, likely due to totally different reasons (like bad PMF, a CEO who refuses to do sales calls, failing to adapt to user feedback, bad business model, macro-economic factors, etc.). Pushing your dev team into deep burnout is almost certainly not going to save you at that point.
Pushing the team to work 60-80 hours per week is like driving a supercar and refusing to do ordinary maintenance. You can only go so far without an oil change or tire replacement, and the maintenance downtime is negligible in terms of your total output of the car. Maybe that’s not a perfect analogy, but you get what I mean.
notarobot1111111@reddit
Safe harbor while the storm passes
Shehzman@reddit
Currently at 3 YOE but trying to land something fully remote. Well aware that’s difficult in this market, but I don’t mind waiting it out till I get one.
mcmaster-99@reddit
Very slim chance that happens, unfortunately. If you’re not already remote, you’re ganna have to wait till it’s an employee’s market again.
Shehzman@reddit
Yeah I’m definitely starting to open up to hybrid opportunities. Currently at 2 days in office and I’d say that’s the sweet spot that I could live with.
I live in the suburbs and most software jobs are in downtown which is a good 30-50 minute commute. There is one software company that is 2 minutes away from my house, but the pay is meh unless you’re able to negotiate and I’ll probably move to a different suburb in a couple of years.
bluetrust@reddit
I know, right? I interviewed with a founder last week and asked him what the culture was like and he said "intense". I said, that's an interesting word--when was the last time someone worked on a weekend or vacation? He said yesterday. So I told him I needed to be able to do this three months from now and a year from now and five years from now. I couldn't just burn out like that. And he agreed it wasn't healthy or sustainable and we went our separate ways.
But like... Jesus Christ, there's a lot of bad jobs out there. I don't want to work every weekend. That's a terrible job. It makes the slowly devolving mess at work seem normal and sane.
Awkward_Past8758@reddit
Sounds like you asked the right question and dodged a bullet!
paneq@reddit
I like to ask what's the work-life balance in the company. Is it US-style or European-style. No matter what level you are talking about, everyone knows what this means and knows what the answer to the question is.
Wide-Pop6050@reddit
Specific questions like what you asked or "how many days did you work past 6pm last week" are useful. Everyone knows what you want to know, but also it is easier to just give a straight answer to a specific question vs. hedging on "hows the work life balance"
MCFRESH01@reddit
I had pretty much this same conversation and I noped out immediately. 90% of the time it’s a bumch of fake urgency performative nonsense
MichelangeloJordan@reddit
Exactly the same for me except the on-call. My rotation is only once every 10 weeks - so not that bad.
Definitely not interested in jumping through hoops to get a bit more pay and potentially lose the flexibility and autonomy I have right now.
melokoton@reddit
There has been so many layoffs where I work that the team is very small. So the on-call rotation is one week per month.
I cannot find another position that pays the same and have a bank loan to pay, so I just have to take it.
Awkward_Past8758@reddit
See, that’s a reasonable amount of on call and I would hope you have a culture of swapping with other folks if you have something important to attend to? What got me was being in house and being on call every 4 weeks. Can’t plan a life around that schedule.
MichelangeloJordan@reddit
Yeah exactly. My teammates are solid and we have no problem switching if needed.
Still I dread on call. Thankfully I’ve never been paged in the middle of the night, but I’ve had to arrive late/step away from family time in the weekend. Shit sucks.
Frostia@reddit
I got this job in a salary peak, 3y ago. Seeing current salaries, would be extremely difficult to find a job with higher salary.
Also, I have a couple of real-life friends in the company, and the company has extremely low rotation, so after 3 years we all know each other.
Also, I work from home, and schedule is pretty flexible as long as the work is done and I'm answering in slack and in meeting in the core hours.
Do I like the job? No, I feel like I have 0 impact in the world, and probably the product is not even covering any real need, just providing the same as others just a bit cheaper.
But I'm not miserable. I've stopped chasing a dream job, I don't think there's actually one.
QQmachinez@reddit
But do you actually have to have an impact on the world through work? As long as the paycheck and work/life balance is OK, just enjoy the ride while it lasts. You can do plenty of nice and impactful things in your private life outside of work too 😁
Frostia@reddit
I've learned to not need to have an impact. But it is still sad to think that I've spent more than 7 years of my professional career working on products that nobody needs and nobody wants to use (or pay), on companies whose purpose and sense of existence is to try to be an appealing company to invest in, and raise as much money as possible in the next investment round.
Ok_Apricot_21@reddit
Same but cheaper is totally a need! If you don’t mind me asking what is your salary and approx location?
propostor@reddit
For me it's 100% WFH, low stress corporate work, fairly secure and a good team. I'm slightly underpaid but it would be very hard to find something 100% remote and with the same chilled out work style.
I used to job hop every couple of years, but not anymore.
DanRunsOnRamen@reddit
I spent six months trying desperately to leave but had no luck. I have over 17 YOE and interviewing has never felt harder or more absurd.
I’m on a team full of incompetent engineers that don’t bother trying to improve. Many people have checked out after being bought by a private equity firm. All new hires must be in India with no backfills in the US. No raise for almost 4 years and little hope of promotion as ownership no longer values us as employees.
But given what I experienced, I’m focusing on the good and dealing with staying put. I like my boss, work life balance is pretty good, pay is still ok, and I have a handful of engineers I still love working with. Hoping the market improves and I can find a better fit eventually.
standduppanda@reddit
Good money, good people, and work isn’t people’s entire life. Good benefits too.
jazzwave06@reddit
4 days per week
wont_stop_eating_ass@reddit
I can't pass an interview anywhere else that pays as much but I'm also unwilling to study leetcode and am constantly banking on the company using a take-home assignment
Ensirius@reddit
Companies give take-homes now as another round, they still then get you through several rounds of interviews like any other. I actually had to fully automate infra provision for AWS with full gitops integration and “one-click deployment”. And yet they expect me to “spend less than a couple lf hours on it”.
I did it in like 6 hours, spent something like 10 bucks on AWS costs because I had to test everything was working and then got rejected.
Pretty sure they are using my work over there.
Cosmic_Frenchie@reddit
You would work with idiots at that company
rom_romeo@reddit
One of the worst aspects of take-home tests is that they involve a lot of subjective decisions and opinions. Story time... During my recent job search, I got a take-home test to implement a solution for what is essentially a Hungarian algorithm. The company deliberately didn't specify "weights" for the implementation. I immediately contacted their recruiter, and he told me that I can determine "weights" on my own in a manner that I think is fair. It took me 18 hours (the whole weekend) to implement the solution and other requirements. Surprise surprise! I got rejected with an explanation that my results mismatch their results. You can only imagine how furious I was. How could one even guess those weights? I put those words in an email, but nah. Just fuck those guys.
Ok_Apricot_21@reddit
Name and shame then man!!
Mikefrommke@reddit
A good take home is a means to facilitate discussion on why someone made the choices they did, not to “get to the same solution as the interviewer.” Sorry you had to go through that.
wont_stop_eating_ass@reddit
Exactly, I believe a good take-home evaluates my actual work and gives me an opportunity to explain why I did x instead of y; I feel like I am submitting a PR for review and then responding to the comments, which is literally the job, just don't give me something super ridiculous that'll take the whole weekend to finish
TheRealKidkudi@reddit
You just know there’s some self righteous lead on the other end of that interview process complaining about how they can’t find any competent developers.
socratic_weeb@reddit
Take homes are free labor and/or not worth the time and effort anyways. Hence why I prefer leetcode.
onelesd@reddit
Thanks for your honesty, wont_stop_eating_ass. I’d expect nothing less from you.
DerpDerpDerp78910@reddit
Too busy eating ass of course. It makes perfect sense.
gomihako_@reddit
This guy fucks
mizdev1916@reddit
And he won’t stop
TrueSgtMonkey@reddit
Is this guy full of shit or something? Or, is he not full enough?
AvailableBowl2342@reddit
These ass jokes are a bit shitty dont you think?
Pleasant-Direction-4@reddit
lmao
SergeantPoopyWeiner@reddit
Leet code can be fun dog. Commit and dive in. It's not that hard.
mcmaster-99@reddit
You’re doing it wrong if it’s not that hard.
SergeantPoopyWeiner@reddit
Completely false. It's a skill you can practice and get better at over time like anything else. Just have to invest the time and effort.
PoopsCodeAllTheTime@reddit
I got the subsequence of palindromes question and.... Yeah it stops being fun very quickly
4444For@reddit
Whoa, are you me?
Alternative-Wafer123@reddit
For my kid, I don't have time to prep interview ATM
Fuzzy-Delivery799@reddit
Just coasting, while I contemplate if I even want to continue working in this industry as a whole.
This industry has felt so mentally draining and toxic. Yes, we’re paid well, but the mental health load is what makes it extreme.
Ok_Apricot_21@reddit
My job is not so bad, I can’t seem to get a much higher salary, and I don’t interview well. I actually did apply to a job but that gave me almost-panic attacks and the salary bump was only $10k so I dropped out pretty quickly
anotherleftistbot@reddit
My job is fucking amazing.
I’m a senior director, I keep getting promoted but somehow work life balance is chill enough.
I’m fully remote.
My direct reports are rock solid and I hired and trained them all.
The managers reporting to me have teams made up of driven, capable and kind humans. No shitheads or divas above or below me in my reporting structure.
My teams are so good at their jobs that I get to spend half my days playing with new technology, working on cool shit that is super impressive when it works and when it doesn’t there are no expectations.
My teams are composed of 45% women. We have people from all over the world who grew up speaking over a dozen different languages in the home. When we meet up we share our cultures and food and celebrate our diversity.
My VP is smart, hands off, and a great mentor. I learn so much from him.
My director of product manager knows when he is out of his depth, gives us problems and lets us come up with solutions. He is the kind of guy I’d ask to raise my kids if I died young.
My CTO is a decent human being who does what he says he’ll do.
I get paid to travel to desirable locations to meet with teammates and customers, speak at conferences, and am gaining deep connections at our customers and vendors. And as a director, I fly business class.
Only downside is that money being low for my market and sphere of influence.
Upside is that directors of engineering make objectively good money so I’m way more than comfortable but poverty level compared to FAANG Sr Directors(but most of us are).
Basically a dream job. Every time I think of moving on I pinch myself and remind myself how lucky I am.
cliffy979@reddit
Sounds like a jackpot, good for you 👌
anotherleftistbot@reddit
The job hasn’t always been this amazing and I stuck with it for the work life balance.
Eventually the company hired good senior leadership and since then the quality of the job has been through the roof for me and I have thrived.
SteveMacAwesome@reddit
Oh wow it’s almost like having senior leadership who aren’t a gaggle of baboons makes a real difference.
Seriously 95% of people in c suite positions are an absolute waste of oxygen who are just really good at shmoozing the right people.
anotherleftistbot@reddit
I’ll let you know if I get tgere
SmartassRemarks@reddit
This is a dream I fantasize about daily, but I am very certain that it will never happen at my workplace for various reasons. Do you work in a hot area like AI?
anotherleftistbot@reddit
The company is unsexy enterprise software but yes, AI is part of the tooling and deliverables.
reli2798@reddit
That sounds like a nice place of work. Any chance there are open positions?
anotherleftistbot@reddit
Headcount is flat and we expect it to be flat through 2026.
RogueJello@reddit
This!
panoply@reddit
Sounds amazing !
Where on the TC scale would you be in FAANG, like level? There’s more to life than money, but interesting to see how much things vary in tech.
anotherleftistbot@reddit
Think L8 Amazon salary but instead of 300% RSUs, I get a 25-30% bonus.
But on the plus side I don't work for Jeff Bezos and I'm not surrounded by shitheads.
panoply@reddit
L8 SWE at Amazon's salary is at about \~$300K, plus the bonus is about $400k. Good for you, mate! Your work environment seems amazing. What a good mix!
anotherleftistbot@reddit
Bit less than that but pretty close.
mcmaster-99@reddit
Just remember that there’s always a sacrifice. High TC means you’ll sacrifice WLB. Low TC means you’ll sacrifice money but have great WLB.
Personally, I’d rather have the latter any day of the week.
engineered_academic@reddit
At some point numbers go up just isn't a motivation anymore. I have a loving wife and hopefully a kid soon. I would love to spend more time with them, not less. Pretty sure on my deathbed "I wish I had released that feature" is not going to be one of my biggest regrets.
whyregretsadness@reddit
Damn that’s amazing.
Intelligent_Deer_525@reddit
I have a family to keep afloat, debts and the fear of being included on a random round of layoffs after 3 months 😆
DeterminedQuokka@reddit
Almost entirely money at the moment. I'm on what is very much a 3 years ago market salary with a lot of good raises.
Alejo9010@reddit
The job market has been tough over the past few years. I landed my first developer position after applying for a year and a half. It was a contract role paying $125k annually. However, I’m looking for something remote with better pay. Since joining this company, I’ve only received about four phone calls from recruiters in the past two years.
jocularamity@reddit
I'm good at my job, my coworkers trust my abilities and are all really competent themselves, there's a culture of constructive feedback so everyone is learning, been there long enough to selectively refuse to work on certain teams/projects without ruffling feathers, local admin, my manager is hands off but there to help if asked, I can flex hours within a two week span as much as I like without permission, can take PTO without warning or permission, there's an interesting rotating assortment of work, 9/80 (every other Friday off), competitive (although not faang high) pay and matching 401k contributions up to 6%, good health insurance with an actual copay plan.
Also I would 100% fail modern interviews. Leetcode and on-the-spot gotcha brain teasers are my personal hell. I can code just fine in real world conditions, know my way around an IDE and design patterns and all, can spot bugs and find thread safety flaws with the best of them, but get flustered under live pressure. Interviewing is just not a promising step to take.
secretAZNman15@reddit
I give myself a 2-year window at a job to see whether or not it's going to go somewhere.
Natural_Tea484@reddit
The fact I haven't yet started take interviews.
gomihako_@reddit
There's a couple bozos here and there in adjacent divisions that I can compromise with but hey, you'd find that anywhere.
New_Firefighter1683@reddit
Rent
jake_ytcrap@reddit
My current company only deployes on Wednesday so that we can fix any bugs on Thursday and Friday. It's an ordering platform for chefs, which is only used on weekends. So we make sure everything works before that. So our weekends are free.
My CTO scolded me for working after hours one day and gave a lecture on work-life balance and burnouts.
I get an average salary but peace of mind.
We are cash positive from day one, with no pressure on dev staff. Sales staff might be stressed out from some of the chats on Slack. But we are ok.
When i got hired during the interview, CTO asked me to give him three questions to ask me so that I can showcase my abilities best. And there is no technical interview.
For a month, the CTO had a daily 1 on 1 with me to make sure I get up to speed.
newnimprovedk@reddit
I’m only 5 months in a new company as a SWE manager. But: Money, WLB and potential for escalated career growth if I strategize well.
Big-Pirate2371@reddit
Familiarity and loyalty to the people I’ve been through the grind with. Familiarity gives me psychological safety.
My current company is stable but has demonstrated some financial turmoil but it still feels optimistic. I have the opportunity to go elsewhere, but my gut tells me that it’s not worth it right now because the other opportunity is at a scale up, with a ton of new folks, and Glassdoor ratings discussing a hire/fire mentality.
Some_Guy_87@reddit
Fear. Scared of feeling dumb or embarassing myself at an interview, scared of rejection, scared of changing from an okay situation to a hellish one, scared of the potential of not getting along with people in a new company, scared of being forced to do things I'm not comfortable doing.
It would probably be valuable to just apply and see what would be possible, after all nothing is forced on you. But it opens a can of stress.
fig-lous-BEFT@reddit
I remember interviewing for FB for the lulz and they asked to solve a problem which sounded a lot like a problem I asked others until I realized they got the statement wrong. I kept asking, “did you mean?”. At the “do you have questions” part, I asked what part of the FB app most proud of - said saving disk space. Kept thinking, why does FB app need 200Mb over the 2Mb web app. After that, I stopped caring about interview feedback anymore.
rom_romeo@reddit
I got interviewed by 11 companies from the beginning of the year. I would honestly like to meet a person from another profession where they have this terrible interview process. It’s like a march through 9 circles of hell. I finally got an offer in the mid of March to catch some breath. Just after three months, shit hits the fan. Here we go again. The feeling is and was, terrible. I tend to wake up in the morning stressed as shit. If I even manage to sleep.
bonnydoe@reddit
My goodness! Hope this situation resolves in a steady sane job for you soon. This is not healthy.
CallousBastard@reddit
fig-lous-BEFT@reddit
Or deal with the interviewing once canned since it’s now an Olympic sport.
ButteryMales2@reddit
Fully remote. Most days I can get away with 3 hours of real work. Almost no required meetings. And the pay is fantastic compared to my hours worked. Most people are nice. The one asshole I worked with is gone.
Sad-Raise-2149@reddit
Hey there, mind if I DM you about a certain coding not-a-bootcamp? Saw some past comments from you that I was really in agreement with and wanted to vent about having what sounds like the same experience.
ButteryMales2@reddit
sure!
Sad-Raise-2149@reddit
Oof, I guess my account is too new to send DMs? Are you able to send me a dummy one to initiate?
ButteryMales2@reddit
Strange. Just did
Sad-Raise-2149@reddit
got it!
andlewis@reddit
I like my job, and I have a family to support.
Guara_na@reddit
Compensation. Remote. That’s it.
username_is_taken_93@reddit
I am the dumbest team member.
I used to be the smartest person. At school. At university. At work. So I became an arrogant asshole and stagnated.
This team made me humble again. I love them so much.
QQmachinez@reddit
How/why did you become an A-hole? Those devs aren't fun to work together with
zambizzi@reddit
Great pay, mostly really great people, and the toughest job market of my entire 27 year career.
I’ll likely leave around the 2 year mark, if there are good opportunities out there. Assuming I don’t get laid off first, of course.
No_Pollution_535@reddit
can't get many interviews and if I do, I don't move on.
oncall has been hell with a high churn team
TimonAndPumbaAreDead@reddit
The most money I could imagine making as a community college dropout
80eightydegrees@reddit
Proud of you mate, don’t limit yourself though! You’re worth more than you think.
TimonAndPumbaAreDead@reddit
I'm doing okay for myself, I work at AWS 🤭
80eightydegrees@reddit
Haha, good shit 👊
bstaruk@reddit
Brother!
armahillo@reddit
I get paid fairly well, my team is awesome, I get challenged daily, and my managers are great.
Also I get to work from home, and the product I work on is neat.
bluiska2@reddit
I'm still learning, remote, pay is good, I want to wait out what happens with AI... Companies right now think it'll be all glorious for them. I'm waiting for the hiring frenzy to sort the problems out.
ayelmaowtfyougood@reddit
The market, no one wants anyone with less than 3 years and I am just now coming up on 2 myself.
BackendSpecialist@reddit
Waiting for the written offer to come thru. The tech interview process is ridiculously long.
I had my phone screen like 7 months ago and am in negotiations rn. Absolutely ridiculous.
I couldn’t imagine going through this process while being unemployed.
lWinkk@reddit
Fear
daze2turnt@reddit
I don’t have a degree and the interviewing gauntlets seems daunting in this market while my current job is stable and I know for a fact if there were layoffs I wouldn’t be the first to go so to speak.
I study Leetcode and system design all the time and am a top performer at work. Just don’t feel like applying, interviewing several rounds and then getting immediately laid off as I’ve seen some horror stories.
amplifiedlogic@reddit
It’s really crazy that tech has shifted to the require a degree’ mentality. In my 20+ years in tech - some of the most talented people I’ve worked with lacked a degree (or had a degree in something different like music).
daze2turnt@reddit
Yeah. There’s less jobs so I feel like they just added more filters. I may start applying soon just to see what’s out there but lately I’ve been getting more and more messages on LinkedIn from recruiters. Just anecdotal but hopefully the market improves.
amplifiedlogic@reddit
Totally agree. The degree is just an additional gatekeeping thing. No disrespect meant to those with degrees (I have a few) - but I’m the first to admit that these accolades aren’t declaratively what make me great in any role.
Standard-Smell-4425@reddit
90 days notice period, my unwillingness/incompetence/laziness to do DSA + LLD grind
Head_Discussion2244@reddit
Side projects. Being able to work on my own projects while having a full time job. And hoping that one of them will succeed!
martinbean@reddit
The fact I’m only a couple of months into it… and it took me six months to land this role after being made redundant back in November 😅
National-Bad2108@reddit
I would have to think that for most people it's the god-awful employment market right now.
_kaiji@reddit
People I work with, good money, chill deadlines and interviews being energy sucking frustration
The idea of leaving is on my mind for some time and it greatly intensifies with the usual annoyances of being oncall, being the "go to" person even if not oncall, and holding hands with a colleague that can't find his way after two years on the job.
Tired, but still here 😮💨
WorldClassMoron@reddit
Working on a legacy tech stack and no jobs are available on that now. And notice period is 90days
ninseicowboy@reddit
Leetcode
sobrietyincorporated@reddit
Yup.
25yoe fullstack web. Never once have I needed to use anything remotely close to leetcode. Its a ridiculous metric. Knowing how to sort an array in some insane fashion is completely separate to knowing how to build software.
Ch3t@reddit
Health insurance until I find something new. I even called a few agencies about purchasing an individual insurance plan. I can't stand my manager. He left the country for a month and didn't tell anyone. He was "working" offshore hours and cancelled all meetings. I got more work done in that month than I have in the last year. Now he's back and I am completely blocked. I can do leetcode during business hours since I can't do my assigned work.
Eli5678@reddit
Not wanting to move
The_Big_Sad_69420@reddit
Money
PicklesAndCoorslight@reddit
Shitty market.
JustForArkona@reddit
Up until a week ago - I loved my management, I loved my team, I loved the work.
As of a week ago, they dissolved all that and put me in a new role that I don't know how to do, not assigned to a team, and I'm just angry and floating along. But I'm also 9 months pregnant so I just have a couple weeks until I peace out for a couple months. So gonna re-evaluate when I come back.
BH_Gobuchul@reddit
Afraid I won’t be able to get anywhere near my current pay and benefits if I switch. That’s assuming I can find something
Software_Engineer09@reddit
The salary and the depressing job market.
jakesboy2@reddit
pays good, i like the people, remote
TopBlopper21@reddit
An irrational desire to prove myself to myself at my current job and really feel like I can excel before I leave.
It's stupid, don't be like me XD
tmax8908@reddit
Not stupid. It increases your confidence and strengthens your resume if you succeed at it.
failsafe-author@reddit
I’m well paid, well regarded, it’s remote, and the work is fun.
ubccompscistudent@reddit
Then what are the downsides?
I've got the first three of those, but in Fintech and the work is dry as hell (and our tech is 5 years behind industry standards).
failsafe-author@reddit
Biggest downside is that if something changes I’ll have trouble replacing it. :)
ubccompscistudent@reddit
That's how I feel right now. Don't need work to be fun if I have pay, WLB and remote. Not sure I can find as good of a pay that's still remote where I am.
clamjabber@reddit
I'm regarded too
FistThePooper6969@reddit
Hella regarded
Shehzman@reddit
YOE?
failsafe-author@reddit
25
nerdyphoenix@reddit
If I may ask, how much of that is in your current position?
failsafe-author@reddit
About a year and a half.
I spent years working at my previous job (over a decade with the same team across multiple companies, in fact) and was pretty set to just be a senior there for life, but a friend of mine (who I’d once managed for about 3 months when I tried out the EM track- it didn’t take!) was VP of engineering at my current company and enticed me to come over as a principal. Super glad I did. He’s actually no longer here, but I really enjoy the work and the responsibilities that have come with the position. I also have a great manager that I work with who empowers me (and I empower him).
It’s a company that is shifting from startup into a more “mature” phase, and a lot of interesting problems come with that. It’s making loads of money, and the engineering part of the org is solid. Not without problems, as I said, but many of them rserve as opportunities to make an impact. I’ve gotten to be involved in a few different areas, as well as spin up a greenfield project, and some high-profile early successes have given me a lot of social credit within the company.
A LOT comes down to having a fantastic manager to partner with.
LexColex@reddit
Me too! Took me 5 years from one to finding the next nice job.
Virtual-Cell-5959@reddit
My work impacts billions and I’m vocal about what I believe is morally right. I see some growth opportunity and frankly interviewing sucks.
shozzlez@reddit
Leetcode.
lilcode-x@reddit
My job is pretty chill. I enjoy the stack, I get along well with my boss and the rest of the team. The work itself is pretty fun, lots green field work and building feature from the ground up. The salary is low for 8 YoE though (low 130k in HCOL) but the work life balance is really great. I can actually close my laptop at 5 pm and not think about work for the rest of the day. All remote.
StriderKeni@reddit
I live abroad, so I really have to think carefully about my job career moves, and security is the priority.
student_of_world@reddit
My laziness, else I would be at the FAANG.
LiteraryLatina@reddit
My mortgage
TARehman@reddit
I'm fully remote, doing relatively non-evil work, have good coworkers and direct management, and am able to survive okay on my salary. Also, everything everywhere seems like the bottom might fall out right now, and adding additional risk seems bad.
wichwigga@reddit
It pays but it doesn't give me any experience. I don't spend much time coding and I should probably leave
PabloCIV@reddit
Fun and money
Top_Bumblebee_7762@reddit
My current company was the only company that would hire me. I don't think the market has gotten better since then.
ForgotMyPassword17@reddit
There wasn’t enough office space so my team doesn’t have to RTO. The 4.5 hours a week that saves me are enough to put up with quite a bit
DamePants@reddit
Extreme flexibility at a company that has three days RTO. Coffee badging is not monitored, my manager routinely does it, so do I. We all have a don’t ask don’t tell about the amount of real hours we work.
However it’s a large money printing machine that is decades old. The codebase is chaos and so are new features. There is the occasional fire drill fortunately we have blame free post mortems. The chaos is a feature that means you can hide a shitty week of productivity until you get your vibe back.
geraldclarkaudio@reddit
Nobody wants to hire me so I remain in the unemployed position.
DamePants@reddit
This is my fear if I start to job hunt and my manager catches wind of it.
erraye@reddit
Salary and security. Very few jobs in the same area can pay much better than what I’m getting right now.
Also I’m a little bit worried about moving to a new company and then getting laid off. At the moment I do feel my job is secure.
ProductMaterial8611@reddit
Golden handcuffs.
A startup i was a part of got bought by a fortune 25 company. Couple years later I was jumping ship to something more fast paced and interesting and I let my current employer make me a counter offer... and they offered me an amount of money that I'm pretty unlikely to see anywhere else.
Trick-Interaction396@reddit
Shit job market with shit pay
onefutui2e@reddit
I left my company in 2023 after a little over four years. It was my longest tenured job. I was employee 96, saw it grow to 600 people, then back down to 450 after the summer of 2022. I was being paid very well for the work I was doing, and it wasn't much work. It felt like I was being kept around for my institutional knowledge more than anything.
But politics and bureaucracy conspired to leave me frustrated and I left late 2023. I then spent 2024 in the wilderness.
I started my new job immediately after, and quit that in Q2 2024 to join another company that I felt more aligned with where I felt my career was going.
That company was a disaster in many ways, some my fault some theirs. To the point where 4 months in I resolved that they were either going to let me go, or I'd find another job and quit. They blinked first, but by the time I got the proverbial pink slip I was already well underway with interviews. My bout with unemployment was short and I found a new job in Q4 2024.
So in 2024 I held three different jobs. Looking back, I refer to it as my paid career sabbatical. I don't necessarily regret it because I did learn new things and got to work with tech that I wouldn't have otherwise. Along the way, I learned what I wanted and what I didn't want. I also discovered that there was a disconnect between where I thought I was and where I really was.
Now I'm at my current company. It's going well; the company is small but profitable, so there's a lot of good work to be done but no pressure to damn the torpedoes and ship products before your funding runs out.
So I'm at my current company because I do like the work I'm doing. It's not all roses, but after a year of instability I feel like I need to retrench myself a bit before striking out again.
Lawson470189@reddit
Work life balance. I work at a job that can be stressful and has on-call. But management listens to concerns and I get to work remotely. Being able to spend time with my wife and daughters during the day is huge.
Wide-Pop6050@reddit
It's a really cool industry and we are rolling out a product I'm interested in. We are making a positive impact in the world. I get to do some business travel to places I wouldn't have gone otherwise. I like being a manager, but I could do that other places too now that I have experience.
neomage2021@reddit
I make great money, I work 100% remote, and my schedule is pretty flexible.
ActuallyFullOfShit@reddit
Stability and lack of opportunities in my area.
ancientweasel@reddit
I am employed for what I know and my ability to quickly help others and keep a team of 200 engineers unblocked by technical issues. My boss actually told me to slow down. LOL
likwidfuzion@reddit
Money. My company pays me very, very well.
For reference, my current TC exceeds an L6 at Google and is between an L6/L7 at Meta (which is a massive TC range BTW) according to Levels.fyi. We are not MAANG, but adjacent.
effectivescarequotes@reddit
I haven't gotten another offer yet. First decent one I get, I'm gone.
code_in_420p@reddit
RSUs mostly
daraeje7@reddit
Leetcode
Ready_Anything4661@reddit
I’m at 119 PSLF payments and I’ve been in a weird forbearance for over a year and I’ve sent literally a dozen requests to get out of forbearance to just make one more payment and it keeps not happening it feels like I’m in a Kafka story.
calmlyonward@reddit
Great WLB, benefits, and comp. I like my coworkers. Good learning opportunities. Will probably look when my kids are a bit older and my RSU grant runs out.
Kept_@reddit
Flexibility in general, remote work and good culture
PuzzelGhazalHead5328@reddit
Bad job market is keeping me at my job.
sM92Bpb@reddit
I'm from a small country. Most of the jobs are in the capital or in the most popolous city which I don't live in and am not willing to relocate. My asking next salary target is actually very close to my net salary. Team is good. Culture is laid back. No overtimes. Not cutting edge but I get to use newish tools besides a monolithic legacy application.
I've been to interviews but not accepted. Maybe I'm asking too much so that's why I'll just stay I guess if I can't get a sizable increase.
SmartassRemarks@reddit
Nowhere else pays more except FAANG, Uber, Lyft, Snap, Pinterest, and maybe 5-10 others. These happen to pay a lot more, but nowhere else pays more than where I work. Of those options, almost all have had recent layoffs, are stagnating, are known to be bad places to work, I don’t believe in the product, I don’t agree with the mission of the company, or are known to be great places to work and are highly competitive to get into and I’ve tried before multiple times. I don’t have network contacts at these places.
Of the places that pay same or less, I would incur a hellish commute, with only few exceptions.
Those exceptions are either remote, which I’ll get to, or they’re just 5-10 companies which have been old and stagnating a long time. For example, Dell, AMD, or Intel. There are other small and lesser know examples.
For remote work, I’m sure there are many companies I’m not familiar with that would hire me remote. But most would be startups. I’m not really looking to incur a 50+ hour work week or jump into something with same or less job stability than I have now.
VannTen@reddit
(I'm freelance with a long-term public sector client) - Fully remote - paid to maintain an open source project (that we use) - I have basically complete freedom, and I've been able to work and advance (though a bit slowly) on systemic improvements on the infrastructure - I get to skip the daily standup (which are about 30 minutes, from what I hear) - pretty good pay & I'm working 80%
dtelad11@reddit
I'm unemployed so ... the lousy state of the job market, I guess?
carcarr17@reddit
Worried I won’t get as good of experience from companies I am currently getting interviews from or that I will just hate it when I generally like my current position. More money would be nice though.
Far-Consideration939@reddit
The economy
SeaworthySamus@reddit
The amount of interview prep needed to get a job at my current salary level.
Oakw00dy@reddit
I found the unicorn: A full remote job, decent pay with a promising career trajectory in a stable company. Knock on wood :-)
imagebiot@reddit
Healthcare
jeronimoe@reddit
Benefits and it's remote still outweighs my crappy boss.
nokky1234@reddit
No / low stress, very relaxed people, lots of exploration time/ downtime. 100% remote.
I can relocate to another EU country (which we want to do) and get a local contract with german pay.
THe pay itself is bad but its just the most relaxed job i've ever had. I only have to clock 6 hours a day, which is basicaly only 3-4hours of actual work because of meetings etc.
Its not perfect but i choose to stay.
Also jobhunting is a mess and i'm just too old to mess with it
Professional-List562@reddit
WFH
Chevaboogaloo@reddit
Pay is pretty good and my current team and work are pretty good.
I know I could find a job with better pay but the possibility of getting a bad team or manager is a risk I’m not currently willing to take.
labab99@reddit
I have an incredible amount of decision-making latitude on an internal tooling project that is both very visible/marketable and fascinating from a technical standpoint. Also very stable from a business perspective (for now). It’s my first job and so far I’ve loved it.
The problem is, it feels as though I’m not learning nearly as much as I was at the start of the project. Our main codebase isn’t big enough or high-traffic enough for me to get any real opportunities to learn from any design mistakes. Besides the occasional bug or small memory inefficiency, I never have moments where I can say, “I see now that I was totally wrong to design it this way”.
I’m torn because if I was here at like, 20 YOE with kids it would be the best job in the world. But I’m only at 3.5. And I often feel like I’m depriving myself of opportunities to fuck up and learn from it. I’m in a bubble where I am functionally the team lead and the codebase SME everyone asks questions to, even though by experience I’m fully a junior. And I worry that my growth is stagnating.
_nullfish@reddit
The pay to bullshit ratio at my current role is quite good
Responsible_Gap337@reddit
nrith@reddit
More money than I’ve ever gotten before. Essentially RSUs that vest each year to the tune of about 50% of my base pay. In my 29 years in this field, this is the first time I’ve gotten RSUs that are actually worth something.
inter_fectum@reddit
Pending RSUs are my handcuffs too. It's hard to walk away from them and then start the vesting period all over at best.
azimeister@reddit
I can get 20-30% more in other companies, i am staying where i am for a few reasons:
paneq@reddit
Insane flexibility. It's vacations, my son's kindergarten is closed. I am working remotely 5:00-7:30, then 9:00-13:30 and then after 16:00. I take breaks for either parenting or doing workouts at home. I have around 1 meeting per day that fits my schedule and timezone. The salary is also quite OK, although with dollar losing 10% of its value, it's a bit less than it used to be.
Due-Ad-2322@reddit
Stability, coworkers, no on-call
xmBQWugdxjaA@reddit
Being able to work remotely. Everywhere else that has contacted me has been in-office, and that's just so much flexibility to lose.
bonnydoe@reddit
WFH, 16h/week, work whenever I want, relationship based on trust with CEO, everybody treats me with respect. Money may not be the best, but it is more than I ever earned and more than I need.
Ok_Slide4905@reddit
Paycheck
soft_white_yosemite@reddit
Money and knowing my current skillset doesn’t get me far in the current market.
FanZealousideal1511@reddit
I don't enjoy my current job, but I kinda put up with it. I want a new one, but I either don't get callbacks or can't pass interviews (once in the loop) at places I'd love to work at. And I don't want to lower my standards, as it would not be worth the hassle.
Designer-Teacher8573@reddit
80% remote. Good salary.
CricketMysterious64@reddit
I haven’t been offered another role. Just finished some interviews last week. Hoping to either get laid off or hired elsewhere before summers over.
bravopapa99@reddit
No pension, no savings, no buffer and cancer. Apart from that an being 60 in November and having been here four years fully remote forever, I feel free to move on anytime I like! LMFAO!
ThePhysicist96@reddit
Good pay, remote work, and my work life balance is insanely good.
ThatSituation9908@reddit
I'd lose my true passion working elsewhere. I'm at where I wanted to be as a kid. If I go back into the for-profit industry, I feel like I'm going to be stuck there and give up my dreams in exchange for financial convenience.
official_business@reddit
Pay is acceptable
Good work from home arrangement
Good coworkers, that I also get along with
Chill management
No push to use AI slop
I can't be bothered going through the multi-round interview hazing process. I'm not desperate enough to grind leetcode or study for some stupid web-scale system design type interview.
I could go for a new job, but why? The next place might be better, but it might be a dumpster fire.
Mostly it's just lazyness.
UnnamedBoz@reddit
WFH, flexible hours, decent pay, and got an interesting challenge this fall. For once we are getting some okay challenged, I was thinking of looking elsewhere, but now things are looking differerent. Also, they aren’t shoving AI down our throats.
FutureSchool6510@reddit
I have a strong team under me, and we get along really well. I’m trusted so I have a fair amount of autonomy. I’ve been here over 5 years now so I’m very familiar with our domain and our stack, so it’s comfortable. And I get paid way more than I need to survive.
Equivalent_Lead4052@reddit
Normal company with a minimum amount of corporate bullshit, decent projects, nice colleagues and decent pay even if not high. I won’t apply to 100 jobs and won’t prepare for bullshit interviews just to increase my salary as long as I don’t have kids and mortgages.
YnotBbrave@reddit
Straightjacket and a locked door
It's ok, i have the magic, I can walk through walls when I'm treated well. But I'm never treated well so... joke is on me
danikov@reddit
Interviews used to be really difficult. Now they seem impossible. I’ll do them if I have to but really, what I have to put up with is worth holding my nose for over going through that.
Infamous_Ruin6848@reddit
Lack of energy
baddymcbadface@reddit
Flipping the question around I'm doing a lot of recruiting and the things that stop/attract people joining somewhere are....
Money WFH policy On Call requirements
I'm sure modern tech stack and career options also play a role but they are never an issue where I am.
Our 1 day in the office policy is a big attraction. Our money is good but not mega. We have on call (1in5 weeks) which rules some people out even if they are very happy with everything else.
LuckyWriter1292@reddit
Pay, 3-4 days per week wfh, a boss that is cool and it's only a 15 minute commute - I'm pretty happy where I am.
DerpDerpDerp78910@reddit
The only way I’ve got to do this is when I work for myself.
Enjoy that lifestyle man!
Tango1777@reddit
Interviews are terrible, that is what makes me not apply so often and stick to the same client. There are pros and cons, as you said, there is no perfect job. As long as I can somewhat progress and grow, I am fine.
pund_@reddit
Want to get 5 years in, think it will look good on my CV, especially these days. 8 or so months to go. Also I'm quite 'comfy' where I am, even though it's not the highest paid or the most interesting job.
And I also told myself that if I'm going to change it better really be worth it and be really, really interesting or it's just better to stay where you're at.
pwnasaurus11@reddit
$1MM+/year
noonemustknowmysecre@reddit
The paycheck.
junglejon@reddit
It’s not a ‘safe’ market for right now with all the layoffs. I have a job and I am grateful.
OriginalMohawkMan@reddit
My retirement account isn’t vested for another four years. The environment sucks so much now I’d be interviewing everyday, otherwise.
kadhai_panner@reddit
Not able to switch to another
daron_@reddit
Visa
Old-Scholar-1812@reddit
Chill coworkers and an established working relationship
Acurus_Cow@reddit
The parking space, it's a rare luxuruy here in Oslo.
whyregretsadness@reddit
Remote, coworkers are great and manager is too.
I hate the interview process.
Pay is just enough but quickly feel it’s not.
quypro_daica@reddit
I have an upcoming surgery next year. I cannot pass the interview for the position I want I don't have much energy to prepare for the interviews
khedoros@reddit
I'm remote, the work is relatively cool, the pay is the best I've had so far, management of our little section of the company seems to have our backs.
And I detest basically everything about the job hunt and interviewing.
Front-Independence40@reddit
The lines of other applicants are in the 1000s . Jobs that I applied for last year are folding. Might as well enjoy the time off or now! Might be a while.
OneObvious53@reddit
I’m too burned out at my current role to study like I’m trying to get into med school.
originalchronoguy@reddit
$$$
$$$
$$$
WLB
$$$
WLB
Benefits.
Herrowgayboi@reddit
I get paid way too much for how little I do and I'm super comfortable because I've become the "go-to" person for our projects since I seem to be the most knowledgeable even compared to folks who have been there longer than me,
travelinzac@reddit
Money and the equity lottery ticket
Korzag@reddit
Satisfied with the compensation and remote work. I don't hate the job or the people I work with. It's a stable job and I'm not eager to give that up to climb ladders.
kibblerz@reddit
I signed my soul away until 2026.
rorschach200@reddit
Comp, potential professional growth - I'm getting into leading people and it's uncomfortable and new, but at this point in my career I genuinely understand - by gut - that it's important and necessary - and having nowhere else to go. Or do.
Comp matters because I'm not sure if I can or want to do this for a few more decades. I don't know if I can. The uncertainty creates incentives for earning and saving up while opportunity is there to do so, it might not last, I might not last, I don't know what's going to happen. So I earn and save, living on a fraction of my income.
Yourenotthe1@reddit
must_make_do@reddit
Above-market pay for my area and a strong team where I'm not the brightest bulb. I get to learn new stuff and get paid for it.
mxdx-@reddit
I am effectively parked so to speak . I work for a cooperative that isn't evil with a cool team and making more money than if I leave.
I used to hop to gain various experience and make more money but you gonna recognize when it's not getting any better.
eveningcandles@reddit
Employer-specific Work Permit :)
Although WLB isn't the strongest, the pay and prestige are good.
magejangle@reddit
comp and hoping for promo
pyromanxe@reddit
rent
moreVCAs@reddit
love the work and the people. no bullshit.
pepperPantz__@reddit
Compensation, hybrid work, a team that doesn't expect message responses outside of work hours.
reosanchiz@reddit
Bills
Maleficent-Web4808@reddit
Hybrid working with one day in office
jaypeejay@reddit
A potential promotion.
But as a less cheeky answer: the work life balance is good, and I like my team.