For folks who've changed jobs/domains and regretted it, how did you deal with the situation?
Posted by mortyquestions@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 16 comments
I recently changed jobs and now work in a different domain than what I spent most of my career in (embedded Linux/AOSP and CV stuff). I'm now just a regular smegular backend engineer, and I'm having mild regrets.
I'm curious how other people have dealt with this in their career. Do you find that changing domains like this was a net benefit for your career, or do you find it derailed it a bit? Did you quit immediately when you realized it or did you stick it out? Did you eventually go back to your old domain/area of expertise?
justUseAnSvm@reddit
I took a job at a company selling a cloud database, talked to the manager, all these exciting software projects to solve unique distributed systems problems, and they really were pushing the bounds of what was possible with Pulumi + a three cloud deployment. I wanted to shift into distributed systems, so it all sounded good.
Anyway, I got there, did a couple good migrations, like a really nifty DNS migration, Cloudflare tunnels, and a cool TLS cert optimization that saved a lot of waiting on deploys. However, there weren't much software projects my team got, our software work wasn't really respected by the database and app guys, there wasn't a path to making database contributions without making it my hobby, and most of our team work was shifting suppliers with short notification (this contract is ending in 3 weeks) and SRE stuff.
I asked my manager to switch teams, he said: "no u/justUseAnSvm, we need you in a team lead spot where you are". I said okay, and just walked away with under a year tenure. It wasn't an immediate realization, but months of slowly realizing my job wasn't what I want, the database was basically done, and where the company needed me was in a role I didn't like.
There were some other things going on in my life at that time, but as soon as I got an idea for my own service, I just left and went with that. That project reached a stable point, and after 6 months I was interviewing and took a job at a big tech company (for a lot more $) in 8 months.
Wooden-Contract-2760@reddit
Did your boss call you on your reddit username or did you just randomly reference your own acc? Strange times, strange times, u/Wooden-Contract-2760
pifish@reddit
I made a similar move (embedded systems to Cloud Engineering) a few years ago. I definitely feel some regret when I see all the interesting things my old colleagues are doing, but I’m still doing technical work, pay is better, and I have access to more/better remote opportunities which is important right now.
Eventually I would like to move back once I can manage more in office time and based on reading job ads now I’m hoping a bit of breadth might unlock some more opportunities.
Is there a reason you switched? If it was just to try it out why not put some feelers out to see if you can find an embedded role you’d like? Or perhaps a different company that might have more engaging backend work?
mortyquestions@reddit (OP)
Yeah it was to try something new. I was a little aimless in my job search and (I say this with a grateful heart) I did just go with the highest bidder. I did have another offer from a company that did CV for dashcams, but their pay and title was lower. In hindsight I might have been able to negotiate a little harder but alas, here we are.
I think I'll stick it out here a little longer and try for an embedded role again in a year or so. Thanks for the advice
Zoltan-Kazulu@reddit
For 15 years I’ve done a bit of everything. Started frontend, then full stack, then backend, a bit of data engineering, a little infra/platform/devops, varying levels of scale. Mostly in B2B SaaS companies, focused on Web. Changing tech stacks, programming languages , and domains. Both startups, mid stage scale ups, and bigger companies.
Recently I felt as if I’m just a generalist, but practically not an expert in anything. Is it good or bad? I don’t know, but definitely a thought that ran through my mind recently.
Trying to look at it as my strength, being actually a horizontally versatile and adaptive engineer, rather than a vertical one trick pony.
compute_fail_24@reddit
You should be very welcome at any startup with that experience. I’m wired similarly and have utilized my broad range in that environment
Zoltan-Kazulu@reddit
Yeah, I don’t feel like I have problems finding a job.
But I did notice that for anything that’s more specialized like massive scale systems, big data pipelines, ultra low latency, AI/ML/Vision, heavy platform/infra, deep algorithmic stuff, etc’ - usually such broad and generic SaaS experience is not specialized enough.
compute_fail_24@reddit
Yeah I have that issue. I just keep trying to acquire more equity at startups and get a big win. Because of my broad range I am pretty consistently helping startups get from < 500k to 8 figures (done this three times in a row now)
Steely1809@reddit
Is your regret just discomfort? All progress comes with discomfort.
mortyquestions@reddit (OP)
It's really a bit of both, but strongly on the side of regret I'd say. The work I'm currently doing is just not that interesting to me.
XenonBG@reddit
I moved from health-care-adjacent to fintech.
It's slower, more bureaucratic, less professional, so purely professionally looking, yes, huge regrets.
But the paycheck is nice.
Huge-Leek844@reddit
I worked 3 years in a embedded controls position (ABS for example) and switched to data science, because i wasnt doing technical work. I was on an outsourced company. Fast forward 4 months only i found out my previous team will work on technical stuff.
It was a punch in a gut. I was there for 3 years pushing for more work, the minute i left they get to do it.
Educational-Ant-9587@reddit
I switched from embedded too. No regrets because embedded is paid poorly where I am.
attrox_@reddit
I was a full stack engineer and then did 2 years as infra/devops engineer before switching job again to backend engineer. Not really regret, more like it was lonely and isolating working as devops engineer. Otherwise the experience gave me a lot of knowledge across everything. I can implement, deploy and troubleshoot anything everything local or in the cloud. Honestly it allows me to be more standout than other senior engineer allowing me to be a lead and now I'm preparing to be a staff engineer.
chaim_kirby@reddit
I found myself at 20yoe interviewing out of passive interest. I was ready to leave my then job but not really thinking about what was next, just responding to recruiters. The market was welcoming and I had 4 offers in hand and chose the best of them. They even added a new top IC tier to hire me into. It was the wrong fit. 3 weeks in I was put on the on call roster for several weeks in the future. When I realized that I would in no way skip, say, putting my kids to bed for a support call for a product I didn't care about I knew it was the wrong match. I had a talk with my wife that I wanted to quit and was fairly certain I could land a new gig within 2 months. I started interviewing again and gave my 2 week notice later that week. This interview process I was much more purposeful, having realized that the domain and the societal value of the company and what they build really do matter to me. I spent my last 2 weeks building and delivering a technical architecture roadmap, that as I understand is where the product went after I left and before the company was sold for parts. At the end of my 2 week notice period I finished up at 4:30 and by 6 had the offer for my new, and almost 4 year current, job. I'm much happier and am on a great ride.
Ok_Needleworker4072@reddit
The only true approach that will benefit you is to not have regrets, and focusing on the experience and added perspective you have.
In my 8 years of experience, I switched once from full stack into data engineering because some contacts knew that I was very proficient on linux and automation stuff, that is how I had opportunity to know about pyspark, data lakes, data warehouses, etc.
And yes, I had the realization only giving a try on that domain that enjoyment was in my case working on the 3 layers of a complete system. When working on data engineering is all pure raw data, pipelines, data cleansing, etc. There are people who enjoy that, in my case was ok but I came back to more full stack roles.
You can come back to your area. There is no reason to regret in life what you experience, sometimes you experience something TO KNOW what you do not want is also an experience.
Is a net benefit? Certainly, you have more perspective, you now understand other areas. But you have to switch back into your area you enjoy if you are now sure about it.
When you have to worry is to accept more passive coding role like tech lead that is more passive role (in terms of active coding) and more architectural based, meetings all day with POs, etc, I was sometimes also ofered those roles and I clearly denied because I just enjoy coding, not been all day on meetings and planning.
But in your case, you can just come back to your area, nothing to regret, take it as just experience, and take action to be on track again on what you enjoy.