Signed a contract but stuck with a 30-day notice period — should I be worried they’ll drop me for someone who can start sooner?

Posted by combing_town_west@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 37 comments

I received an offer from an early-stage startup, a New York-based company, an AI + fintech company.

They are roughly before the MVP stage, and they’re offering a very good salary, more than double my current one. The tech stack is also good, although they are quite pushing the use of AI, but that’s how it is.

I have a 4-week (30-day) notice period. However, the company’s leadership has repeatedly indicated that they would be happy if I could reduce this period and start sooner, because they want me to begin working for them as soon as possible. I told them that I tried, but it didn’t work, so the 30 days remain.

I know that in the meantime, they are still interviewing and looking for people besides me. I already signed the contract with the company last week.

Is there a chance that because I can’t leave earlier than my 30-day notice period, they might change their mind? Could they find someone else in the meantime who can start sooner than me and drop me? Or is this just paranoia talking?

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Morazma@reddit

30 days is a short notice period. I'd expect 3 months for an experienced dev.

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SheriffRoscoe@reddit

NYC being in the USA, the traditional notice period is 2 weeks. But that's just tradition, unless you have a written contract that requires more time, and such contracts are often easy to break.

And as a good friend always says, "Your employer won't hesitate to walk you out the door with no notice and tell you to come back after work to empty out your desk." What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

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dllimport@reddit

Depending on the country this is not always true in Europe where OP is located

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Professional_Mix2418@reddit

Exactly. I’ve never seen an experienced dev with such a short one. But in all reality when people want to leave there is always room for negotiation in a wel run company.

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honestduane@reddit

New York is an employment-at-will state, meaning employees are not legally required to provide a notice period; That also means that any company that's trying to enforce one is bullshitting you.

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combing_town_west@reddit (OP)

I live in Europe and my old company is in Europe.

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honestduane@reddit

That's extremely suspicious because that would mean that the company in New York is hiring illegally because they still have to follow the laws of New York themselves.

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combing_town_west@reddit (OP)

Damn really?

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honestduane@reddit

Yes. That there is unfortunately a lot of fraud and scams and one of the big things that I'm seeing is companies in New York trying to hire people outside of the country illegally while doing tax fraud so name and shame the company.

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Medium_Ad6442@reddit

If it's so important to them, then they should interview unemployed people. A 30-day notice period is a pretty much normal thing.

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combing_town_west@reddit (OP)

Yeah, that's why I think I should not worry about this but who knows at this point, haha.

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Typical-Positive6581@reddit

Dw 30 days is very normal

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Careful-Nothing-2432@reddit

Depends on how good you are. There are places that will wait out multi year noncompetes for top talent

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combing_town_west@reddit (OP)

They gave me a half-day take-home assignment, coding a full-stack app, with so much stuff. I've done it and they literally told me that my solution was the best so far and next day gave me an offer. But yeah..who knows. What would you recommend?

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Choice_Supermarket_4@reddit

Are you bound by law or a contract for that 30-day notice?

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combing_town_west@reddit (OP)

Yeah, I'm from Europe and I will be working remotely, and here we have to work the notice period.

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Choice_Supermarket_4@reddit

That's what I was wondering. Really wish the US had labor laws as strong as most EU nations',

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jaypeejay@reddit

An enforceable 30 day notice seems more pro-employer to me than pro-worker.

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Choice_Supermarket_4@reddit

Except the employers are bound to it as well. Both have to give notice to the other party.

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jaypeejay@reddit

Makes sense

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AllIWantForXmasIsFoo@reddit

Dude. At least in my country, the only thing they can do is deduct those days from your pay. Are you sure it is not the case? Normally if a company is in a hurry, it will offer to compensate you for this

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robhaswell@reddit

You can use your accrued holiday allowance. If you leave before then the company can recover reasonable costs to accommodate your absence, i.e. a contractor's day rate to cover your work.

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skeletal88@reddit

If you are in Europe then this is totally normal. Otherwise who could they hire? On only unemployed people?

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sippin-jesus-juice@reddit

A startup is likely to pull the offer if you can’t start early enough, I’ve seen it happen.

If you have the availability, perhaps try working both jobs by doing the startup at night and the current job at normal hours. Only if the startup is willing to compensate for that time.

It’s inconvenient but ensures you don’t lose the role and a double payday can build up savings

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combing_town_west@reddit (OP)

Damn, pull the offer then.

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sippin-jesus-juice@reddit

Probably for the best. Startup life is very different from stable company life, especially a pre MVP startup which is rapidly burning through capital and may have a few months of runway left at anytime

A startup paying huge salaries is even more at risk. Usually early startups trade equity over salary to preserve runway

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combing_town_west@reddit (OP)

Unfortunately, I’ve already resigned my current place, lmao. But it was bad since the salary payment was always late every month in the last 6 months.

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apnorton@reddit

I told them that I tried, but it didn’t work, so the 30 days remain.

Is there any part of our industry in the US (since you mention NY) where a 30 day notice period is enforcible? Usually the answer to "there's a 30 day notice period" is "what are you gonna do, fire me?"

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Blrfl@reddit

If the notice period is a contractual obligation, you run the risk of being sued for breach.

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NicholasMKE@reddit

Usually it’s tied to some sort of financial carrot / stick, like stock or bonuses or the like

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IAmADev_NoReallyIAm@reddit

According to another reply, OP is in Europe, where the notice period is 30 days, this is standard.

Given that... the new company shouldn't have a problem, you tried, it didn't work, you'll have to work the 30 days, they'll have to get over it, and be OK with it. That's all there is to it. They can't ask you to break the law. Surely they knew going into it, before tending the offer to you that there was going to be this notice period.

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combing_town_west@reddit (OP)

I'm from Europe and I will be working remotely, and here we have to work the notice period.

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Skynet_5656@reddit

Perhaps they want it enough that they’d be prepared to pay your old employer to agree to vary your contract and reduce your notice period.

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Professional_Mix2418@reddit

It seems that this startup is not so experienced in business if they can’t wait for just a 30 day contract. Damn they should be happy to get someone with just a 30d notice. To me their reaction is actually a red flag. I mean what else aren’t they experienced in?

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