Got a dream job with a 40% increase from my last salary after being unemployed/in university for two years, absolutely miserable. Feel like I've traded the unemployment prison for another type of prison.
Posted by EaeleButEeelier@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 22 comments
First off I want to say how lucky I am in this absolutely decimated (tech) market. About two years ago, I decided to make a major life change, leave my tech job in Asia, move countries and get a degree, and then find work. I didn't realize how difficult it would be.
Between the rejection emails/shady scams/working terrible underpaying jobs as a new immigrant, an IT recruiter came knocking, calling and before I knew it I was employed at a Big 4 for my skills on a niche tech stack at 40% more comp than my last job, with a decent commute and a prestigious title. Everyone is congratulating me. I'm the only one I know from my network who's landed anything remotely decent in IT.
Problem is that between COVID and university (which taught me nothing at all), my IT skills have absolutely atrophied and staring at any kind of programming/that same tech stack legitimately makes me want to vomit and then curl up like I've been hit. I spent the two years desperately looking for work and now that the shiny skyscraper is here, I am absolutely frightened that the workplace will soon find out that I remember absolutely nearly nothing of the job. Quitting is not an option. My spouse is also in IT and this is "do or die" for me.
I'm spending my weekends quickly trying to skill up, but given that I'm not at as junior level anymore it is going to be hard to hide. What can I do to skill up ASAP? I am leaning on old resources as much as I can, set up a dev environment and am testing out my skills and trying to let the muscle memory kick back in (somewhat working)/
MihaelK@reddit
Why would you quit just because you feel like you don't know enough? It's a nice problem to have, honestly.
What would be much worse is if you had a horrible manager or a team. That's what would feel like a prison.
Just learn as much as you can on the job and during the weekends, and don't burn out. This will pass after a few months.
Don't worry too much. It's not as bad as you think. And enjoy the 40% increase.
EaeleButEeelier@reddit (OP)
Sorry, forgot to mention: I've been placed on a (will tell by tomorrow) fast paced project with people who do not seem very nice. I mentioned that it was my third day at the company and they acted like I'd personally insulted them. When I mentioned that I was a bit rusty and coming back to work after some time away, they seemed even unhappier, but took me onto the team anyway. I think that is what is really getting my nerves up!
zkrakus6191@reddit
You seem overly concerned about people's opinion of you. Paying too much attention to your thoughts can lead to neuroticism. Just do your best, but don't white knuckle through the days. If you do, you will burn out.
DrProtic@reddit
So you kicked off by telling them to have low expectations of you? Don’t tell that to anyone ever in professional setting.
If you truly aren’t a good fit it will show up, don’t worry about that.
Keep your head down, learn and research and ask questions if you’re stuck.
Don’t sell yourself short.
EaeleButEeelier@reddit (OP)
They asked how long I'd been working on the tech stack, and I said about 3 years. They asked if it was right before the Big 4 firm, and I said no, it was 2 years ago. And they said "so you're rusty", and I said "yes, but if you put me on I'll skill up quickly as I can"
Kind of felt like there wasn't a good out there tbh
DrProtic@reddit
Okay, that’s better but wasn’t clear from your previous post.
Look, the best place to be is the one where you know a bit less than, that means you will grow.
And with LLMs it is easier than ever to quickly onboard and learn.
EaeleButEeelier@reddit (OP)
Yeah, I'm trying out the range of LLMs (Claude, ChatGPT), some old and good resources and Youtube videos. Honestly a lot of this stuff would have been really helpful back in the day when I was starting to learn.
Practical-Zombie-809@reddit
The second best time is right now
RandyHoward@reddit
You made a promise to skill up quickly, so do it. Instead of doing that, you're spending your time on reddit giving yourself more anxiety by dwelling on the stress. New jobs are stressful. There is almost always a learning curve when starting a new job. You don't need an out, you need to get to work and uphold your end of the deal.
MihaelK@reddit
A piece of advice for the future. Never say that you are rusty or "bad" before starting a new task or project. Stay confident, do your own research when you don't know something, and when you don't know something, just say "I'll investigate it and get back to you".
Ask questions when you've exhausted all of your options, and never say that you're bad at something before even attempting to solve a problem first.
FrenchCanadaIsWorst@reddit
I’ll one up that and never say you’re bad at anything ever unless it’s to a trusted party. Just level set and say, my area of expertise typically lies in X, I can do Y but I’m not as expert in that so it may take longer while I familiarize myself with your setup
EaeleButEeelier@reddit (OP)
They asked how long I'd been working on the tech stack, and I said about 3 years. They asked if it was right before the Big 4 firm, and I said no, it was 2 years ago. And they said "so you're rusty", and I said "yes, but if you put me on I'll skill up quickly as I can"
Kind of felt like there wasn't a good out there tbh
sidonay@reddit
You need to be more confident.
You mentioned you left your tech job in Asia, I wonder how much culture differences might come up here. You're probably used to underplaying your skills. If you moved to a new country where people are more direct, they might be thinking "we got a fast paced project and now we have to take care of this one too", which might explain their reaction.
zkrakus6191@reddit
Agreed, this is anxiety talking. You are being hired to work the problem not have ubiquitous knowledge of the stack.
Engineers don't know everything, but they can figure it out and own domain knowledge over time as they spend time in the problem space.
keep_on_traveling@reddit
Eh. I just joined one of the AI labs. Pay's more than doubled and I feel like a dummy in most meetings but I consider that as part of the growth phase. They can let me go if I don't meet the expectations.
Aggravating-Dot-6956@reddit
why was it removed by the moderator
yerfdog1935@reddit
Put in the effort and you'll figure it out. Work hard, study, and try not to be too anxious about it all. The worst thing you can do right now is psyche yourself out.
You're a smart guy, they hired you despite the gap in your resume. Out of all the people that applied, they chose to interview you and a handful of others, and after talking to all of you, you came out on top. They believe you can figure it out, they're betting on it. Don't let some strangers you had a couple conversations with have more faith in you than you do.
ExperiencedDevs-ModTeam@reddit
Rule 9: No Low Effort Posts, Excessive Venting, or Bragging.
Using this subreddit to crowd source answers to something that isn't really contributing to the spirit of this subreddit is forbidden at moderator's discretion. This includes posts that are mostly focused around venting or bragging; both of these types of posts are difficult to moderate and don't contribute much to the subreddit.
jonnycoder4005@reddit
There is no such thing as a "dream job"
marlfox130@reddit
Treat it as a trial by fire growth experience. Use AI tooling to get back up to speed. They are REALLY good at finding what you need to know and presenting it in an understandable, conversational manner. I have been using Gemini to study system design and it has been super helpful. You can do this!
GrandOldFarty@reddit
Former Big4 here. Most of the people in that kind of work get imposter syndrome. You have to imitate an expert in whatever the team slide presented to the client said that week. “Why yes, I am an expert in HR back end transformation/SOX control design/statistical modelling in the health/energy/government sector.”
The ones who don’t feel that are narcissistic sociopaths (i.e the partners).
Compared to the people around you and your clients, you definitely are an expert. That feeling of fear is not a sign that you’re dishonest. It’s a sign that you care about doing a good job.
There will always be a period ramping up when you start a job, no matter how expert. Even if you’re an expert in xyz stack, you still have to ramp up on xyz at your new workplace, which can take months.
Give yourself some grace. You are doing well. Give yourself six months to get up to speed. You have done this before, you can certainly do this again. If your experience is anything like mine, you’ll enjoy the technical side so much again that your frustration will be how little of it you get to do amid attending sales calls and filling in timesheets.
Logical_Newspaper_52@reddit
talk to an LLM, describe one topic at a time that you need to know, ask to prepare you a crash course. ask follow up questions for details you don’t understand or know. improvise, you can ask to prepare you a test on a topic, check your answers and cover your weak points in the follow up material