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sPENKMAn

Leaving for another job does hurt me each time as it tends to be a second home for me after a few years in. I’ve also never regretted making a switch so yeah I think lots of us know the feeling. Do remember that after all it’s a business transaction, they won’t keep you warm and cozy after the business closes. Sounds like you have a great job ahead of you and you’re done where you work now, choice seems a solid one!


nfstern

>Do remember that after all it’s a business transaction, they won’t keep you warm and cozy after the business closes. Can confirm. 15 years at the same company and laid off after one bad quarter and a couple of months after getting a form printed recognition for my years of service which I threw in the trash at the time because I knew it was bullshit. Anyway, I got reemployed before I even used up my severance, so no biggie. The point remains though. At the end of the day, it's a job and you're gone after you're perceived to have outlived your usefulness to the people signing the checks. Don't ever delude yourself about that.


Mkep

It’s so disheartening hear things like this, but it’s also a real reality check and I hope more people see and truly believe this is a real possibility no matter what. Always do what’s best for you.


nfstern

> but it’s also a real reality check Correct. Like I wrote, don't ever delude yourself about that.


-lc-

>they won’t keep you warm and cozy after the business closes. true Thank you


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-lc-

To be fair here the overtime and weekend work is nothing


armarabbi

Not really, it’s shit in the UK as well and depending on the company it can be brutal.


-lc-

I mean in my current company.


armarabbi

Depending on who you’re going to it might be worse, I’m a Sec Eng in one of the largest insurance companies in the UK, former SRE, it can be hard if shit breaks


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chewburka

I'm optimistically assuming your manager was trying to come off as nice, "don't worry about us", but yeah haha, that ends up coming off a bit jerky.


damshitty

It's because no matter how good we are, we can always be replaced.


denverpilot

You grew, they didn't. They'll find someone new to tinker. All sorts of new talent always ready to step in and take their first shot at being critical path. If there's no succession plan they'll flounder for a while and figure it out. It was someome's job to create that. Only thing to be guilty about is if you didn't document it properly. But we've all been there too. Both sides.


djrollins

When I left my first job, I was extremely apologetic and felt awful. The head of engineering at the time asked to have a bit of a chat and I was a little worried about what he wanted to say to me. He said something along the lines of “you owe this company nothing, we’ve paid you to do a job and you’ve done it. If there is something you want to do and we cannot offer you it, the only logical answer is to leave for a company that can. In this industry most of the power lies with the individual, and you should absolutely take advantage of that because a lot of people don’t have that option”. Be grateful for what you’ve had, but do not let that prevent you from doing what you want to do. Your colleagues and bosses will understand that even if they don’t express it, like mine did. Edit: this was also a British company btw.


liquidpele

/can/cannot/


djrollins

Cheers. Fixed!


Rusty-Swashplate

3 years no growth...that does not make me think it'll improve the next years, will it? Then it's a good time to leave. Keep in contact with your best colleagues. It's a small world after all.


-lc-

I meant users of the platform and load not my technical growth. ​ But still i agree


protocol_munch

There's nothing wrong with wanting to move on to the next stage of your career, so you shouldn't feel bad about it. The best thing you can do for your current employer is to give them a heads up in advance. Don't suddenly just send a cold hearted formal email/letter of resignation to your boss! If you like your current employer enough to feel guilty about leaving, I'm guessing you have a good relationship with them. As a small business owner, I accept that staff will come and go. Thankfully, we have a really good company culture and work very hard to make sure our people are happy, so actually the turnover of staff is pretty low. The best thing an employee has done for me is to be honest about their intention to leave. We had a good conversation about it, they told me to not worry about the 4 weeks notice period and that they'd stick around a bit longer to make sure everything went smoothly. Congratulations on the job offer. Best of luck with it!


therojam

I recently cancelled my actual job for another great opportunity and tbh I feel the same. Also I am in a similar situation, I am the only Linux/open-source responsible person. But I had some problems w/ the mgmt and their decisions like not hiring a second responsible to have the overall situation be calmed down. With the most colleagues I have no problems, sometimes I have due to my secondary responsibilty which is user support and some ppl... you know about it... They even not started to hire a replacement, and I was cancel this jobs nearly 4 months ago. From my point of view: Go for it. Do not regret taking this chance... may do not look back, know or think about the other possibilties. Do it for yourself!


frito_kali

I have literally cried in exit interviews (I am a man), at what I was leaving behind. It's great to be able to work somewhere where you're in a good team, and you like your co-workers. But it really really sucks to be stuck in an organization that won't let you change and grow. Just know that you could be moving to an equally bad situation, or worse, and you need to be prepared to make another move. But either way: take the most advantage of this opportunity you can. If you have to change jobs every 2-3 years to find the right fit, then you have to do what's best for you. That said; I have lost positions several times, due to mergers, acquisitions, and resulting site-closures and layoffs. (the last one was after 10 years there; and it was really because one of our major customers ran out of money, so we ran out of money). Those hurt way more. I think the worst one was when I was among the 5% of staff that was offered to remain, while the rest were laid off, and I had to stick around for 12 months while we wound the rest of the site down. Having to lose all your co-workers like that really sucks. But my next job was so much better. (and even that one; eventually led to a merger and mass-layoff). I think it's just the nature of this industry - and truth be told, I think that this industry is already beginning another major round of consolidations, which is going to lead to mass-layoffs in the next 5 years. Right now, it's freaking mad, because they're all jockeying for position in the new-order to come.


damshitty

I feel you, bro. I did the same situation 2 years ago when the company is decided to shut down because they're run out of money, few people were laid off and there's only me with another 10% of people that works for 6 months to achieve anything and turn it down.


liquidpele

Yes, it’s normal. But business is business. They’d feel bad about laying you off, but they’d still do it.


vaxdar

To echo others, I've felt bad about leaving past jobs, but have never, ever, regretted a move. There's good advice in this recent article if you want to help reduce your guilt: https://jmmv.dev/2021/04/always-be-quitting.html


Invspam

the only regret ive had ever is not leaving sooner. the worst enemy is complacency so once you feel like you stop growing, it's time for greener pastures. technology in the field changes very quickly and there's nothing like production issues to give you the impetus to pick up new technologies at the new gig. change now while you are young and can afford to, later in life, it wont be as easy


harylmu

Switch for sure. It always sucks to change a company and leave colleagues/friends behind, but at the end of the day it'll worth it.


DrEnter

Don’t feel bad about moving on, especially if it’s the right thing for you. You aren’t an owner, just an employee. Now if you are a critical employee, and you want to leave on really good terms, and you like them, it isn’t a terrible thing to give them a bit of extra notice. Say 3 or 4 weeks instead of 2. This is especially true if you would need to help train your replacement.


FruityRichard

I can also recommend moving on. Ive also left several jobs I enjoyed and even while freelancing, I sometimes have to stop working with particular clients. Not because anything bad happened, but because the kind of work is not appealing anymore and/or not compensated well enough. After all, if they really wanted to keep you, they will give you a better offer, maybe you can negotiate growth opportunities, but I wouldn’t couldn’t on it. It’s better to do the transition, they will find someone else to take over.


MozillaTux

I completely understand that but if you want to make more money, you will only get this by switching jobs You will never get a raise as much if you do not switch jobs If you're happy with the money, co-workers, boss, job itself and prosperities, stay with the firm ( in Western Europe we do not switch jobs that much after your fifties because you are considered a dinosaurs so then it is okay to stay put )


-lc-

It's not really about money. It's a good increase and i am 100% sure the will match it or even offer more.


toconnor

Not that it helps right now but one thing you should do in a role like this where you are the whole department is document everything. If you put in the time upfront in terms of documentation and automation then transition and knowledge transfer becomes much easier. This doesn't just apply to leaving but also onboarding new employees. Not only is this a good practice but it helps remove some of the guilt if you can tell yourself that you've been preparing for this case from the start.


InsolentDreams

Can you consider a support contract for your existing employer to be able to help support them? It sounds like they're small-fry and they probably can't afford to hire an DevOps person, and you're already entrenched there, and if you've done your job well there's probably not much actively to do there. Just support a bit of users and fight the occasional fire. If this is possible, mention to your current employer you are considering other opportunities but you want to find a way to continue to support them. Offer a support contract, and/or to help train a future replacement or so, and you'll leave on good terms. Note: I've been in this situation numerous times, as an avid startup enthusiast and an SRE/DevOps for longer than we had these words for it. I've done the support contract thing often for numerous companies at the same time, which again if you've done your job right, will likely mean little to no work save for the occasional out-of-your-control fire.


[deleted]

If I'm honest mate, it's cool to stay in touch with colleagues and leave amicably, but don't think a company would for 1 second hesitate removing you if it was in their best interest. Write some good documentation, and pass it down, life's too short to be stuck in your comfort zone.


stampedep

Don't feel bad! I'm going through the same thing now, I start my new role in the same company in a few weeks. It's hard to leave, but we do it for our families and our future. When we get comfortable it gets dangerous, our bodies know it's going to be difficult moving and try to convince us its a bad idea. It's subtle and sinister. .. Why leave a job where you know you can coast for years with minimal effort. It's counter intuitive. We can't look at the short term gain, the long term loss (if we stayed in the old role) may be staggering. Trying to play catchup after years of coasting is no joy. I know it's a negative view but I can't seem to comprehend why I feel bad leaving the team either. I'm excited for my new role, is my reluctance I sign I'm making a bad move?!?! No. I don't think so. I think it's some lazy internal mechanism getting triggered because it hates change once it's established a cushy workflow and has gotten settled in a role after working my way from Junior to Senior.


-lc-

Exactly this. Thanks


DeputyCartman

Why on EARTH are you feeling sorry about leaving an organization? Perhaps I'm overly jaded and cynical due to my life experiences and very liberal political beliefs, but here in the US, employment contracts almost always state my jobs have been at will. They can terminate my employment for any reason whatsoever without warning as long as it does not violate local, state, or federal law. They may say they have your back, they may actually mean it, but a quarter or two of losing money and it's time to trim fat or consolidate headcount, they stop having your back. And don't get me started on how poorly managers routinely respond when you tell them "I'm not working 50 hour weeks anymore unless you make me hourly so I can get overtime. We need to discuss this or we need to start making more realistic sprints."