Leaving a company (not Google) after a few months
I left Google a few months ago, after spending close to 2 years there. Google was my first job. I don't want to reveal the company I joined, since doing so would probably dox me, but it is a unicorn. It does not seem to be a fun place. It feels the engineers are slightly worse than those at Google, the code is much worse, and the dev infra is nonexistent. Additionally, the company seems to prioritize growth and new features over stability, which leads to countless bugs in production. So I'm thinking of leaving. I would probably want to take a couple months of break before deciding what I want to do next. I could always go back to Google, or I could try something else. I also had several offers during my last interview cycle, so I could always reach out and see if these places would still be available. How would this impact my career? I imagine it would look pretty concerning to leave after only a few months, especially after leaving Google in only 2 years, but would having a valid reason for leaving redeem it? Also, would taking a break for a few months negatively impact my resume? I have strong faith in my ability to LC/perform in system design interviews, but I'm concerned that I would be difficult to hire if I go through with this plan. Has anyone done anything similar? Any thoughts? TC: 280 (but stock is private), YOE: 2
You just got spoiled by Google mature engineering, you have a chance to build it now in a new place, but it sounds more that you don't care much about that Unicorn's vision.
Sounds like there’s no chance given to improvement ideas. I just joined a much smaller company from a bigger company there’s almost little to no likelihood that the dev infrastructure is going to improve. You literally have to go through about 6 process to deploy code to production. It drives me nuts.
You could literally just repeat what you said about infra and not liking to be in an environment that priorities growth over reliability to recruiters and they would accept that. Vacation sounds fun. Yeah rapid expansion is kind of the point of a unicorn. But if that's not your cuppa then do what you gotta do.
Growth at the expense of everything else is the bread and butter of startups nowadays. Grow big and get acquired or raise enough venture capital to carry you to IPO. If you don't like that environment look for more mature enterprises. Edit: back to topic, it won't look bad to leave early. It's just once at the beginning of your career, and the job market is red hot. Pull it a few times though and you might start to get marked.
Haha kid... You made a mistake, just find a new job and move. Don't make the same mistake next time!
Just say it was an experiment to try and work at a smaller company, and unfortunately you found it didn’t work for you. Don’t dwell too much on the negatives, if pressed say you now really appreciate the stability and organized Dev environments available at larger companies.
I would say the startup is doing all the right things; only caveat is to make sure the production bugs are not causing customers to go away. If you can ADAPT, you will probably learn a lot, and grow as well. You have a choice here, so make it consciously.
Learn how to survive and thrive in any environment.. be the change u want to see and influence others - dont cut and run like a coward 😆
WeWork?
Sounds faintly like it..
Airbnb?
Your future is bright. With google in your back hand you have nothing to worry about