Anticipating unpleasant conversation with my mgr who will try to press me on why I am leaving. I feel like I need to give him some valid reason because I worked with him for quite some time and owe him more than just “see ya”. I do not want to sound negative and obsessed with money because who knows, I may need to come back. True reson: in April got promoted to SDE3 with almost no comp bump. With stock down/flat it is even worse than last year. Also, new place has perks, no oncall and closer to home. I am ready for a change too. What is the best way to handle this chat and keep it all to myself? I am certain he will try to convince me to stay and will even throw money at me but I just feel done and don’t want to engage in any of that. TC: 280, new TC +50%. I am going to a big company with a small presence in Seattle area so not saying what it is.
Just tell you like the new team because they work on a particular tech or a problem space you always wanted to work on.
🖕🏻
You work at Amazon, you don't need to explain why you're leaving., they'll understand.
He might say, you stayed too long..
Sounds like Apple
I just went through this. I stressed the desire to get near family.
I would tell him thanks for all of the experience and learnings, it was appreciated, but you’ve ultimately made a decision to move on to a place that is better suited for what you are looking for personally/at this stage of your career. You can give examples of location and no oncall which are valid and also things he can’t change in your current role. This leaves the door open if you ever want to come back and also retains the relationship.
Yup highlight the WLB you're looking forward to
This is a good direction overall. Thank you. My concern is that he will start grilling me about all the specifics, the company name and the offer. Want to tell him politely that this is none of his business. Over the years, he was extremely non-transparent about my career growth and the process. My promo was delayed because he did not rush to do his part in time, I think. I may speculate that my comp didn’t grow is also his choice to flow with HR recommend numbers and not fight for anything. I just want to give him his medicine but in a way that still keeps me eligible for rehire.