Number of times I've regretted quitting a job: 0
Number of times I've heard of anyone regretting quitting a job: 0
ie its never a bad time
That being said, I interview engineers at a larger tech company. I view it as a negative for a candidate to have multiple short term stints (less than a year).
I regretted quitting my job in 2017. I left for 9 months and came back, but for less equity than I originally had. (The equity I walked away from in the first stint would have made me a few million dollars richer than I currently am.)
> I view it as a negative for a candidate to have multiple short term stints (less than a year).
Do you mind explaining why? I would personally be seen like that by you, but I personally consider it a good thing that I was able to "rise" so quickly in my career. I'd like to hear your take on this if possible.
If I hire you, I want you to be able to stick around long enough to get something done. Typically that's at least 2 years. Staying for less typically makes the hiring process not worth it. Plus now I immediately have to go hire another person again.
There was a discussion on tenure length in another topic a month or two ago.
I'm curious what you would think about someone who's stayed at one company (same role, same team, maybe some minor increase in responsibility and rank) for 5 years? 10 years?
Would you view someone like that better or worse than someone who has multiple n <= 2 year stints during that time?
My observation recently, having been through interview loops and having stayed at my previous company for 7 years, is that longer tenures seem to be perceived as bad these days at tech companies...possibly worse than multiple short stints. Perceptions of expert beginner syndrome, 1 year of experience * n years instead of n years of experience, laziness, lack of motivation, etc. being typical reasons given.
> I'm curious what you would think about someone who's stayed at one company (same role, same team, maybe some minor increase in responsibility and rank) for 5 years? 10 years?
It depends. A long tenure means I will check in the interviews whether you were stagnating and just killing time, or growing and delivering on major improvements.
One of the best people I worked with spent 10 years at a very minor company, but the work they spoke about in the interview was extensive, and they took on a huge amount of development work across our entire company once they joined.
ie its never a bad time
That being said, I interview engineers at a larger tech company. I view it as a negative for a candidate to have multiple short term stints (less than a year).