When to Leave That First Tech Job 689
An anonymous reader writes "Chris Wilson has an interesting piece about a scenario all CompSci/Engineering students dread, getting a job out of college and having it quickly turn sour. He writes: 'The first layoff is tough. After bending over backward, after being a loyal employee, this is the reward? To summarize how I felt: Disillusioned.' He discusses warning signs you should look for in your own work environment that point toward "Getting out". An interesting read, especially for aspiring engineers or engineers out on their first job."
When to leave the industry.. (Score:5, Funny)
FIST SPORT! (Score:4, Funny)
Then, when everyone else has gone, start a fire.
Pro tip: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Pro tip: (Score:5, Funny)
Company in trouble (Score:5, Funny)
* Paying you in pizza and food stamps
* Managers being overly nice to everyone in meetings while looking very nervous
* 'Minor unexplained troubles' when pay fails to make it to the bank on time
* Large men standing at the doors of the company in pinstripe suits telling everyone to go home for the day
* Leaving the office late in the evening, seeing the company accountant loading what seems to be company property into the back of his SUV
* The CIO borrowing lunch money from you
* Sudden and unexplained 'asset stocktake' undertaken by little men you've never seen in the company before, calling themselves 'administrators'.
* You get an e-mail alert from the stock exchange warning you that your company has announced that it has been placed into liquidation.
Re:article text (Score:5, Funny)
Run for the hills (literally), and try to get 100 miles from their nearest customer.
Re:FIST SPORT! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Pro tip: (Score:4, Funny)
I always think "I would kill everyone in this room for some chilli cheese fries"
That's the only think that gets me through the day.
Re:When to leave the industry.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:FIST SPORT! (Score:5, Funny)
Bob Slydell: Milton Waddams.
Bill Lumbergh: Who's he?
Bob Porter: You know, squirrely looking guy, mumbles a lot.
Bill Lumbergh: Oh, yeah.
Bob Slydell: Yeah, we can't actually find a record of him being a current employee here.
Bob Porter: I looked into it more deeply and I found that apparently what happened is that he was laid off five years ago and no one ever told him, but through some kind of glitch in the payroll department, he still gets a paycheck.
Bob Slydell: So we just went a ahead and fixed the glitch.
Bill Lumbergh: Great.
Dom Portwood: So um, Milton has been let go?
Bob Slydell: Well just a second there, professor. We uh, we fixed the *glitch*. So he won't be receiving a paycheck anymore, so it will just work itself out naturally.
Bob Porter: We always like to avoid confrontation, whenever possible. Problem solved from your end.
Re:FIST SPORT! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Slashdotted? (Score:5, Funny)
No, no. That's the article.
When you're the IT guy for a company and you visit the page and see...
Service Unavailable
...and about 50,000 references to 'slashdot.org' in your log files.
That's when you quit. Let some other schmuck take care of that mess of melted aluminum and plastic on the floor.
Re:Pro tip: (Score:5, Funny)
Soko
Re:Well... (Score:4, Funny)
>Hint: don't bend over backward.
An excellent point. Bending over forward works much better, as it allows you to at least rest on the desk (table, etc) with minimal stress.
As a bonus (?) this position gives management easier access to your rear entry, thus expediting the procedure.
Re:Oh, for Pete's sake... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:FIST SPORT! (Score:2, Funny)
.NET Ninjas (Score:5, Funny)
I don't think that I've bumped into any of those, are they like Tae Kwon Do-Dos?
Hold the phone! (Score:5, Funny)
Signs you're going to get fired (Score:3, Funny)
1) 6 months before leaving: Snack room no longer contains free snacks. Just a water cooler.
2) 3 months before leaving: Water cooler no longer contains water, janitor stops coming frequently, VP takes a "sabbatical."
3) 1 month before leaving: Secretary is now cleaning the toilet and answering the phone; more employees go on "sabbatical," storage boxes begin to appear in my office.
4) 2 weeks before leaving: Secretary is now on "sabbatical;" bathroom is getting funky; I am now replacing the urinal cakes out of good will; my office is now doubling as a storage facility, "why is the DEA at our office?"
5) 1 week before leaving: "where is the CEO?"
6) Day I leave: I have been asked to go on "unpaid sabbatical"
7) 2 years after starting my unpaid sabbatical: I have yet to be called back to work.
true story... urinal mints and all
good one! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Oh, for Pete's sake... (Score:5, Funny)
Was wondering when they would come by.
Re:Interesting side thought... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Oh, for Pete's sake... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:When to leave the industry.. (Score:4, Funny)
God bless tabbed browsing!
Dude ... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Here are my tips (Score:3, Funny)
- Amenities getting cut in a budget crisis are one of the signs that further budget cuts are on the way.
Amen. When a previous employer announced that there would be no more coffee bread on fridays (to save a tiny bit of money and to underline the seriousness of the condition the company was in) my first reaction was to walk over to the payrolls office to cash in the overtime debt. Turns out that most people reacted the same and as a result the company lost half a million dollars in liquidity in twenty minutes. Should've thought about that!
I wish I had my cubical back.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:article text (Score:3, Funny)
I'm pretty sure he's not actually planning to spend that time with your wife. If he is, YOU should be concerned!
The #1 sign that it's time to leave..... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:article text (Score:3, Funny)
Try working on something with
*sshhhtltpt.. dsh.. shshshsskhtpt.. dshh..*
All day long.
backslashdot (can't just have "\." for a title) (Score:2, Funny)
I've just noticed that the typical poster here seems to lean more left than right.
When Your pay resembles minimum wage. (Score:3, Funny)
I was cleaning out some old boxes and found a payslip from 1993. That was my 1st tech job and I quit it when the government announced that the Minimum wage would be raised to above what I was making then.
It brought into focus just how horribly underpaid I really was.
Re:article text (Score:4, Funny)
Had a boss once who liked flicking me on the ear when I was coding, and when I'm coding, I put on the headphones, get into tunnel vision mode, and tune out the whole world. Having someone sneak up on me and flick me on the ear when I'm like that is the psychic equvalent of getting smacked with a 2x4. I was pretty rational about it at first, but we were pretty good friends, and he thought it was funny...
He did it about 3 times, and on the fourth time I snapped. I can't remember ever being so mad...I was so mad it wasn't even like being mad. I had a real moment where I really thought I might attack him, not a little scuffle or anything, but seriously out for blood...really wavered on it for a moment...then I turned and put my fist through two layers of a prefab wall.
Not my finest hour. Though it does mark the only point in my programming career where I found a use for the ability to repair drywall.
That kind of crap is hardwired with me. Normally it's not much of an issue, because how often do you end up with people literally sneaking up on you in a business environment? Used to be really useful in college...I could crash on a couch after a party and no one would even think about pulling post-party pranks on me.
But the first thing I do when I get a new job, is find a place to put my desk where no one can walk up without me seeing them. Better safe than sorry.