In Today's Market, Is It Worthwhile to Quit Your Current Job Without Having Another Job Lined Up?
Happy 2023 everyone. The main thought on my mind as we wake up to this new year is that I'm hoping we find a floor soon in this Tech labor market carnage we've been experiencing for roughly over one year now. As far as I know, every high flying, Austin based unicorn startup from 2021 has crashed by now.?And while the weekly list of layoffs has ebbed a little, we're still feeling the impact from this labor market pullback. That said, we can never forget the brilliance and resiliency of the entrepreneurs that make up our industry. New ideas are turning into new companies on a daily basis and despite all the setbacks in the past calendar year, the tech labor market will shine again. It's just a matter of when that happens, not if. I'll never be confused with an economist but my own personal forecast is that I think we find a bottom by Q2 of this year and Austin starts growing from there.?
For my first post of the year, I wanted to talk about software engineering job searches and the respective focus that is needed right now. In this very challenging economy and contracted labor market, what is one non-traditional way to be the best software engineering candidate possible??I recently caught up with a principal developer here in Austin who is about to quietly start a job search and before our phone call, he sent the following message to me,?
Hey Mark, a former boss and mentor has suggested that while I don't need to take a full fledged sabbatical, I should take a little time off before starting up a job search. His point had to do with resigning from my current job and then after a little rest, start looking for a new one. He told me that it's the easiest way to avoid making a hasty decision that would just put me back into a job that I'd want to leave soon. And of course, it would help with my interviewing performance.?
?So my question for you is, given the current state of the labor market, what are your thoughts on not having a job while looking for a new job??
I can imagine a lot of people in the engineering community would have an issue with this idea but I'm going to use this post as an opportunity to support this position. Since the dawn of time in the IT industry, the traditional route is to stay employed at your current company while looking for a new job. However, with the explosive spike in hiring we experienced in the Tech sector along with the Great Resignation that resulted from it, two developments have emerged in the past year,?
It's almost like we woke up one day and realized the industry acceptance of taking sabbaticals and exercising voluntary job resignations. A new term has emerged as well and it's called "Quiet Quitting". Remember back in 2019 when it was immediately seen as a red flag if you saw a software engineer's resume who had not been working for five months? This employment gap would take priority over everything else. These days, we automatically assume they invested in themselves personally and took time to properly recharge.??
One way to view this new landscape is that the Tech hiring boomed through 2020 and 2021 and compared to that superficial moment in time, we're now experiencing a hard landing. Whether you're a software engineer, data analyst, product manager or technical support engineer, you're waking up to an entirely different landscape from 12 months ago. As far as compensation is concerned, you most likely have not received a pay raise yet the demands and stress of your job have gone up. The sense of satisfaction and yes, happiness, is significantly less than it was a year ago. On top of all this is the growing concern in the back of your mind of possibly getting laid off by your employer. So amid all of these stressful variables, how successful would your job search be if you stayed at your current employer while attempting to interview with multiple companies? How focused and prepared would you be, especially when it came to the code tests? Given the demanding process of virtual interviews, technical assessments and eventual on-sites that are put on software engineers, I have to admit that this current climate we're in would make it damn near impossible to perform at 100% of your ability. And with candidate pools significantly larger than they were 12 months ago, the end result would most likely be a lot of rejection letters coming your way. And such an experience would only add to this air of despondency that is hovering over your present situation.?
Unfortunately, there is one really big hurdle when it comes to resigning without a job and that is money. It's never a pleasant experience when your income stream comes to an immediate end and if you have a family to support, submitting your resignation and undertaking a job search is a luxury you most likely won't have. So I do encourage anyone thinking about this to run through their financials and calculate a cash safety net for 3-4 months with the goal of finding a job within that time period. Please remember that this approach is completely different from a sabbatical. In this scenario, you're resigning from your job on a Friday and by the end of the following week, you're already submitting your resume to companies. Another angle could be to start an application process while still employed and the minute you start getting requests for interviews and code tests, you can give notice. That might be the best approach. For you, the software engineering candidate, it's all about delivering your absolute personal best for your technical interviews and on-sites. And right now, that requires 100% absolute laser focus.?
Again, what I'm discussing in this post is unrealistic for a lot of people because this strategy includes walking away from a paycheck.?If it's absolutely critical to stay cash flow positive on a monthly basis then please press "NO" on this idea. However, if you are not happy in your current role and along with this is the growing anxiety over potential layoffs you won't be hurting yourself in any way by submitting your resignation and starting a full-fledged job search. Put your notice in on Friday, take the weekend to recharge, reflect on your new identity and wake up Monday morning with that engine fired up and ready to go.?
领英推荐
Trust me when I say that your interviewing performance will be at its best and you'll consistently make?strong impressions with every company you engage with. You'll also have this emotional load taken off your back of a stressful job that was nothing more than a paycheck. And yes, even amid this recessed labor market, you'll still land very nicely.?
Happy New Year!
Thanks,?
Mark Cunningham
Technical Recruiter
512-699-5719
Data is pretty cool, I guess
2 年Strongly agree, Mark! One of the better decisions I've made personally and professionally!