The Money is not Worth It

I'm not going to name names or anything. Obviously.

I've had amazing jobs and I've had terrible jobs. I've had a lot of jobs. Throughout this month I've been struck by what a difference it makes to work in a place where you find encouragement and the opportunity to succeed. Sounds obvious, but it is so incredibly rare.

One job I took some years ago was for a relatively junior position (like a baseline senior dev position). They wanted a very specific video streaming / transcoding skillset, which I have, so I took the job. They explained during the interview, "the seniority of the position isn't a reflection of your experience; it's just the role we are filling." Made sense to me. And then from Day 1 the engineering manager was showing me where I needed to improve if one day I wanted to be a <whatever the next level up was>.

At my next job, the engineering manager frequently reminded me that I was paid too much. That was a fun, new experience. And that wasn't the worst of his managerial blunders.

All that to say: if you can find the right job, stick with it. And if you're in the wrong job, work like hell to find a better job. The money is not worth it.