this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2023
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How do you explain your reasons for jumping ship? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by bcngooner@lemmy.world to c/experienced_devs@programming.dev
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I got a reply from a recruiter to setup a call later this week. I know one of the inevitable questions will be why am I looking to leave my current role.

Personally I want to leave because:

  • I have a junior role in the company and I don't see a way of reaching a mid level here.
  • The targets for promotion are constantly moving. The managers have changed a few times over the past 4 years and so have the appraisal systems.
  • I haven't been given any real projects since the last manager has started. Mainly whack-a-mole type security tasks. This is especially frustrating as I have worked on larger projects before then.
  • lots of senior engineers have joined, introduced a new product/application, and then left.
  • which leads to lots of firefighting and understanding how things were implemented due to the seniors poor documentation.
  • so I'm learning nothing on the job and I'm not working on anything special to talk about.

So would something like 'looking for new opportunities' be sufficient?

Ps. If you got this far, thanks for reading my rant. It has been locked away in my head for some time now.

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[–] thisisnotgoingwell@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

You can talk about what you've previously worked on that excited you, what kind of role or technologies you believe you'd excel in, and how you feel you're ready to transition into a role with more responsibilities. You can tell the truth without speaking negatively about your employer. Even the worst job is something to be grateful for, you got experience and were allowed to (for a time) grow into your responsibilities. The need to complain comes from a desire to "get even" so it always looks very negative.

Also, four years is a long time to spend at a company that isn't helping you meet your goals. Part of maturing professionally is knowing how to ask for more responsibilities, how to make sure you're credited/rewarded as well as communicating properly with your leadership so they can help you meet your goals.

If you get some "down the road" platitude, then start thinking about other options. If you've been excelling in your duties for more than a year and you're no longer being challenged, that's about when it's time to move on.

These days, you should probably be either getting promoted or changing jobs every 2 years at most, 1 to 1.5 years depending on how ambitious you are and how strongly you can demonstrate your skills.

Good luck