Are you going to quit?

China is falling into recession. Europe is falling into recession. A Federal Reserve governor(Kashkari) is now expressing doubt that inflation can be reined in without triggering a recession. Stonks have recovered from the initial drop, but that is a familiar pattern in many previous stock bubbles before the market really plummets.

Think really hard about switching jobs now. If you do, have liquid reserves to fall back on(cash or cash equivalents, T-Bills, not stocks), and pick a company with good cash flow.

I understand folks who have ridden out the last two recessions and will tell you you'll be fine, and you probably will be, but don't be hasty right now. A lot of big companies are going to be under growth pressures in the next few quarters and one easy way to cut expenses is to fire people.

A primary factor in choosing my latest job was having an office to go into. I’ve been going in M-F and love working in person again. I don’t think forcing everyone back is necessarily the right strategy, but instead encouraging teams to re-form around people with similar preferences.

I would leave. Not because I don’t like the office; but trying to force employees to do this doesn’t sit well with me. Remote first with optional office for those who chose to should be the default strategy.

Anecdotally Ive continued to receive a similar amount of recruiter emails as I did before the market downturn a few months ago. So my current thinking is that tech layoffs are companies force purging to please the Wall Street gods while demand continues to stay stratospherically high for technology.

I already did quit my previous job in Frankfurt because they wanted us to return to the office towards the end of 2020. I expect to be treated like an adult and have the flexibility to come to the office on the days when I, or my co-workers see the need.

In my current job, I have that flexibility and that is worth at least a couple of 10 thousand euros per year to me (well if the inflation can't be controlled for some more time then maybe not).

Nah, I miss working with other humans. Spending every day in a closet typing by myself honestly sucks. That won't be true for everyone, some folks will have kids at home - but even those, I have to imagine will (a) get tired of the kids or (b) have their kids off at school and be in my situation. I've started biking to work (voluntarily) since there's a lot of flexibility, it's great to get some sunshine and fresh air, and also see other humans.

Living your life in a 12ft radius of your bed ain't great lol.

My job doesn't have an office in town.

If they start to insist I move to one of the cities they have an office in, I will refuse and they can terminate me if they want.

I'm not doing it.

If they open an office in town, I'll consider going in once a month or so

Yes. Office work is for dinosaurs.

I quit Apple early June because of this reason. Found a new job with better pay. Starting September.

I moved jobs from a job with 100% WFH allowed to another one with 100% WFH allowed.

Luckily I live 15 minutes door-to-door on the bus away so I’ve been going in for not even a full day once per week. I do now think it’s nice to see people, but really that’s all I’m going in for, I find I am far more comfortable and therefore work better at home.

Don’t see myself ever working in an office again, and I look back on the days where I would actually take two flights a week to go and work in other people’s offices with amazement that I actually put up with it

Yeah but a big chunk of stock vests in October, so holding out for that. I can stomach a month in the office

Probably, but not because of going back to the office.

If anything, being back in the office would be welcome for me. Sure, commute is a bit inefficient, but a lot of time is wasted when no one goes to the office ever.

Three times a week seems like a good balance to me.

[Throwaway account but a real answer nonetheless].

I will quit in a few days due to a combination of various factors. I found out, way too late in my professional life, that I was exploited by all the companies I worked for. My salary being too low, and the ridiculous number of days working from home are important factors but it's not limited to this.

An old friend called me recently and offered me a job at his company. I thought about it for a few days, talked to my wife about it, and accepted an interview. That's where I discovered that I was being "exploited."

I will have interesting tasks, I'll work on modern C++ again which is good since I have been lazy about it and didn't improve for those past few years, I will have up to 4 days of WFH per week if I want, and I managed to get a 40% salary increase (yes, 40%).

My current employer refused all my demands: salary, WFH, support from the managers, budget, ... I will get most of that elsewhere. I will miss my colleagues who are very competent, but I will NOT miss the management and the crazy answers from the HR department. They will freak out though when I send my resignation letter as I became a central point across all the teams, but it's their loss.

End of the rant!

I was ready to make the move until I learnt about the Google hiring freeze. I'm going to play it safe and remain in my role for now.

My boss is pretty chill about making us go in. The office has a lot of utility, so it’s great to have it available.

I probably would if mine were actually taking a stance. It's been mixed messaging so I'm on the fence.

I'm in a fairly odd situation, however. Prior to lockdown I was already WFH. Oddities are coming...

After the lockdown started we went through at least two leadership changes. Now I'll [eventually] have to self report by 'filing a request' to make the WFH status official.

It doesn't sound like it's something likely to be denied, but rather something I'll regret later.

I'm now having to basically have this same negotiation again six years later.

If I have to do that, I may as well do it for more money. I don't recognize my role [or team] anyway after going through the tumbler

Always be Quitting. This was on HackerNews some time back -- https://jmmv.dev/2021/04/always-be-quitting.html

My current job was a "hybrid" model, practically everyone is 100% remote unless they specifically wanted to go to the office. Three people wanted to - they lived a 10 minute walk away from the office and didn't have space in their apartments.

All jobs I apply from now on should be remote with a local option. Some things are just easier to do in-person, but mandating 3 days in the office per week is just overkill. Let the team decide what's best for them.

And if you have some bigger all-hands events, warn a few weeks beforehand so people can make accommodations.

I've moved to a rural area and am thus in a position to where I now have to work remotely.

I much prefer the lifestyle out here to living in cities, so as long as a large number of companies are sticking with remote work, I should be good. Companies like Apple that invested in massive new campuses in recent years understandably have an incentive to get people in them.

Not "quitting", but I considered taking a job at a FAANG (and letting startup be passive income) for a hot second a month or two ago... until they couldn't guarantee the remote position I was applying for would continue to be remote for the rest of the year.

Now I'm _really_ glad I didn't take it.

>>So... those of you working at companies demadning a return-to-office... are you going to quit?

As with most situations of this nature, it's infinitely easier to make this decision if you already have a decently competitive job offer in-hand.

I'm going to quit, but not because of return-to-office, but because I can. I'll take few months off before searching for a new job. I don't have big expenses and plenty of cash in bank.

I’m going remote while my employment status still shows me as full time remote.

However I’m moving to the Bay Area to fulfill my dream of living (hopefully someday in the future thrive lol) in the tech hotbed

I will call their bluff.

in office work is really needed for first couple months (newhire orientation), after that hybrid is fine. Full remote after full one year is perfect

Be careful doxing yourself with this one :).

I take at least one interview a week on company time. Always be prepared to leave at the drop of a hat.

yep, would do and do