Potentially destroyed my career. Now what?

Question

I have about 20 years of experience, with 11 of them spent in two solid companies and the rest spent kind of job hopping - always for better scope and compensation. Took a job as Sr. SDM at a FAANG company and, although not liking the job, had a good performance over about two years. Received an insane (40%+) offer to join another company, and, attracted by working in a faster environment with more (all cash) comp, jumped ship (after a little less than two years).Relocated with family and now I am deeply regretful. New place is rich but a total clusterfuck, complete with one-liner people evaluations ("Low throughput", PIP), SDEs getting sick due to stress, a reorg on my first week cutting 80% of my team (now I'm down to KTLO subsistence budget and having to jump in as SDE as well), and there's more but if I elaborate, I will be identified, probably.I did thorough research before joining, going as far as interviewing other joiners who assured me it was an immature but responsible company. The org chart presented to me was entirely false (impossible for me to know beforehand) and the way of working was also misrepresented grossly (again, can't elaborate because it's very specific to this company).Now I am at a strange place with family and down on my luck. Yes, I am well paid but with this kind of leadership, it's bound to be short-lived as well. I would be laughing at myself few years back, would take it on the chin and move on, but with family, I can't.My options are: to suck it up - in which case I probably blew up my career since I'm learning nothing and they refuse to believe their way of working is wrong, even with developers hitting hospitals and asking for leave of absence; change teams (though I heard most teams are like this anyway); resign at the end of probation (90 days) and try to relocate back - I'd have to pay back all relocation benefits, and I doubt any company would take me seriously leaving FAANG to join a company for 90 days then applying again - as I said above about 50% of my career is 2 year tenure (startups, exits, bankruptcies, etc.) so doing this ultra-short tenure will definitely hurt my ability to get another job.Apologies for not elaborating more or using a "stream-of-consciousness" writing style - I guess it conveys adequately my state of mind after having made this massive unforced error. I can give more details for good advice in return.

austin-cheney · Accepted Answer

I joined a company that claimed to be awesome only to be laid off within the year. It's weird to think this, but the layoff was not a surprise and it was kind of emotionally gratifying. There were a great many warning signs of impending doom screaming at me from the background suggesting either team/product failure or eventual job termination.
My learnings from that last job that I will carry forward to my next interviews are:
* How do you conduct test automation?
* What is the standard process to manage risks for a refactor?
* How would you describe the central architecture of your primary application? (I expect to hear about a few deliberate decisions, not something about a framework or obscure business logic isolation)
* When a defect arises is the solution or code location expected to come from memory, as in will I be expected to memorize a significant majority of the code base?
* How do you monitor for regression?
* Will I be expected to regularly manually copy code from one environment to another?
* How do you make determinations about performance? (I don't want to hear some nonsense about doing it one way because JavaScript, or whatever, is slow when you have measured neither approach and especially when you have no idea how one or both approaches actually work)
If the employer cannot answer most of these questions there are only two options:
1) Empower you to address these concerns
2) Don't work there. I would rather change careers than be hired as a senior, treated like child, and then get punished for the result.

meheleventyone · Answer

I don't think you've ruined anything long-term because the situation sounds like a nightmare and is easily explained if someone honestly cares. Nothing sounds like a failure on your part.Leaving sounds like the best option particularly if people are ending up in hospital in the current environment!

theandrewbailey · Answer

Even though you did your due diligence, this situation is where the phrase "That job was not a good fit for me" is applicable. Since you've been at your current job less than 90 days, there is also the option of simply not mentioning it on future job applications.

Communitivity · Answer

It's not going to hurt you much, if at all.Unlike other posters, I'd advise leaving it on your resume. Leaving it off could be seen as lying, if discovered, and you don't want that. Instead, stick it out another three months. If it still is a bad fit (and it likely will be) then jump ship. You will have been there six months. You can give a reason for leaving as 'I didn't like how they treated my team, and realized the job did not align with my goals or personality'. If this is your only 6 month term of employment you'll be fine.

k310 · Answer

I did a web search on "great reasons why i left a job". You have strong reasons for leaving with self and family intact. At a much lower level, I watched my team being dismantled until I ended up re-doing everything that the remaining incompetents did, and looking back, I see where "good" stress helped me do great things, whereas "bad" stress led to really dumb unforced errors.I am sure you can find excellent, valid reasons for leaving. You want to win for self, family and work team.

ChumpGPT · Answer

40%...Ride that horse right into the ground. You can keep learning on your own, nothing prevents that. As a matter of fact start kissing ass and embracing their ways/culture, be a team player, agree with everything, you could climb the ladder and double/triple your salary. After spending decades in the Industry, I've learned all that is important is earning as much as you can. At the end of the day it's all that matters and no one will give a shit about any of your accomplishments.

helveticar · Answer

It seems you have a perfect excuse for the short period."Relocated, family were unhappy, have made a difficult decision for my family's sake."

housemusicfan · Answer

Down on your luck? Are you sleeping on a subway grate and your kids eating ramen noodles 3 meals a day? No?
People make bad career choices like this every day. I started reading this thinking you took a dump in your boss' wastebasket or something equally outrageous. Imagine my disappointment.
I am having difficulty empathizing with this story.
A mere bump in the road. Have another cup of coffee and move on.

mattl · Answer

I don't think a short tenure at a job that's bad will hurt you.

Potentially destroyed my career. Now what?

I don't think you've ruined anything long-term because the situation sounds like a nightmare and is easily explained if someone honestly cares. Nothing sounds like a failure on your part.
Leaving sounds like the best option particularly if people are ending up in hospital in the current environment!

Even though you did your due diligence, this situation is where the phrase "That job was not a good fit for me" is applicable. Since you've been at your current job less than 90 days, there is also the option of simply not mentioning it on future job applications.

It seems you have a perfect excuse for the short period.
"Relocated, family were unhappy, have made a difficult decision for my family's sake."

I don't think a short tenure at a job that's bad will hurt you.