Using throw-away account (and won't say company names / locations).
I recently joined a well known tech company which I thought it could be my dream job. It turns out, the project I'm in, it's a very messy project where I'm not very happy about. And it doesn't seem like I would learn a whole lot. (I think I've already burned out in my first week)
They paid me a relocation package which I have to return if I leave. The package is estimated to be around 15k eur. (I have savings to pay that money, but it's a hit in my economy)
Before joining this company, I left a job in a non-tech company at the end of 2022, where I was working for almost a decade (and was very well paid and considered inside that company). I left because I felt stuck, I was not learning almost anything tech-related and I was not interested in the topic of that project.
I took me about 15months to get this new job. I used my savings (no unemployment benefits) since I left my old job to prepare for interviews, leetcode, learning C, Python, even Rust, databases, etc, etc, etc I said no to a lot of opportunities because I thought those would be worse ones. And I also failed miserably a lot of interviews.
Then this opportunity showed up, interviews were weird and short but it's a very well known tech company, salary was a lower than my previous job, had to move to a expensive city, but I thought that it would be a good opportunity to learn something new and get back into technology and not get burned out (which I got very burned out in my last job).
I'm asking HN to see what others would do in my situation. Would you stay for 2 years until you don't have to return the relocation package? Would you negotiate what amount to pay for the relocation? Maybe look for another job meanwhile I stay here? Go back to my previous job?
Thanks HN
If this is literally your first tech job, and you expect it would possibly take you another 15 months to find another one, I would think very hard about leaving it.
In either case, I would definitely give it more than a week. I personally would say 90 days minimum. If it's clear then that is not a fit, then I would look for another position in the same city. Perhaps you could get the new place to cover your relocation as a condition of employment since you'd be having to pay it back.