Would you rather...

Gambisk

Gambisk

Gambisk

Associate
Joined
22 May 2013
Posts
1,229
Location
N. Ireland
Work at the minute is starting to turn sour, my company was bought over in the last year and now the office politics and pressure from the new owners are starting to make themselves felt. However the project that I'm working on is actually quite interesting and using latest technologies and in an area I find interesting, its the management of said project that is killing me.

A opportunity has opened up in an other local company doing similar work but just not as interesting a project. This company is well renowned locally for being a great company to work for, that looks after its employees and invests in them.

So would you rather
interesting work within a toxic environment?
OR
great environment with a potentially dull project?
 
Life's too short to spend it in toxic environments. I'd much rather work somewhere awesome; maybe you'll start on a slightly less interesting project but projects come and go. If you have the attitude and aptitude, and the company is willing to invest in you... what's the downside, really?
 
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AJK said:
Life's too short to spend it in toxic environments. I'd much rather work somewhere awesome; maybe you'll start on a slightly less interesting project but projects come and go. If you have the attitude and aptitude, and the company is willing to invest in you... what's the downside, really?
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Everything above +1.
 
I work in an interesting environment, with an overall great company, but like you, the last 3-4 years has had toxic managers.

It's not worth it.

You should be happy to go to work and not dread it, and projects change, the politics stay the same ;)
 
Neither sound ideal but out of the two I'd choose the nicer working environment unless the toxic one offers experience to get a better third job in the medium term.
 
Neither of the options are 'ideal'. But, life is far too short to be in toxic environments. Getting yourself out of that environment will do you good. There is no reason that in the future you could attempt to develop your role into picking up the interesting work for the new company, if they're supportive of it.
 
Yeah I have made my mind up and the applications have been made. Things really came to a head last week when the management team decided that kicking the dev team when they are under pressure is the way to improve the standard of our work. Mandatory weekends and threatening to cancel Christmas leave was the icing on the cake. Currently there are 4 of us in a team of 6 devs looking for new opportunities outside of the company, I imagine the other two will follow shortly.

In a startling coincidence this post by Scott Hanselman was posted the day after our team bashing from managment and it sums up the whole experience pretty well. http://www.hanselman.com/blog/FearDrivenDevelopmentFDD.aspx
 
Good choice. Only one way companies like that will ever learn (if, that is, they learn at all)!
 
I let my gut decide. If I ever dread/don't like the idea of going to work, then I look for new work. Obviously I accept there is the occasional bad day no matter where you work, but the principle is the same.
 
Gambisk said:
Yeah I have made my mind up and the applications have been made. Things really came to a head last week when the management team decided that kicking the dev team when they are under pressure is the way to improve the standard of our work. Mandatory weekends and threatening to cancel Christmas leave was the icing on the cake. Currently there are 4 of us in a team of 6 devs looking for new opportunities outside of the company, I imagine the other two will follow shortly.

In a startling coincidence this post by Scott Hanselman was posted the day after our team bashing from management and it sums up the whole experience pretty well. http://www.hanselman.com/blog/FearDrivenDevelopmentFDD.aspx
Click to expand...

I'm in a very similar situation.
Very interesting project, quite exciting start up with some serious money on the table (ISOPS).
But the CEO is, well, I wont go into details except suffice it to say FDD is just the beginning.He should probably be sectioned and locked up in an asylum.

I could look for a job and I certainly will if things don't change but life is rarely as simple as picking your dream job and retiring at 30.
I would despise doing a job that is boring me to death almost as much as idiot managers. The latter I can deal with- I know the CEO is dickwad and tend to ignore most if it and I am at the point where I don't care if I get fired. But doing a completely mindless boring job would drive me insane and there wouldn't be anything I could do about it apart form hoping that a new project arrives or quitting, where I am back at square one.

And then there is the issue that most of the companies around here likely have work environments I also despise (investment banks, credit companies and the likes).


then there are the fiances. A dream job for me would be doing one of my hobbies in my own time and reporting to no one but myself. In the real world I have a mortgage to pay, child raising costs and a retirement to figure out. Plus I want an early retirement with more time to enjoy life. So for the time being I am in a a stressful tiring job with the devil for a boss but get paid well, have the potential to become rich and have a few nice perks such as -working from home and being with my baby girl whenever I want.

Commuting for 45minute to get to some investment bank that also uses fear driven development doing mindless work wont help me.
 
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