Why I Left My First Software Engineer Job And What You Should Learn From My Experience

Photo by Meghan Holmes on Unsplash

People don’t go around talking about the low points in their life as much as they do with the highs, you only get to hear about the successes and achievements, I think we should learn to “normalize” talking about the low as much as we do with the highs. The thing about low is, that there’s only one way to go from there, and it’s up!

The Sunshine And Rainbows Part

I used to work in a small firm, working in a small circle has its benefits, you get to have a clear view of the business and what the company is aiming for, as you get to talk to the manager directly. I got to work on many complex components with unusual scenarios which pushed me to think outside the box, I also got to learn a lot from everyone on a personal level and for that I’m thankful.

The Fallout Part

Like any other firm, my past firm had its perks and minuses. I think it’s normal in any job that there would be some disagreements, whether it was technical or managerial (or both).

Here are the top reasons that lead me to decide to leave my job:

1. Benefits You would expect a small business that would like its employees to stay in it for as long as possible to give them some benefits or an edge compared to other competitors, right? Well, that wasn’t the case here. No benefits, if anything it was the opposite. You could accept this situation for some time but in the long run, it would drain you I talked to the manager about this situation a couple of times but, it was no use.

2. Ambition One key factor why I decided to leave was that I had no motivation to keep going. I didn’t feel my work was moving my career where I wanted it to go. I was looking forward to moving to a bigger firm, with a bigger job title in the future, I didn’t feel like that would be the case If I continued working there. At first, the learning curve was deep, as I was getting to learn about the business, using a programming language I partially knew of, and a library that was completely new to me, but slowly, the learning curve got less and less steep, till it flattened completely. When a couple of months went by in that state, I decided a change is needed.

3. Peer Pressure Social media can be a mixed blessing, unfortunately, it’s not in my case. I think the worst thing about it is that good news spread like fire, you get to learn, not only about the success of your friends but, about the success of a random third connection who is starting their career by working at FAANG/MAANG (thanks LinkedIn) or moving to another country …etc.
The healthy way to look at this is to use this news to motivate you to work harder, unfortunately getting introduced to this kind of “good” news daily can be harmful and demotivational.

The Takeaway Part

but first some funny memes

Overall, I can’t say with a clear mind that leaving that job was a great decision, mainly for the third and partially for the second points which are connected.

The drive to succeed (which I see as a good thing) and seeing others continuous success had a big influence on my decision-making. If there’s one thing that I want you to take away from my story, it’s not to make decisions based on peer pressure! Everyone’s journey is different, we’re not equal, and we weren’t given equal chances, there are many variables and random factors. Learn that. Accept That.

What’s next

I see this as my cocoon phase, if I put on the effort and waited long enough, a butterfly will emerge. I’ll keep learning and working with the skills I’ve gained in the past months, I know for a fact that this difficult road will lead to a beautiful destination in the end.