this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2023
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How do you explain your reasons for jumping ship? (self.experienced_devs)
submitted 1 year ago by bcngooner to c/[email protected]
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I got a reply from a recruiter to setup a call later this week. I know one of the inevitable questions will be why am I looking to leave my current role.

Personally I want to leave because:

  • I have a junior role in the company and I don't see a way of reaching a mid level here.
  • The targets for promotion are constantly moving. The managers have changed a few times over the past 4 years and so have the appraisal systems.
  • I haven't been given any real projects since the last manager has started. Mainly whack-a-mole type security tasks. This is especially frustrating as I have worked on larger projects before then.
  • lots of senior engineers have joined, introduced a new product/application, and then left.
  • which leads to lots of firefighting and understanding how things were implemented due to the seniors poor documentation.
  • so I'm learning nothing on the job and I'm not working on anything special to talk about.

So would something like 'looking for new opportunities' be sufficient?

Ps. If you got this far, thanks for reading my rant. It has been locked away in my head for some time now.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

You've got a lot of good reasons here, it's just about how you phrase it.

  • lack of opportunity for advancement
  • frequent leadership turnover is disruptive
  • you're not challenged by your current role and you're looking for something more challenging
  • excessive technical debt prevents establishing forward momentum

Looking for new opportunities is extremely bland. It makes it sound like you're bored or fishing for more pay. By being clear about what is wrong with your current environment, you demonstrate an understanding of what makes an effective team, and you feel you are ready for more responsibility. All good things.

Just don't say anything about personality conflicts or you can't stand your boss or call them all idiots or anything that sounds angry or overly emotional. Frame anything you have to say in positive or neutral terms. Like frequent leadership turnover makes it difficult to have consistent goals and direction vs. I hate constantly getting new bosses and each one is dumber than the last.