Working for large companies

[NetworkGroover]

Yeah its hard. My last resignation was the hardest I have ever given and I have shifted jobs at-least once every 2-3 years for the past 15 years. Some years I had 4-5 jobs in a single year...

I learned, its like a band-aid, you just go in and do it quick. Dont fluff it, or drag it on. Just walk in, sit down and say it.

My last one went like this:

Boss: What do you need?
Me: I need to let you know I accepted another potion and need to turn in my notice.
Boss: 

Luckly he was cool. It hurt but he understood. This has usually been the case. We then chatted about the gig and why Im jumping. 

Other though have been pretty rough. You can usually see those coming because they are a dick-head or hot tempered. With those same thing. Quick with few words and let them do the talking.

Im happy for you dude and I wish you the best of luck!!!

Truth.. I'm in the same boat, and many others I hear.  I don't think I've lasted longer than 2 years at any job - always left to get to that next step.  It's very weird working where I am and being like... there's no next step....

[icecream-guy]

there was something in the back of my heard regarding consideration of your total income to include all the benefits/salary/timeoff/perks to figure your total income.
don't remember the exact wording bu that's the jist of it.

'total compensation' is the term I couldn't remember

[icecream-guy]

I learned, its like a band-aid, you just go in and do it quick. Dont fluff it, or drag it on. Just walk in, sit down and say it.

Truth!

it's all business, leave the personal side aside.

[deanwebb]

When I was younger, I bounced around, even as a teacher. I made it to 2.5 years at Microsoft as the longest I've been in one place. Then I taught for 11 years at the same school. That was quite a stretch... but I also enjoyed it there, very much. I also learned how to enjoy things better by listening to manager-tools.com podcasts. They helped me to understand how to be managed, even by a manager that I didn't like. Those podcasts were like a big shot of maturity, and I'm glad for them.

I'm now 2.25 years at my current firm, and I would have quit at several junctures had I still had the attitude of my younger days. I really do like working where I am and see myself there for a long haul.

When leaving, get a meeting with your boss 1 on 1 and let him know that you've got an offer from (x) and that you've accepted it. Let it go from there. If he wants to wish you well, he will. If he wants to just be businesslike, he will. Then you move on.

NEVER announce your departure in a team meeting. I did that once and it was a mess. I really embarrassed my boss and his boss, which was something I didn't want to do.

[Nerm]

I sent my resignation letter to my boss yesterday and it actually turned pretty funny because with the timing he thought I had won the lottery. He was surprised but understands I am doing this to better myself and my career.

[routerdork]

I sent my resignation letter to my boss yesterday and it actually turned pretty funny because with the timing he thought I had won the lottery. He was surprised but understands I am doing this to better myself and my career.

LOL that's awesome!

[RoDDy]

When leaving, get a meeting with your boss 1 on 1 and let him know that you've got an offer from (x) and that you've accepted it. Let it go from there. If he wants to wish you well, he will. If he wants to just be businesslike, he will. Then you move on.

I am glad everything turned out well. Just wanted to add to this point though. 1 on 1 is always the best thing however, i think it is sometimes best not to mention that you got an offer from (x) company. Some bosses are dicks and may try to railroad you.

[Nerm]

Well my last day is Friday and I start my new gig on Monday. To be honest I am a little nervous as it is such a change in atmosphere. The largest client I support for my (about to be previous) employer is only about 600 users and three locations. Starting Monday I will be working on the networks supporting over 10,000 users at over 30 locations around the world. Now after just typing that I am even more nervous lol. I am really looking forward to the learning opportunity I am about to be presented with and if nothing else those stats will look great on my resume for future opportunities.

Additionally my (about to be previous) employer has suggested that I can still do work for them as a consultant/contractor on the side. Anyone ever done this for a previous employer and have pros/cons to bring up?

I sent my resignation letter to my boss yesterday and it actually turned pretty funny because with the timing he thought I had won the lottery. He was surprised but understands I am doing this to better myself and my career.

LOL that's awesome!

Yea I wasn't thinking about it sent in my resignation the day after the winning numbers were announced lol. Gave us both a good laugh.

[deanwebb]

Side work can be really dangerous. You've got a priority to make your time available to your employer, and if there's an emergency that comes up which causes you to miss a consulting deadline, you can be on the hook for that, financially. Even if there aren't any deadlines, if you don't have everything 100% in writing in a contract, you are open to a boss "forgetting" a promise made to get you to do work, and you get screwed. If they're in the same or related industries, there could be a conflict of interest issue.

The most I'll do for moonlighting would be hour-long discussions outside of normal business hours about this technology or that. If I can't make the meeting, it's easily rescheduled because I'm just providing information for a non-urgent matter. I have a broker handle those engagements for me and I do about one every 6 months or so. But I can't be on the hook for a project or anything that has a commitment of time longer than tomorrow night. If there's a week of work to do, I can't accept it, as I don't know what kind of production outage we might have in the next 7 days that will demand all of my time for my current employer.

Lots of cons, no pro beyond a little extra beer money. Not worth the risk, in my view.

[Nerm]

Completely see where you are coming from and I definitely have no interest in that kind of situation. We were not talking about me doing major projects on the side. Would be more of a "hey got an hour to meet on specs for a project, review a config or log, etc?" kind of thing.

[deanwebb]

Completely see where you are coming from and I definitely have no interest in that kind of situation. We were not talking about me doing major projects on the side. Would be more of a "hey got an hour to meet on specs for a project, review a config or log, etc?" kind of thing.

You still want to be careful... what's your liability like in those situations? If you say that a config looks good and there's a flaw in it with something that they're doing, are you ready for a protracted legal mess to prove that it's not your fault? Or do you have insurance to cover it all and settle things without involving you too much? If it's anything beyond, "What do you think of Vendor-X and how they implement such-and-such", you may have some liability issues that will come back to bite you. And if you're not an LLC or corporation, then ALL your assets are forfeitable in order to make restitution of damages, if so ordered by a court. Again, huge, huge risk. You will want some ironclad contracts and disclaimers and some kind of liability limitation to cover yourself in the event when (not if) something goes wrong.

[Nerm]

Thanks for the input. If they want to do anything more than "what do you think about this" kind of stuff I will definitly want an air-tight contract absolving myself of any and all potential liability.

[Nerm]

Update: Been in my new role for almost a month now. I have found that even though my new employer is a "large" company by headcount the IT environment is really more medium-sized which is great for me as it seems a lot of my "big company red tape and politics" kind of concerns do not currently exist here. I know it is early on but so far I have been really happy with the move.

[TeXJ]

Updates?

[Nerm]

Updates?

No specific updates, but I can say I am happy I made the move.