Changing jobs
A software manager wrote to me: “There is no loyalty among software developers. I hire them from college, provide them with training but after a year, they all leave to work for another companies. It happened many times. Every time I hired them, trained them, then they left. Today I do not want to hire college graduates anymore. Why do software developers change jobs often?
Answer: We need to look into this issue closely because there are many reasons that software developer changes job. My answer is not only for manager but also for software developers:
Contents
1) Better Salary
Money is the number one reason that software developers change job. They usually can get an increase in salary for the new jobs. Due to the shortage of skilled developers, many companies are willing to pay more for people with experiences. This happens everywhere, including the U.S., Europe, India and China. As long as there is a high demand for experienced developers, it will continue to happen. However, there are bad consequences for people who are greedy and change jobs too often. If an employer suspects that a candidate for job is not serious about working but only take advantage of the shortage then he will never get hired. From the industry study, developers who change jobs every one or two years then after few times, they will not be able to find jobs. The reasons are their salaries are already high and their resume indicated that they never stay long enough in any job. During job interview, company always asks the reason for a person to leave the previous company. If they are not satisfy with the answer, they will check with previous employer to verify it. What do you think if they find out that you have worked for four companies in three years? What reasons can you give when you never work for any company more than a year?
2) Better job
Many students do not know exactly what they want from their career. Some accept any job offers when they graduate. However, as they gain experience, they know what they want or what “The right job” would be. If they are not happy with current jobs, if the jobs do not meet their career goals, they will look for better jobs at another companies. In my opinion, searching for better jobs that matches your needs is not a bad thing. If you know what your career goals are then you should be careful on what kind of jobs that you would apply for. If you stay when finding “the right jobs” then it is the right thing to do. However, this will require a careful consideration and planning because you do not want potential employer think that you change job for other reasons.
3) Better variety
Many developers do not like to do the same jobs every day. It is monotonous and boring so they look for new things to learn. Changing job provides a variety of things that they can learn, meet new challenges and continue to gain a variety of skills. This is good if they are serious about learning and stay long enough to learn these technical skills. Since it takes several years to be very good at technical aspects, even they do change jobs but it usually not often. However, there are people who change jobs just for the exciting things and to meet new friends. In that case, they may not have enough experience in anything as their skills are rather shallow. If they only work each place for a short time and change job for another exciting things, they are not learning anything. They are not getting a deep understanding of the technical skills enough then they would make a big mistake.
4) Avoid “Being Exposed”
Many graduates have “degrees” but do not have skills. They get hired but do not know how to work. If they did not learn when they were in school, they have no chance to learn at work. Of course, they will pretend to work, they will try to hide their weaknesses, they will ask others to help, just like they did in school. Sooner or later, other workers will be tired of helping them since they are busy too. To avoid manager find out about their incompetence, to avoid of being fired, they always looking for new jobs and change jobs as quickly as possible. However, after changing jobs a few times, they cannot escape the truth that they do not have the skills. They can cheat others for awhile but not themselves. Many will feel shameful, some will be angry, most will be frustrated and eventually quit looking for jobs. The “fear of being exposed” often lead to negative self-images and frustrated feeling throughout their lives.
The solution: The information technology industry is always changing. Even if you have a good job but NOT continue to learn new thing, you may not survive. If your skills are no longer needed, you may not be able to keep your job. Most people who change jobs often will regret their decisions. They fell into a trap of their own greed. They were blinded by their own illusions that they could “cheat the system”. The fact is today, there is a critical shortage of software developers all over the world but there are also many software developer who cannot find jobs. A majority of these “unemployed” developers are people that do not have skills and are often called “Job hoppers”. If you are that kind of person, please take time to evaluate why you are behaving that way. Why something are happening to you and how it is affecting your long-term career objectives. You must develop a plan to overcome this issue so you can settle into a job that will keep you employ for a long time. If you have a degree but do not have the skills, be brave and return to school to take additional trainings and strengthen your ability to work as a software professional. Since technology is changing fast, go back to school to learn new things is common among software developers. You should not feel bad about go back to school as you already learned a good lesson about life and life is about continue to learn. As long as you are learning, there are always hopes.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
