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Hopping too many startups in a row?

23 points 15characters | 1 comments | 21 Oct 24 01:07 UTC | HN request time: 0.206s | source

The last 3 positions I've held have been SWE at relatively small startups. Within 2 years of being at those companies, big changes occurred prompting me to hop for job security (didn't secure next round of funding, C-suite got replaced, etc). For me, this is the nature of startups- fast turnaround and turnover. I thought this was normal until my last interview where a recruiter was looking for stronger explanations as to why I haven't held a position for 3-4 years recently. Being clear that it wasn't a positive sign to them. Is it really that strange, or were they maybe used to bigger company culture and expectations? Not going to risk my own security riding a sinking ship.
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sam0x17 ◴[21 Oct 24 17:23 UTC] No.41906260[source]▶
2 years is actually fairly long in the startup world imo, most startups (by %) don't even last that long. The average across the SWE industry (not just startups) was hopping every ~2.5 years a few years ago, and I believe it's worse now. I only start to scrutinize if I see a pattern of several in a row of < 8 months, tbh.

If anything, I tend to judge people a little bit who stay in the same place more than 3-4 years in this industry. Staying somewhere that long you end up with very insular views and limited exposure to new tech and ideas outside of your bubble, and beyond that, I am a bit wary of someone who isn't motivated by the financial incentive of a diagonal upgrade every 2-3 years, or somehow doesn't see that potential. Being able to effectively advocate for yourself and by extension your ideas I see as an essential skill for SWE.

Also, I think failed startup experience is super valuable, perhaps more valuable in some cases than coincidentally riding a unicorn and now falsely believing that every little thing you did along the way (or your cherry-picked list of "favorite" things you did) is actually repeatable, useful advice and/or a blueprint for future success.

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1. bruce511 ◴[23 Oct 24 04:31 UTC] No.41921839[source]▶
>> If anything, I tend to judge people a little bit who stay in the same place more than 3-4 years in this industry.

While I completely understand this point of view, I wonder if you are speaking as an employer or employee? If, as an employer, how do you cope with your 25% of your staff leaving every year? How do you build that institutional deep knowledge if your longest serving person has < 5 years under their belt?

I can really only view it from the view-point of an employer (so my comment comes from there.) Personally I've been in the same job for 33 years now (was my first job out of uni) but I've seen the company grow from 2 people to 50. Most of our staff have > 10 years with us, and a bunch > 20. They are highly skilled, and have a depth of knowledge about our products and customers that are unmatched. They earn salaries well higher than other companies would pay them.

50 people is of course very modest success - I'm not saying we're a unicorn, or even especially valuable. But from our view-point we're also not looking to hire folk who have short-term goals and are already looking for the next gig down the line. Obviously lots of job-hopping is a red flag for our recruitment process.

And that's the thing I guess. Another company would have a very different perspective, and be looking for a very different kind of person. And ultimately that's ok. We don't all need to fit the same mould.