One great freedom that big companies do offer you is a reasonable amount of mobility. And it makes sense, they do put in a lot of effort to recruit and hire you, and it takes a lot of money to close you. So if you’re doing well, it would make sense to keep you, even if you weren’t a good match.

I’ve used that to my advantage twice now. The first time was because I didn’t find the right team for me. I was more interested in infrastructure, however I chose to ignore that when the team matching process happened for a team that had a very good pitch. To this day I believe in the value of that team, but the work was never right for me. Team matching processes will never be perfect and you only have so much time to decide and see…

The second time was when I landed in a very toxic environment. I considered leaving the company altogether, but that takes effort, and there’s a lot to lose. At a new company I may not get the chance to meet the people, I may not end up in a better place. Big companies also know they can make you think twice about leaving because of the stock they give you. The sad thing is that it works, it was an actual loss psychologically when considering leaving. But if the environment was so toxic, so damaging to my mental health and my relationships outside of work I needed to get out as soon as I could.

So the solution of least risk, was to change teams. That may not solve the problem, but at least it will give me time to think things through if it doesn’t work out. As it has happened recently I do not care to guess what the end result will be. But there’s clear disadvantages to staying: the old team can still reach you. And I admit it’s sometimes anxiety inducing. The best thing is that I got out, and more importantly I get to keep some of my expertise.

Another maybe good thing is that I get to see how the company decides to deal with the situation and perhaps inform future decisions based on that. I will likely make a few more posts to elaborate some of these matters.