Ask HN: Junior engineer at HPE transferred out of development, what now?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12441652

by halpme • 10 years ago

4 5 10 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I graduated from a UC and got a job at Hewlett Packard Enteprise as a software engineer doing security stuff. The first few months were rough, but I was working on cool stuff and my team was awesome. The half-year performance went well and my manager always said I did a good job. I always asked for feedback and ways to improve but no one had issues with my performance.

Well, HPE has been dying for a while and there's rumors of it being bought out. First there was a hiring freeze, then layoffs, and now a company reorganization.

All the teams got scrambled and now I work in a highly undesirable position, doing technical support (more or less). The core engineering team consisted of folks who've been there for 3+ years, while I've been there for 10 months, and the other person who was also moved was there for 4 months (although she had a Ph.D and tons of experience). Seems like the newest members got the short end of the stick.

I've done some on-call technical support and it was terrible: had to be available always in a highly stressful and unrewarding environment, with mostly system troubleshooting, but now this is my full-time gig and I don't get to touch code anymore.

Are there likely to be layoffs soon?

Should I start applying for junior level positions again? Will I have an easier time finding a job this time around because I have some experience at a big company? Can I quit now, or work there long enough until I get a full one year of experience on my resume?

Gibbon1• 10 years ago

Should I start applying for junior level positions again?

Yes.

Will I have an easier time finding a job this time around because I have some experience at a big company?

Yes.

Can I quit now, or work there long enough until I get a full one year of experience on my resume?

You don't quit you start looking for a new gig and when you get it, then you quit. The difference between 10 months and one year, no one cares. On your resume you say your job at HPE was '10/15 to present' let them do the math.

FuNe• 10 years ago

+1 @poster: Out of interest - where are you based? US?

halpme• 10 years ago

Sunnyvale, CA

brudgers• 10 years ago

My random take from across the internet:

Performing technical customer support alongside more experienced coworkers might be an unexpectedly valuable experience because it will show what actually matters in the products and why it matters versus some theory about what matters and why and that experience can inform your decision making throughout your career.

Another potentially valuable lesson is that shifting reprehensibility during times of economic change is more or less a given and in the context of a corporate career the ability to adapt to business needs is key. Or to put it another way, the ability to see the value in the business decision (and to accept that it's not personal) is something that distinguishes professionals.

On the question of the likelihood of layoffs, it sounds like there already have been: that's part of corporate life going back to the days of industrial manufacture. On the other hand, the fact that you were moved rather than let go, means that the corporation sees economic value in your potential over the medium or long term and so, aside from doing something stupid at the individual level or large scale business decisions, there's less relative chance that you will be laid off in the near term. And as you become familiar with the products via tech support, you become more valuable.

And not just more valuable to your employer, but more valuable to its customers who have built businesses around the products you support...and here is my advice: treat those customers as valuable professional connections because they are a great source of future opportunity if you do a good job -- as potential employers and potential leads on work and as consulting gigs depending on your mood.

Please be clear, I'm not advising you to be miserable at work. I'm suggesting that part of the job of a junior developer is to learn the places where their absence of experience creates a misinterpretation or a shallow interpretation or a misunderstanding of the facts on the ground. Or to put it another way, in a world where you left technical support and got a job just like the one you had right now today, then six months from now, you're year of experience would look more like the same six months twice than a year of diverse experience.

Good luck.

liquidcool• 10 years ago

I agree with Gibbon. Will add that a real problem with young developers is that their desire to please short circuits taking the best path for their career. You end up staying longer than you should; I was certainly guilty of this. HPE does not care about your future nearly as much as you do.

I'll add that in the legal world of HR, the company changing your job function is a big deal, and nobody will blame you for simply trying to get back on course. The company screwed up, not you.

Plus, you're in SV, you have a lot of opportunities up there.

Ask HN: Junior engineer at HPE transferred out of development, what now?

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