Ask HN: Potentially destroyed my career. Now what?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37076144I have about 20 years of experience, with 11 of them spent in two solid companies and the rest spent kind of job hopping - always for better scope and compensation. Took a job as Sr. SDM at a FAANG company and, although not liking the job, had a good performance over about two years. Received an insane (40%+) offer to join another company, and, attracted by working in a faster environment with more (all cash) comp, jumped ship (after a little less than two years).
Relocated with family and now I am deeply regretful. New place is rich but a total clusterfuck, complete with one-liner people evaluations ("Low throughput", PIP), SDEs getting sick due to stress, a reorg on my first week cutting 80% of my team (now I'm down to KTLO subsistence budget and having to jump in as SDE as well), and there's more but if I elaborate, I will be identified, probably.
I did thorough research before joining, going as far as interviewing other joiners who assured me it was an immature but responsible company. The org chart presented to me was entirely false (impossible for me to know beforehand) and the way of working was also misrepresented grossly (again, can't elaborate because it's very specific to this company).
Now I am at a strange place with family and down on my luck. Yes, I am well paid but with this kind of leadership, it's bound to be short-lived as well. I would be laughing at myself few years back, would take it on the chin and move on, but with family, I can't.
My options are: to suck it up - in which case I probably blew up my career since I'm learning nothing and they refuse to believe their way of working is wrong, even with developers hitting hospitals and asking for leave of absence; change teams (though I heard most teams are like this anyway); resign at the end of probation (90 days) and try to relocate back - I'd have to pay back all relocation benefits, and I doubt any company would take me seriously leaving FAANG to join a company for 90 days then applying again - as I said above about 50% of my career is 2 year tenure (startups, exits, bankruptcies, etc.) so doing this ultra-short tenure will definitely hurt my ability to get another job.
Apologies for not elaborating more or using a "stream-of-consciousness" writing style - I guess it conveys adequately my state of mind after having made this massive unforced error. I can give more details for good advice in return.