How bad does it look to have left a job soon after starting? [closed]

Posted by unitedgremlin on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by unitedgremlin
Published on 2012-06-25T08:08:40Z Indexed on 2012/06/25 9:23 UTC
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I have a job I would like to leave. On advice from friends and parents I have stayed. Their primary concern is that it would look bad on my resume if I left only after a few months of joining.

My concerns with the job are as follows:

  • When I started it was preferred I provide and use my own equipment.
  • Could be out of business in a few months from lack of cash flow
  • Poor code quality: memory leaks and lack of error handling. The same mistakes continue to be made even though I have raised the issue. It has become evident that co-workers do not understand memory management rules of the platform and are not interested in learning them. Yet, there is still surprise from them when strange bugs continue to crop up. As a result don't feel I will learn from co-workers. Plus, fixing the the lingering bugs and trying to keep up on new feature development is like a game of whack-o-mole that never ends.
  • I don't believe in the companies vision or its ability to execute on the ideas anymore.
  • My ideas and suggestions for very small tweaks are quickly dismissed. And so more than half or so have come back as bugs that we end up needing to address. I have been told to wait on fixing bugs in codes until we can talk to the original author. I don't feel I am allowed to take initiative to just fix/change things and do what I think is best. Everything needs consensus even for a bug fix before any work is done. I am adopting a shut-up and just do what I am told approach to save myself from ulcers.
  • Lots of meetings (I am personally not involved in all of them which is good) but the sheer amount reminds me of days at a big corporation. Why is everyone around me always meeting?
  • It's a small company. I can count everyone on my toes and fingers. I can say with certainty I have no interest in working with any of them again. This is the first time I have truly worked with a group of so called "B and C players".

Ultimately, I think it is my fault for not doing a better job evaluating the team and company before joining. But I have generated a better set of questions when probing companies in the future. My questions are:

  • How bad does it look to have left a job soon (few months) after starting?
  • What would be the best way to explain my concerns and reasons for leaving without badmouthing the company?
  • Should I stick it out to what I believe will be the soon end of the company?

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