So, yesterday was a first for me. I had an online interview scheduled at 8PM (yes, PM because the interviewer was based in the UK), so had my dinner, got all dressed up (ie, put on a business shirt on top of shorts), turned on all the lights in my room (a rare occurrence since I prefer dim or natural lighting), and dialled in. And waited. And waited. And no one turned up. The interviewer was a no-show. An hour later, I received an apology text from their HR and they asked if I was free to do the interview. At 9:30PM? After being stood up already? Uh...no. They rescheduled it for today evening instead. I mulled over it and figured this was a bad omen, a sign of things to come if I were to proceed further, so this morning I declined and withdrew my application.

On the positive side, I got a job offer from my old old workplace. On one hand, it feels nice to be sought out and knowing that my old company still thinks of me, and if I were to accept the offer, the job is almost guaranteed to be in the bag; on the other hand, it's my old old company and some of the reasons I left are still valid (like the cringy corporate culture). On one hand, it's a different role to what I did previously, this one is an actual engineering role where I get to design and play with new toys and not deal with BAU stuff; but on the other it's not the dream Linux job I've been after... guess I'll have to go with whatever pays the bills, again.

[–] Dave 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Congrats on the job offer!

If it's not going to be detrimental to your mental health, then you could take the job. If you don't like it, try to stick it out for a year then start looking for another job, but this time there's less pressure, and it's always easier to find a new job when you already have one. And easier to put up with a not-perfect job if you have an exit plan.

I've changed jobs every 1-2 years my whole life. Short stints aren't really frowned upon anymore.

[–] d3Xt3r 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks! And yeah, that's true I guess, no reason to stick around for too long. Still don't know how I'm going to get my dream future Linux job though... maybe I can convince my new boss to bring in some Linux stuff for me to play around with.

[–] Dave 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's cool you have a dream job, one reason I bounce around so much is I get bored too quickly so just try all sorts of different things.

I wonder if you get into a big IT company, if you would have an easier time getting secondments or other work experience in different places in the company to help you find and build towards that job you want.

[–] d3Xt3r 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I actually was in a big IT company, and you'd think that you'd be able to work in different teams and get different experiences, but sadly it's not that easy in reality. With big companies you typically have too much red tape to wade thru when changing teams, each team acts like their own isolated unit and they don't really work well together. Also, the higher up you are in your role, the harder it becomes to get secondment opportunities since they may be unable to find someone to take your place. Also, you're far more siloed in a big company, so say if you've been hired as a desktop engineer you won't get to work with server or networking stuff, whereas in a small companies you typically have broader job descriptions and responsibilities.

[–] Dave 3 points 1 year ago

Oh man, that sucks. I've had many amazing oppourtunities in my career and have seen others struggle for just one, and it's hard to identify why that is.

I definitely think job hopping has helped, though. It increases your chances of getting a good manager that can line up opportunities, helps you broaden your experience, and builds self-confidence and helps you push back on bullshit because you prove to yourself you can get another job and so don't have to put up with one you don't like for too long.