Hi HN, I'm in a dilemna right now and I hope that I can seek your advice. Its been a pretty nervewrecking past few days thinking about this and I thought it will be better for my mental health if I could ask for your advice.<p>I'm a recent graduate who managed to secure a high paying job at a Tier-1 Investment Bank doing entry level IT work (Graduates Program). Its been 2 weeks since I've joined my team at my desk after my 3 weeks of training and I don't like it at all.<p>The job is boring, the team is dysfunctional and the corporate systems and processes are just getting depressing.<p>During my undergraduate days, I've started a couple of businesses and was able to survive on doing freelance webdevelopment for startups. I have no idea why I applied for this current job, but I thought it was something I should do after all my peers all did.<p>I'm thinking of leaving my company perhaps to join a small startup or start my own freelance development business again but I'm not sure if its the right move. After all, I'll most likely be taking a significant paycut and I don't know if the new job will be any better.<p>I know most of my peers would kill to be in my current job, but I'm just not happy in it. HN, what should I do?
If you have good software skills and can communicate effectively, the job market is really, really hot right now. Life's too short to spend it doing something you hate.
Better to leave now than to string the company along for a while and leave with more depending on you.<p>Also: if you're going to post a question like this, I'd suggest not doing it with a Hacker News handle that looks like a real name. Consider if your employer read this post before you told them you were leaving, or worse yet if you decided to stay.
Make the move and switch. It's always more important to be happy about your job than to have money. Remember that you spend 5 days a week at work for about 8 hours so if you don't like being there, every aspect of your life will be badly influenced because of all these bad feelings you have towards your current job.<p>I was in a situation like you not so long ago : Right out of college I got a good paying job (probably not as good as a bank) but after a year I started to hate my job. I promptly switched to a small startup and I asked to work 4 days a week so I can do some freelance work on the side. I love my startup job and I love doing freelance work and I hope to be able to switch to full time freelance sometime in the coming years. Overall, it's been the best decision I have ever made in my life.
Most are going to tell you to leave and not knowing your thought on what you really want to do I am hesitant to give that advice. If you are OK with freelancing then sure jump, but if freelancing is just a notch better than what you are doing now, then why not use this position as a spring board. Look at the high pay as a spring board to give you runway on your own ventures. One of the hardest kinds of capital to procure is seed capital. So if you plan to pursue your own venture then I would say stay, save a much as you realistically can and then use that money to support yourself in your own ventures. So my recommendation would be, if you are going to freelance leave, if you want to start a venture, put the time in and save.
<i>I have no idea why I applied for this current job, but I thought it was something I should do after all my peers all did</i><p>That is rarely a good reason to do something. I would say leave now...jobs you hate now rarely get better later. I left a job after only 3 months even though it looked like a dream job - sexy startup, free fully-stocked kitchen, half-day Fridays, free "Cadillac" health insurance, 4 weeks vacation and bonuses in excess of 100% of base salary. I just didn't agree with how they ran their business. I just happened to immediately find a better job, but if I hadn't, I would have gone the freelance route until I started my own business.
Everybody hates their first year (or 5) at a top tier investment bank. since everyone is telling you to bail, ill tell you to bite the bullet and quit only after you get your bonus...or even your second one. most people I know take jobs at firms like yours because of what they can do after they leave...not because it's the greatest job in the world.