Three Good Reasons to Change your Job as a Software Developer

Life is too short to be unhappy at work. A good job may ensure happy and contended living, while a wrong job may result in stress and negativity. A good job is not only about money, but also about the work environment, community and passion for your work. According to U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, demand for software developer jobs is projected to grow 21% from 2018 to 2028. Therefore, if you are a software developer looking for a job, there may be plenty of options available related to your specialty and passion. 

Agile Office Design Promotes Communication and Collaboration in Teams

With the adoption of agile practices, software development teams have transformed into collaborative and self organizing style of working from strict and bureaucratic style of working. Technological advancements in distributed computing have made it possible to work and collaborate from geographically distant locations using tools like Git, Google Docs and Microsoft Teams. Software development companies all around the globe explored and practiced various techniques in the past, in an attempt to provide conducive work environment for developers, thus improving the quality of their end product. Despite all efforts from management and leadership to foster a healthy work environment, you may still end up in circumstances which make you feel uncomfortable, undervalued and unappreciated. In this blog, I will explain three kinds of circumstances under which a software developer should consider changing his / her job. 

Toxic Work Environment

Fun job environment can ensure better productivity of developers and successful business for the company. Findings from the American Working Conditions survey revealed that about one in five workers reported facing a hostile or threatening environment at work. In the UK, a report found that 34% of British employees quit when faced with a toxic workplace culture. Workplace may be made toxic by people at different levels, including employers (leadership) or employees (bosses or colleagues), typically for some personal gains. Every organization has some internal politics and groupings. Every person has some likes / dislikes. If your boss likes you, your career can sail through. If your boss dislikes you, maybe for no obvious reason, he can make your life miserable. Typical reasons for a toxic work environment are: lack of leadership interest, resistance to change, office politics, groupings and harassment. Some companies have a culture which allows software developers to openly try different ideas for improving the product or process. Other companies have a strict bureaucratic style of working where developers are discouraged to even speak about creative ideas. 

Pair Programming Practice in Agile Promotes Healthy Work Environment

In a typical software development team, groupings may originate between different teams. Typical examples of grouping include testers vs programmers, C++ vs Java developers and the employees resisting a change to new tools / practices. Agile practices such as on-site customer, collective code ownership, 40 hour week and pair programming focus on reducing the differences and building strong productive teams. Under the circumstances of toxic work environment, a developer may undergo stress, negativity, health issues, low morale, disturbed family life and may not even get any help from company leadership. If you are a software developer and face any of above mentioned circumstances, simply quit and change your job. However, if you plan to change your job, never quit on bad terms. Maintain a good reputation in your network as the world is very small and you may come across same people sometime in your career.

Limited Career Growth

Career growth is typically ensured by rewards, professional learning, skill enhancement and promotions. As a software developer, you should consider growing into a senior software developer in 3 years, tech lead in 6 years and team manager in 9 years. Google is famous for introducing 80/20 rule where they allow employees to spend 20 % time on fun side projects allowing their growth and foster creativity and innovation. Wear your oxygen mask first before assisting others in wearing their mask. You can contribute better for your organization if you spend enough time to polish your skills and abilities such as learning new programming languages, tools or practices. If you want to climb up the management ladder, focus on soft skills like social and communication skills, in addition to technical skills. Consider changing your job if it inhibits your growth as a software practitioner. Nobody can stop you from pursuing higher education or spending time learning new things as they are crucial for your progress. You can only increase your value as a software developer if you keep growing.

An Example of Typical Career Path of Software Engineer

Better Opportunity 

Better opportunity may be in the form of salary, benefits, location, technology and company ranking. As a software developer, if you find a better opportunity, grab it. However, remember that a better opportunity is not always about money. It is also about your passion, work environment, community and company ranking. Also remember that you are the master of your own fate. You can create an opportunity for yourself by building reputation in your network related to your specialty. You can do that by staying abreast with new technologies / tools and by building a strong portfolio.

If you encounter any of the situations specified above, consider switching the job. Considering the advancements in AI, future is not far where all the laborious work will be done by AI agents and humans will focus more on creative and highly cognitive tasks, worth their level. As a software developer, you are sure to flourish if you focus on a particular specialty and develop a continuous learning mindset.