the Guppie Life

As my loyal readers might remember, I recently quit my first post college job.

There were many reasons I felt the need to move on so soon. The most important was that in that short time frame, I achieved a better grasp of my own passions. Before, I was floundering, desperate for anyone to hire me. And indeed, I quickly accepted the first well-paying position that came along, even though it was only tangentially related to my career interests.

Altogether, I spent six months in the position, but you know what? I am so appreciative for the opportunity. Each day was a learning experience, because even if I didn’t learn any new tech skill that day, I learned something about myself.

I know that sounds hokey, but it’s true. I learned about what I want in an employer, about how I work best with others (because the coworker dynamic is not the same as the bio lab partner dynamic), and even about how I handle stress (i.e. poor nutritional decisions).

However, I’d have to say that I learned the most during those last few weeks on the job. Some aspects of the transition I handled with grace and professionalism, but others were a disaster. In a way though, I’m glad I made mistakes in my first job. Hopefully I was just getting them out of the way so I can make new, bigger, completely different mistakes in my next job.

Below are five things I learned from the experience of quitting my first job, in no particular order.

1. Indecision is the enemy, but it gets better
I was beyond torn-up in the weeks before I dropped the bombshell and gave notice. After all, conventional wisdom says young employees should stay in their first job for a year or two, if only to prove that they’re not flaky. But on the other hand, is conventional wisdom worth constant unhappiness? And to top it all off, career guru Penelope Trunk writes that job hopping is a good thing. All those conflicting thoughts made my head spin and stomach lurch.

Naturally, I expected things to be worse after I formally and irreversibly announced my decision to the big boss. But a funny thing happened once I gave my notice. Work crises began to seem trivial. I felt a new sense of freedom. I stopped putting in overtime and working through lunches (for the most part), yet everything still got done on time, as if by magic. Those last few weeks my job barely fazed me, but only a few weeks before giving notice I think I might have been having panic attacks.

Making the decision to leave put everything into perspective and quieted my noisy head.

2. Look out for numero uno
I decided to give my notice right before semi-annual performance bonus time. I naively and blithely assumed that since the bonus was based on past performance I would still be eligible. Additionally, I gave above-and-beyond the standard two weeks’ notice… try two months. (And the bosses were trying to push for three months’ notice minimum.)

Also, one of the other dangling carrots was that if I just stayed until March I’d be eligible for a profit-sharing bonus. I figured if they were talking about a bonus in March, I’d definitely get the December end-of-year bonus.

No such luck. The end-of-year performance bonus was distributed to my coworkers, but no mention of it was made to me. I was afraid of possibly burning bridges by bringing it up, but now I wish I had said something.

It was hard not to beat myself up over the whole situation. Lesson: Don’t give notice until you’ve cashed the bonus check.

3. Be prepared for guilt-trips
Even though I have years of experience deflecting my mother’s world class guilt-trips, I was totally unprepared when they came from my boss:

“Do you know how much time and money we spent trying to find someone to fill your position? Not to mention the time spent training you? And paying your salary on top of that?”

Whoa. Red alert. Shields up.

Then came the sweet talk:

“We probably won’t be able to find someone as intelligent as you. It’ll take months to find a suitable replacement.”

Of course, I had invested in this job, too. I uprooted my life to move to the city D.C. suburbs. I also wanted to mention the unpaid mandatory overtime and weekend hours, but I cranked up the professionalism and kept my mouth shut.

4. Money is important, but not that important
As unprepared as I was for the guilt-trips, I was even less prepared for my boss’s attempts at negotiation. More money? No problem. Different work hours? He said they’d try to work something out. Better projects related to my career interests? Sure.

As an entry level employee, I didn’t expect the mad rush of counteroffers and arguments why I should stay. I didn’t exactly think the boss would be indifferent, but I didn’t expect to be fought over.

Without a doubt, the counteroffers were flattering. But they also made me wonder, “If these things offers were truly not a problem for the company, then why weren’t they brought up before? Was I not earning what I should?”

Even with the promise of more money, I turned down the counteroffer. I know it sounds crazy (especially from someone so young), but it just wasn’t a factor. Learning different skills and better opportunities for mentorships were what mattered in the end.

5. The job isn’t over after you leave
Though I left my old job a few weeks ago, I agreed to answer technical questions via email. I’ve also received two requests for referrals for open positions at the old company, and two of my former coworkers have kept in touch via email and IM.

In fact, thanks to email, IM, LinkedIn and Facebook, I will always be digitally connected to my old company… but I guess that’s just the price of admission these days.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. What did I do right? What did I screw up? Be harsh. Am I just another entitled millennial?

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