Resigned w/o offer(AMA)
I am currently working as a senior engineer at a startup (yoe 6+).
Initially things were good , but from the last few months The workplace turned toxic and all the nasty things started happening around me. The burn out was deteriorating mental and physical health, so i lost my patience and resigned.
Making this ama , so that I can help someone who is going through the same situation.
Talking product sense with Ridhi
9 min AI interview5 questions
Good for you OP! Working in toxic places is not worth it. There’s no shortage of good jobs out there! Most senior leaders today are very toxic, and don’t care about you. You have to prioritise your mental health and goals. For anyone reading this, here’s an inspiring story - My mentee got laid off in Jan, and joined another firm with 2x salary + designation bump + a more nurturing team in 2 weeks.
Did you feel a bit scared, if at all?
Yes , of course I had night mares.. I have a home loan running too. But the personal humiliation hit me the hardest. So i thought whats the point in working where they don't treat you as human and instead treat like a machine.
I was loosing my precious time which I could have spent with my family,
Unrealistic deadlines made me so frustrated , and anxious at times and started experiencing some health issues.
So,I thought it's now or never.
Was it a Chennai based startup?
I am sensing it’s getting bad almost everywhere.
my last startup series B overhired all middle management from scrapyard and made mess of the product, so toxic, everyone wanted to work with me as founding engineer. Guesss what!! I left and what they did, called me out on LinkedIn, went on twitter and spread a narrative to end my career. Cancelled my 2 offers somehow no idea.
I am sitting here now with weekly someone reaching out for work opportunity but my mind is not ready to join any org.
Share company name. It's an anonymous platform. Otherwise what is the point of starting AMA . People will shoot questions if they think of a company from where you have resigned or you have worked with any companies which are good or paying good.
In January I also resigned due to same reason. I am a fresher in product design) it's been 1 n half month already I have zero relevant offers in my hand on top of that I am staying in my hometown with my parents and they are not very supportive and encouraging like other parents they don't even know that I transitioned my career from engineering to product design. It keeps getting hard and hard day by day to keep going. Can you tell what is it that keeps you going.
being with people who are not supportive of your decision at such times is really tough. But at times it's better to take it up as a challenge and prove them wrong.
For me whenever I feel rejected an interview or feel demotivated, i constantly remind myself that i have to show my ex employer that I deserve to better job than a current.one. So, after a rejection i re analyse the whole process , think of where I might have gone wrong. Work on that, rather than cribbing.
any reason for sudden toxicity? was there change in management or some projects went downhill?
The product had no market fit and the investors blasted them in one of their review meetings so the founders eventually fired old folks and added.new folks. And since I was hired by old folks , the newer ones wanted their yes men to be on the team and not me and they started targeting me so that I leave.
I think you made the right decision.