I'm in an Indian crypto startup about 1y5m into existence and our product is in early beta right now. I've been a part since about 1y3m. I was the first hire.
The reason I'm considering a switch is because i was told we're a remote first company at the time of interviewing and after my joining they switched to in-office and all hires after me were required to relocate. They haven't made it a requirement for me yet.
I can't relocate, but now everyone except me is in-office and there's always a disconnect between me and the team.
Decisions and discussions are done without me and I'm just told what they concluded. Sometimes even deadlines are set without informing me about the task even and i have to work/manage according to them.
I'm also technically the senior-most person after the CTO/manager (all others are either freshers or 1YOE). This has sort of restricted my growth as there's no one to review my prs or someone i can have a deep dive technical conversation with.
By how much I understand the manager and team are happy with me and my work. Also, I'm possibly the highest paid dev even as compared to the ones with the similar YOE.
I'm a frontend/fullstack engineer and the quality of work seems fine but i feel i could be doing and learning more in my field.
The culture and WLB has changed slowly for the worse as compared to when i was hired.
Stuff like the leave policy and the whole in-office thing are the negatives.
But the manager doesn't ping me much regarding my work so that's a plus.
Switching doesn't feel ethical as the majority of the code is written by me and we're an early stage startup.
Not to mention with layoffs happening all around and a possible recession around the corner, it's not the best choice to switch i guess.
Any suggestions would be helpful!
If your company is hiring please let me know that as well.
TC - ₹18lakhs pa
YOE - 1y4m + 1y6m if you count startup contract work as exp