Soft Skills Engineering

Episode 237: Salary vs tech stack and how to quit an ad agency

Nov 23 '20

In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions:

I am REALLY into music. I mostly get paid to listen to Spotify. With this in mind I decided to apply for a new job at a “globally leading audio technology company”.

The job would be paying a lot more. About 30% more minimum based on the advertised salary range.

However, I hate the stack being used! I have been given a homework assignment to complete, but it has not been an enjoyable experience.

I enjoy my current job, however the company doesn’t seem as stable, and their are complications with tax/benefits which i won’t get into.

So to summarize, should I take the classic SoftSkills engineering advice and quit my job for a sweet pay check and an interesting industry, to suffer the stack?

Maybe I will learn to love it?

Any advice?
I’m at my first developer job at an ad agency, and on a regular basis I and my co-workers are working well in excess of the 40-50 hours a week (closer to 60+). On many occasions we work the weekends as well. I’ve worked on websites, a couple of apps within a proprietary system, banner ads, and html emails. I’ve learned as much as I’m going to at this job. There are no code reviews, no training, and no on-boarding. I no longer want to work at the agency, but I can’t afford to just quit my job. Given the perceivable lack of transferable skills(recruiters have said this to me, ie no product experience), what are some of my options? Mind you, I also don’t have a fancy CS or CS-related degree that I can leverage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuth%27s_up-arrow_notation http://boston.conman.org/2003/12/02.3