Many software engineers consider whether they should quit their current company or change their jobs. This is especially true for software engineers who lack experience. Let us look at the whole phenomenon around it and why it makes sense for many people to quit.

Well, there are broadly speaking, at least two kinds of software engineers.

First, those who have had programming experience since student days. Such people are usually able to find new jobs at companies of their liking.

Then, those who work at an entry-level salary job after graduation. For such engineers, the best course of action becomes to quit their company to eventually advance their careers. Basically, they have to find the right environment at the right time.

However, changing jobs often can suggest a lack of commitment to the hiring companies. So it usually happens that either people change very few jobs over the years, or they change their jobs every few years. Even so, a good strategy for many engineers might be to quit their first company in about a year.

The following are the reasons why it would be better for young engineers to resign from their first company in about a year.

1. If you switch jobs, your salary is likely to increase significantly

In most companies, raising your salary is a very time-consuming process. At the same time, it is much easier to get a better salary if you switch your job. Since you have the added advantage of having “work experience”.

In most cases, if you become a software engineer right after your graduation, the initial salary would be very low. The commonly stated reason is lack of experience. Your salary will not increase by a huge margin even if you work hard for a year or more.

However, after writing code for a year or so at a company, you gain experience. As a result, your market value as an experienced engineer is different from the time when you joined the company without experience. As a result, there is a huge difference between the actual market value and the salary paid by the company.

The anchoring effect

At this point, it would be ideal for the company to upgrade salaries on the basis of “the current market value” of the person. Unfortunately, in most cases, the salaries have a strong ” anchoring effect“. As a result, it is difficult to raise salaries in a single company no matter how much their abilities improve.

The anchoring effect is “a psychological phenomenon in which the judgment is distorted by the information or numbers given earlier”. Another word for it is “cognitive bias”. This happens because the numbers given first are considered as the reference value.

Reset the anchor

Worry not, you can reset the anchor by changing jobs. So you can earn a salary that reflects your market value at the present time.

2. The average level of skills is low for companies actively recruiting inexperienced people

This, of course, depends on the company. So this is just a general statement. Small companies often have a small number of services in development as well as fewer technologies in use. In most cases, the technologies they use are not very advanced. So there is a possibility that your growth for technical skills might be slowed down even if you are working hard.

Therefore, you should consider staying only if your first company provides you with opportunities for learning new technologies and skills. Otherwise, it is wiser to switch to a higher technology-level company early so you can keep your skills updated.

3. You need to expand your network

There are very few people you can interact with, not only at your first company but also at other small companies. This includes people outside your team, such as the people you can interact with at company events, outings, etc. This is a comparatively small disadvantage, but it can affect your personal goals.

The importance of personal networks

Many people don’t like the word “personal network”. However, it is important to have “people” as “assets”. Especially so when you have plans to work on your own projects in the future!

For example, in addition to working as an engineer, you can also freelance as a technical consultant, etc. In fact, you can get better deals for your services through your acquaintances than even through human resources agents.

Therefore, it is important to build good personal networks with excellent people early in your career.

Furthermore, you are more likely to find many talented people at a bigger company. It does not even have to be a big company. In fact, it can even be a startup that is better suited to your goals. The important thing here is that it should give you opportunities to meet more talented people.

Of course, it can also be the case that large companies also don’t let you increase your connections. It depends on the extent to which you can participate in various activities such as lunches, outings and other formal and informal meetings.

Conclusion

After the first company, it would be ideal to switch to a larger company. However, you also need to find opportunities to grow as much as you can in one year.

Also, you need to be careful to avoid the label of ‘job hopper’! Some software engineers quit and join a new company often to improve their skills. So, avoid changing multiple jobs at short intervals. If you really want to grow your skills while working, you can minimize the risk by becoming a freelancer. Freelancing work has a great advantage that you can do it to increase work experience. This would count even if you change jobs or consider taking a break between employment.

Paying back the moral debt

Another point of concern might be a feeling of indebtedness to the first company. Perhaps there might be a lot of gratitude for a company that selected you when you were inexperienced. Even so, you should give a priority to your own technical and communication skills along with human assets.

If you still somehow feel in debt, you can recommend your company to more people, promote it, and so on. You can recommend other people to the company in the future too. There are many ways to pay back to the company than just giving them your efforts while you are employed. What do you think?