Why you shouldn't burn bridges....

JoJoCal19

As I've posted here, I had been doing identity and access management work for the past five and a half years at one of the nations largest financial firms, and had no luck with trying to move into a more technical InfoSec role there. I ended up getting poached and offered an information security risk management position at one of their primary competitors. It's a big pay raise and much better career prospects. I had been really unhappy in my previous position, especially getting stiffed on my last raise and no title promotion. In my dreams, I walked in and told my previous manager where to shove the job. In reality, I made the 4 hour trip up to see my manager in person (I worked at home) and handed in a nice resignation letter with two weeks notice. He was greatly appreciative of me doing that and was sad to see one of his best go, but also happy for me and felt that it was time for me to move up, even if I couldn't internally.

Fast forward to this week and I get contacted by a former co-worker that I worked with on that team for years, who moved on to an awesome cyber threat position about a year or so back. We caught up on what I had been up to, what certs I've gotten, what I'm currently studying. He asked if I wanted to come back there and I mentioned that I would definitely down the road once I have more experience as I had no luck trying internally. He mentioned they are looking to expand his team and they need the help. He is going to get my resume to all of his senior management and told me he wants me on his team. Right now they are deep in exploit and vulnerability remediation.

I had always planned to do things the right way, but it just goes to show, you never know what might happen down the road, especially when you have a lot of contacts at a previous employer. Things may end up coming full circle.

Now this brings me to a dilemma. I've been in my new role with my new employer for almost a month and a half. I'm not the kind of person to job hop and especially not leave a role after a short stint. But circumstances are unique as my wife and I had decided to move back to Jacksonville but this company took three months to get me an offer from when I first interviewed. We stayed in Tampa only because I got offered the job. This job would let me work from home again and let me move back to Jacksonville. Another thing is the work I do is soooooo easy to me. It's so relaxed and most people would kill to make what I make to basically manipulate excel sheets, send emails, and use IE. And I love my management. I'm salaried and I get to do what I want, when I want. My management is hands off and laid back. But the job is not particularly fulfilling. This other position would be what I'm interested in. The hacking/pentesting/exploit/vuln side of security. And it would pay more. It would be tough but I'm thinking I'd have to take the new opportunity if it presented itself.

LionelTeo

When it comes to a neither here or there situation, my advise is that you could not find the answer solely base on your thoughts nor neither you can find the answer solely from the market/community/family. You can only find an answer in the somewhere in between your thoughts and what the others general feel oustide.

I haven't been in a situation of leaving in a month and a half time, you can find the answer on what you like to do, what your family member says. Since you haven't reach 3 month, you can actually tender anytime, and leave gracefully with by paying for a department lunch, or treating your current employer a meal. At the minimum, you can get a fairwell gift with a thank you note attach.

jackbill

thanks.

docrice

A while back I changed jobs and when I got to the new place, there was something about it that felt like I was taking a step back. The team I was working with were very dedicated to their work and I was really happy I was in good company, but at the same time it was a much slower-moving business internally (due to the size of the organization) and ultimately I ended up leaving after 6 weeks to go to a much smaller company (although the smaller company is sexier since it's in the infosec industry).

lt's not cool to just leave after such a short period of time. It takes time and effort to parse resumes, interview candidates, make the offer letter, bring one in, train him, and let that person in on the proprietary nature of your environment. But I didn't anticipate the drastic change of how things felt when moving up to a large company and given that I was still at heart more of an operations type of guy, I decided to leave before this employer invested more into me. Not a great feeling, and I still feel rather guilty about it, but in the end it was clearly the better choice for me.

Ultimately you have to consider your situation and your current priorities and balance what you really want out of life. If you've been itching to be involved with the in-depth, hands-on side of things, you might regret passing up this new opportunity in front of you. On the other hand, being neck-deep in the trenches full-time is rather exhausting, so you might want to ask your former co-worker what it really feels like to understand the gritty nature of the job. The pace for that kind of work is not for everyone, but if it really excites you, we're in good times right now where the efforts are shifting dynamically and there's so much to explore and immerse yourself into.

kohr-ah

If you know it is something you want to do and will make you happy I say for it. It is a one time short hop the only catch is if you move on again people will ask about your short time at that company. (I had to do the same thing but mine was because the company relocated and I get asked about it).

Life is too short to be unhappy.

"It's so relaxed and most people would kill to make what I make to basically manipulate excel sheets, send emails, and use IE. And I love my management. I'm salaried and I get to do what I want, when I want. My management is hands off and laid back. But the job is not particularly fulfilling."


^ This I understand btw. My current job is this way but I need to ride it out until my little one is born then look for something more fulfilling closer to home. I dont want to hop a job with a pregnant Mrs :P

iBrokeIT

I love when people share career experiences like this posting. Follow your instincts and don't second guess yourself. Thank you for share and I wish you all the best!