December 20, 2007 By 23 Comments

Don’t Burn Your Bridges

With the now ever growing success of the Internet and technology, it’s easy to get caught up in all the hoopla.  Great software developers can get jobs nearly anywhere, demanding salaries in some cases that would have seemed absurd after the .com bust.  Great technology leaders and innovators have an unbelievable amount of options available to them.  I have so many friends in the field that call me and say “guess what, I just left my employer where I was really happy, but now I am making xxx amount of money!”.  Or how about the call of “I was going to leave my company because it’s not really helping me grow in my career, but they offered me more money when I shopped around, and now I’m staying and making more money and have a sweet title!”.

I just lower my head and shake it side to side…

It’s great to be making more money, but money is not everything.  In fact if you ask me, money means very little if you just destroy your character and lose your ethics in the process of obtaining it!  What am I talking about?

While it’s important to further your career, it is a very bad idea to do so at someone else’s expense.  I might be old fashioned, but if someone gives me their word, or verbal “I’m on board!” I believe them, and will do everything in my power to make them more successful beyond their wildest dreams.  Turning on your word, or giving people the run around, to further yourself, is a dangerous game to play. 

You would be surprised how many people I know that are fantastic developers, managers, architects, that play these games.  The games of shopping around simply to make more money.  The games of calling hours before they should start the new job, and explaining they took a job somewhere else for more money and benefits.  You are not being sneaky, and just ruining your own name.  You are being very successful at lowering your own personal stock.  The companies will find someone else… but they will never hire you now.

The person you burn today, could be the person to further your career tomorrow.  Don’t burn your bridges!  I don’t personally hold grudges, and I always try and be positive and live with passion.  However I firmly believe that burned once, I will not allow myself to be burned twice.

With the holidays upon us, let’s all remember that life’s true value comes from contributing to our planet, and the people that we live with!  Don’t be the dead man in the cemetery with the most money.  Try to be the guy the persona that everyone wants to be friends with, and everyone trusts and respects.  Be the person that people count on.  Be the person that holds the door for the old lady, the person that wants to leave the planet a better place when they go.

Best wishes to you and your families for the New Year!

Filed Under: Software Development
  • http://www.codesqueeze.com Max Pool

    Although, I mostly agree and wrote a similar post called Money vs. Wealth there is another side to this story.

    “Never take the counter offer” is the best advice I ever got. If you employer was not comfortable giving you a raise, they will resent you for costing them more. BUT I have been in situations where the employer was more than willing to pay 20k more (and they thought I was worth it) but they decided to keep me working cheap (and unhappy) just to line their pockets more. When I whined, thats when they gave me a raise.

    The moral of this story, yes money isn’t everything – but don’t be ignorant by not shopping around. Don’t allow your employer to “give” you a salary, continually prove to them you deserve more money (and as a result ask them for the raise). Working for a great company becomes less when you find out they have been screwing you with a smile.

    http://www.codesqueeze.com/money-vs-wealth/

  • http://rant.blackapache.net/ OJ

    Nice post. This topic is always hard to generalise on. Unfortunatley the whole negotiation process is so varied and different per potential employer that most of the time a “rule of thumb” doesn’t apply. Though I do agree with the “don’t take the counter offer” comment :)

    Most developers that care about their reputation will always make sure that they put ethics before cash. And rightly so. There are cases though where sometimes you have to do what’s right for you.

    Looking at it from the perspective of the employer sheds a different light on it as well. Employers run a business. They need to earn money. Would you, as an employer, prefer to have someone who wants to be there, or someone who wishes they’d taken another offer?

    Money isn’t everything. But it can seriously affect the quality of life if you can’t make ends meet. What I find annoying is that so many employers want the best, but they aren’t prepared to pay for it.

    Just my $0.02 :)

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