How much time one should invest in a team before moving on?
I have realized that my current role is not aligning with my interests due to various reasons, including unsupportive teammates and limited learning opportunities. I am waiting for the right opportunity to transition to a different team and take on a completely new role. In the meantime, I’m working on building side projects with respect to my new role. This transition might take around 6 months to 1 year.
While I am here with my current team, I am trying to fulfill the minimum job requirements. My question is whether I should maintain a decent rapport with my current teammates during this time, such as having 1:1 meetings.
Additionally, I would like to know what kind of teammates are worth connecting with, and how much time and effort should be invested in maintaining those connections when I know this is not the right place for me.
![Senior Software Engineer [E5] at Meta company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fmeta.jpeg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3Da7a5bcc0-e178-4b5b-b71e-09bf6c6aefae&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
![Entry-Level Software Engineer [L3] at Google company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fgoogle.jpeg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3D780356ef-3efc-4728-9eb4-d909b75bb4a6&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
Discussion
(2 comments)- 6
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a year agoCareer Coach • Former Head of EngineeringCompletely agree with Rahul's points on relationships, which can be generalized to beyond your immediate work environment as well. As long as you decide to stay in a role or company, I believe in maintaining a high bar.
Deciding how long to stay mainly boils down to a few factors:
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Can the issues be fixed given time? Assess your span of control and span of influence. Here's a couple examples to illustrate a spectrum on whether you can fix it given time
Bad sprint - Bad project - Bad team - Bad management - Bad culture - Broken business model
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How good are the existing opportunities you have (internal transfer) / people who will hire you externally? An extension to this is your ability to expand your current network and land a new job in the current economic environment.
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- 5a year agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
What is the cost of maintaining a decent rapport with your current teammates? Given that you're transitioning internally, and not to a new company, it's very important to maintain your reputation and relationships with your colleagues. There's a good chance you'll interact with them again at this company, or in a future company you happen to intersect at. (This happens very frequently!)
I'd imagine the cost of keeping the relationships alive is not very significant, perhaps a few hours per week. If that's true, do it.
Beyond that, though, your reputation is what will get you the best opportunities in your career. Beyond your skill as an engineer, you want people to actually have a positive association when they think of you.
Find teammates you enjoy spending time with and you can also learn from. These are the ideal people to stay in touch with.
On the topic of switching companies or teams, please also consider what your tenure says about you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYY3maOhSWI
