Will developers switch jobs more often in the future?
The other day we had a Teams meeting with a title along the lines of “Sweden sync with <company person>". It quickly turned out that the main point of the meeting was to inform us about not having to return to the office, as the office lease would not be renewed next year. Instead everyone would be listed as having a permanent remote position within the company.
We were also, basically, told to get our stuff - and any stuff that’d help us perform the tasks given to us [1].
I’m not affected by this change personally, as I resigned a couple of weeks ago. But it still got me thinking.
Loosening the connection to colleagues
The main reason I stuck with my previous job for as long as I did, was loyalty to the product and to my team. As the product got less and less focus from my employer, all that remained was the loyalty to the team. A team with which I’ve worked for several years, through the good and the pretty terrible.
Every road has to end somewhere [2], and I felt that loyalty to a team of wonderful people, who were all caught in a downwards spiral moodwise, wasn’t enough anymore. So when I found myself presented with a great opportunity, I handed in my resignation (easy) and then went on to tell my team (which felt bloody awful to do).
And now, for the main question of this post:
Would I’ve gotten to know my team as well if we had only been working remote?
I don’t think so. We still help each other and work great as a team in order to overcome obstacles - but the main interaction is through work and work related topics.
Most of the incredibly weird jokes/stories/things that you cannot help to overhear (or say) in the office are lost when working remote. Sure, we have our Friday Swedish Fika event in our calendars, but that’s just once a week. It’s also a group thing and not a personal thing. That matters as well.
My feeling is that developers will be quicker move on if they find themselves in a bad and/or boring spot in the future. The amount of employers shouting for developers is increasing by the day and when there are less things keeping people emotionally attached to a workplace, they tend to get up and go somewhere more interesting.
- With an exception for the expensive stuff that really matters, like a good desk or chair.
- Given that it’s a useful road.