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I am planning to leave my current job. The company is a startup which has been working on the product for two years and i have worked here for a year.

I take care of the Backend and Machine Learning. While also overlooking the development of Andorid and Web. I dont own any equity in the company.

The general story is that the CEO does not spend time in office generally. He did not come to office for 3 months while he got married. Then has been on and off with his visits.

The features are vaguely decided by him and then handed to me and the Product Head.

The product head is not very useful. It is me who has to generally decide and take decisions. All the PH does is suggest changes and point out issues. PH had the dev team of 3 working on a simple feature for a month just because of changing requirements and because things are never according to their expectations, which are never made clear.

I have highlighted this issue multiple times to the CEO, and he has always got back with it will be fixed soon. With no tangible outcome at any point.

I have tried to make things better by trying to be as instrumental in designing features, streamlining implementations, mentoring the dev team and also helping them overcome the trauma they face at the hand of PH.

At this point, I just want to get out of here. There's no technical advancement for me here, and generally the environment is very toxic. I am planning to give in my resignation tomorrow.

Now today our CEO says that he is in talks and about to raise fund in this quarter.

Not to exaggerate, but it is me who gets anything done here. I plan, I manage, I execute and test. The Android developer has already given in his resignation, and the frontend developer left a few months ago. And my resignation hurts their chance to raise any fund, primarily because there would be no tech team left. The other devs gave up because of the toxic environment. The PH harassed them to a great extent with illogical demands, working Sundays, extended working hours and having no accountability.

While the post burgeons the fact that this isnt a good place to work, my resignation leaves them with no tech team, and thus no funding.

Is it unethical to put in my resignation right now?

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  • "Not to exaggerate, but it is me who gets anything done here" - then you deserve equity, or you should walk Aug 24, 2018 at 9:09

4 Answers 4

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No, it is not unethical.

You mention twice that the work environment is toxic and that other devs have already left because of this environment. Why would you want to stay there and help them when they won't even make your work life miserable?

There's no technical advancement for me here, and generally the environment is very toxic.

The other devs gave up because of the toxic environment. The PH harassed them to a great extent with illogical demands, working Sundays, extended working hours and having no accountability.

Its not your problem if they will not get funding from you not being there. Resign as normal and let them deal with the fallout.

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    If you were so valuable to the firm that your resigination would be a problem, they would have given you equity. Jul 5, 2018 at 13:56
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I don't think it's unethical. People resign, and in this case, it sounds like management is to 'blame' for the way you feel about the company right now, as there is basically no vision or roadmap for the way forward. You have to make the decisions. If I have learned anything in life so far, it's that you have to take care of your own (professional) happiness. If this job doesn't make you happy, try and find another one. Staying in a job that you are not happy in, is not a good idea. Of course, sometimes there is no other way but it sounds like you don't worry about not being able to find something else.

Probably/Maybe management at your current job will be unhappy with your resignation but that doesn't make it unethical, whatever they will say. Their funding is not your job. Don't let them make you feel like you owe them anything. You don't.

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Your only responsibility is to think about your well-being. Resigning now might shake them enough so they will realize that they messed thing up and might come back with a counter offer and induce changes to the work environment.

The only reason I would see for you to stay a few months more, is to have in your CV the mention of a company which achieved the status of being funded.

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It is

  • utterly
  • totally
  • completely

normal that you resign at this time.

It is totally unremarkable. Everyone would say "Oh, Chuann is resigning" and then carry on with their day.

However, you are making a huge mistake:

Your mistake is this:

As a programmer, you never "resign". You ask for (tremendously) more money, and then, leave if you don't get it.

Programmers never "just resign", it would be a pointless career move.

Simply go to your boss and state,

Hi boss! Unfortunately as you know, my pay is dramatically below market. Unfortunately I do need a bonus of $X at this time, and $Y per week going forward.

X should be say 1/3 of what you currently get per year, and Y should be 2x your currently weekly rate.

That's the language pattern you want.

If he says no, say "Understood, do you want me to finish this week or just leave now?"

If he says yes, get the bonus check immediately (ie, this morning) or just walk.

Life is simple as a programmer - you can get a new contract or job within an hour, so there are no hard decisions.

Enjoy your next job, or, the current job on better payment! (You'll suddenly find the current job is not so bad on twice the money, BTW :) )

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