I'm a software engineer deciding to leave my first job out of college after 3 years.
I've been taking phone calls and interviewing but I've reached 2 bottle necks.
One is that I don't have the time to schedule all these onsite interviews. They are typically full day events, and I've already taken off 2 days in the past 2 weeks to do them.
The second is that I need to study for these interviews, but I haven't been able to find the time to really dedicate to this. (so far I've only been able to cram)
I'm very unhappy at work right now, so I'm considering just putting in my two weeks notice, cashing out my vacation days, and using my time to study and really focus on interviewing. However, I've always heard that it's bad to leave a job before you have another one. Does it really make me that much less attractive of a candidate?
If I do stay, how do I manage to schedule these interviews and study for them while still doing my day job?
Update: So..some extra information people have asked for. 0) Location: USA, SF Bay Area
- Finances: i have enough saved up to live comfortably with no additional income for at least 6 months, plus another year if i dip into my buy-a-house savings. I also want to try driving for a ride sharing service in the meantime.. this would allow me to stay relatively financially stable indefinitely so money isn't a problem.
2)Vacation Days: I'm currently working on a solo project at work. So, while i have vacation days to take...every one i take puts my project further and further behind its expected completion date. Also, my manager told me that she was going to be on the lookout for people WFH more or taking spontaneous vacation days as a way to figure out if they're interviewing elsewhere.
Studying: I think it's pretty normal to study for coding interviews (lots of folks at my job are currently reading 'cracking the coding interview'). However, the kind of work environment i'm looking for tends to exist in companies that use Ruby on Rails. I haven't used it in about 5 years, so i basically just have to relearn the entire framework. Also, the language I've used most recently (javascript) is one i learned as needed on the job, so I never had to learn things like how prototyping works, or how javascript handles closures. Anyway, i feel i need to learn a lot more about both Ruby on Rails and Javascript before i'll really be able to nail these interviews.
applying for the right job: Part of the reason i want to try a new job is that i don't feel as if i've learned enough at my current one for how long i've been there. Part of this is probably my own fault,I could've done more learning on my own at this time, but a lot of it was being put on project after project that would get canceled a month after i joined because the company would try to change directions once again. I would probably be better suited working in a more junior role, but because i've been working for 3 years, most companies aren't looking to hire me for that.
