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I have 4+ years of experience in the software industry.

  • At my first job, I stayed for around 3.1 years
  • I left my second job within a year (i.e in 9 months.) I left because I was not happy with the project
  • I am working in my 3rd job for the last 6 month. However, I have been tagged to the support project and I am planning to resign.

However, I have doubts:

  • Is it wise to stay there, hoping someday I will be tagged to the proper project?
  • If I leave, will this affect my resume? I mean leaving the 2nd job in 9 months and 3rd in 6 months.
  • Is it wise to stay for 6 more months i.e a year in the current job?

So to sum up:

If you were a recruiter would you mind hiring someone who has hopped a couple of jobs within a span of a year?

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  • Have you asked them to assign you to specific projects in the past? Or you just passively take what they give you?
    – DarkCygnus ♦
    Oct 25, 2018 at 18:07
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    I never asked them to switch me to 'X' project.
    – Stephanie
    Oct 25, 2018 at 18:14
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    I say you have nothing to lose by asking :)
    – DarkCygnus ♦
    Oct 25, 2018 at 18:15

2 Answers 2

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Is it wise to stay there hoping someday I will be tagged to the proper project?

You have several options, but surely staying and just hoping to be tagged to the projects you like isn't the best you can do.

It's worth mentioning that not all the time you get the projects you would like doing the most. Sometimes you get projects that may not be the most interesting and sometimes you get some on your favorite topic.

That being said, if you see that many of the projects they do are not the "proper" projects for you, and being assigned to them seems unlikely, then considering other jobs is a wise option.

If I leave, will this affect my resume? I mean leaving the 2nd job in 9 months and 3rd in 6 months.

I think not, it won't look bad.

Its commonly advised to include on your resume jobs that you were at least 6 months, as that one could say is the "minimum" time considered for a job to be "worth" including on your resume. All your jobs have that minimum, besides 3.1 years on one place suggests stability despite your actual trend.

Is it wise to stay for 6 more months i.e a year in the current job?

Staying against your will and without being motivated is not a wise idea. You will end up burnt out, only to make your resume look a bit "better".

Like I said, 6 month jobs are not red flags. Given that you currently only have one 6 month job I would not worry. However, I would also advice you to stop that trend, as several 6 month jobs can eventually raise some flags.

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  • What if I take it if too the manager and request him to switch me to some other project? I have never done this bit. So whar's your advice on this?
    – Stephanie
    Oct 25, 2018 at 18:09
  • Hey @Stephanie I asked you a similar question under your post for clarification. I know it's a separate context than the one of the question, but it's also worth analyzing before deciding to leave. Seems that you haven't asked, so I suggest you ask your boss if you can be assigned X project. You have nothing to lose by asking.
    – DarkCygnus ♦
    Oct 25, 2018 at 18:11
  • @Stephanie if I may suggest. I see you Upvoted and accepted my answer, so I take it it was useful; I am glad I could help :) however, you may be able to collect more answers if you withhold from accepting the answer for a while... usually you want to leave the post some hours to collect answers and then accept the one you like. Not that I don't like you accepting mine, but by not accepting right away you may be able to get more answers to consider (as users seeing an accepted post are less encouraged to answer than if it were still not accepted) :) good luck with the asking
    – DarkCygnus ♦
    Oct 25, 2018 at 18:14
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    Sure thanks for your kind words and advice though :-)
    – Stephanie
    Oct 25, 2018 at 18:16
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You want to be very careful. You want to find the next job before leaving this one, and you want to make sure your next job is one that you can stay at for at least 2-3 years. (See this link.)

According to Alison at AskAManager, you can have one short term job (less than one year) on your resume, but you don't want to accumulate those. With two, you're going to start looking like a job hopper, and you really don't want three. Six month jobs are most definitely a red flag for many industries.

The caveat is if you're a contractor. In that case, you can have shorter jobs, and expect to get jobs that are also shorter. But in that case, you are working for yourself or a contracting company, both for multiple years.

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