Demotivated after getting support project even with 2 years prior experience [closed]

Question

I had prior experience as a Full Stack Developer in Information Technology in a startup. Meaning, I had built two projects from the ground up, and other few projects with significant contributions.

Now, I switched to a large MNC, hoping that I would up my career game. The salary was doubled. My interview was based on a specific skill set, and I was selected based on that. I had an initial talk with the manager, and he informed me that he would offer me development positions within the company, as I had startup experience.

However, I was assigned to a project which has nothing but a support role. When I discussed this with my manager, he told me that, the project requires enhancement, and more features are to be added. But I don't trust him anymore due to the fact that he already lied. And once I am onboarded to a project, it is very difficult to leave it.

Now, I feel like I have been demoted at my workpalce, and my career is finished. I am no longer motivated to work anymore. It has been 2 months of joining this new company.

Should I consider switching to a new company, or swallow my thoughts and give my best?

Answer 1

I hear that you are demotivated. Allow me to change the perspective. You state, "that I would up my career game". Being in maintenance is a step in that process.

One of the best ways to become a better developer is to do a bunch of maintenance work. Over the life of a program, businesses pay far more to maintain software than they do for initial design. It is important to see what factors make a design bad for support. In short, it is important to know what adds costs to a system. This includes not just the cost of software changes, but also the costs to load, change, and unload data.

Attempting to track down intermittent or "one off" bugs can help educate on what parts of systems are more prone to failures. It can give insight into how to design around hardware and software failures including "bit rot". It is so easy to design systems assuming that everything will work perfectly. But that is not the real world. Robust designs and more fault tolerant algorithms come from doing maintenance work where you had to track down a "bug" reported by the customer and the code "shouldn't do that" - but did.

Yes, simply doing simple coding changes can be demotivating. However, doing maintenance can be a profound step up in your systems design capabilities if you choose to use the opportunity to learn what not to do and how to correct problems that "shouldn't happen but did".

Answer 2

A few thoughts:

Should I consider switching to a new company, or swallow my thoughts and give my best ?

These two options don't seem to be mutually exclusive; you can give your best while keeping an eye out for better opportunities. Already having a job will give you much better negotiating position (BATNA), too.

Another option is to start positioning yourself for an internal transfer in some months.

When I discussed this with my manager, he told me that, the project requires enhancement, and more features are to be added.

What exactly do you mean here? Did the manager imply that you'd be transferred to a more development-oriented role at some stage?

It's entirely possible that the project you were promised in the interview is coming, just not ready yet, so they put you in support in the meantime to learn about the product generally. That would mean there are no lies, just complications out of your (or your manager's) immediate control.

Now, I feel like I have been demoted at my workplace, and my career is finished.

That's hardly likely; support experience, MNC and doubling your salary are all good progress. It was never likely to be a direct path...

I am no longer motivated to work anymore.

That's probably your most immediate problem. In a practical sense, evaluating where you are and where you would like to be, mapping your path forward, identifying your next steps and then working on those may help with that.

Depending on what you decide here, and how things turn out, your current role may be a placeholder, or it may be an opportunity to learn; most likely a mix of both. Particularly if you are positioning yourself (or your manager has already positioned you) for an internal transfer to another project, having experience in support for the product will be very valuable.

Answer 3

You don't get to choose your projects unless you own the company

Clearly you have some idea about value in a company based on what people work on. You need to get that out of your head now. Not everybody can work on the newest sexy project, someone has to keep the lights on. One type of work is not more valuable or important than the other. Somebody at Amazon has to keep the credit card payment system operating.

If you think your pay and responsibilities dont match your needs and career requirements, quit and move on. But understand that in every company you work for there will be work you might not be thrilled doing.

Answer 4

Unfortunately this happens occasionally to all of us. Ask for a timeline, which will help you understand whether they are delivering on their promises or not.

In any case the product you are currently supporting will probably need new features and you will be able to design, develop and integrate them to the system. The question is how many will they be and how often will you be adding a new feature instead of fixing bugs/supporting the current product.

Answer 5

Now, I feel like I have been demoted at my workpalce, and my career is finished. I am no longer motivated to work anymore. It has been 2 months of joining this new company.

Obviously, your career isn't finished.

What should I do? Should I consider switching to a new company, or swallow my thoughts and give my best ?

If you haven't been giving it your best so far, you should do that.

Otherwise, if you aren't feeling motivated by having your salary doubled, you should either wait until you get put on a new project, or start looking for a new job.

You didn't indicate how long a given project should last. So you might find yourself on a new project in a different role in short order.

But if you feel you can't wait for that, then find a new job and leave this one.

Do a bit of introspection first and find out how you can determine if your next job will make you feel motivated or not before you start the interview process, so you don't end up in the same situation with a new company. For many, money doesn't buy happiness.

Work in startups tends to have a wider scope than in a large, multi-national corporation. In the former, you get to do a lot because there are fewer people to do the work. In the latter, you tend to focus on a narrow batch of work. Perhaps consider this if you decide to move on to a new company.