The Software Developer's Career Handbook

Chapter 45. The Exodus

It’s a day like any other. Two morning meetings with nothing unusual. The usual lunch followed by your staff meeting where...Andy shows up late. Andy is never, ever late for anything. Odd...well, whatever.

Staff finishes, still, nothing notable, except Andy says nothing the entire time, which is also odd. You’re now officially wondering what is up with Andy, so you grab him and pull him to the closest office:

YOU: Dude, what’s up?

ANDY: I’m leaving.

In a fraction of an instant, you can do all the political and social math regarding Andy’s departure. You can see the complete set of unchangeable reasons he’s leaving; you can predict who will follow, and you know that there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it.

This is the Moment, and you can see how it will all crumble down at that moment.

This Sucks

At some point in your career, hopefully, through no fault of your own, an organization will start collapsing around you. It’s a horrific experience that I hope you can avoid, but one you nonetheless need to understand.

Sorry about the collapse. That sucks. Everything that follows is a dispassionate and judgment-free review of the awful things that will occur, but before I start, I’d like to point out the singular upside to this collapse: you’ll learn to see it coming.

Having been through three of these organizational disasters, you’d think I would have learned my lesson. Well, I have. I’ve learned that often there is no way to prevent organizational breakdowns ...