Ever wondered how you can tell if you’re working at a company that’s in the process of sinking? I find this series of answers a fairly good checklist (ignoring of course the facetious answers):
http://www.quora.com/What-are-telltale-signs-that-youre-working-at-a-sinking-ship-company
Funny how karma works; I recently made the decision to change jobs precisely because I could not see my role (or my company) making it to a point where focused attention to infrastructure and technology were “the norm”. It was a sad experience for me because the people (the ones I met and worked with, anyway) were unilaterally terrific.
The above said, I’m actually proud of myself for making the call and moving on… the last time this happened, I spent two and a half years hoping against hope for improvement. That is not a mistake I’ll make again; I have my own list of what makes a company promising (many of the above linked items are on it, actually), and my new credo is to spend no more than a year sussing out whether or not a company is worth investing all my energy into…. until recently, I always went into a new venture with “everything I’ve got” but, now, while they may get all my expertise and skill, I think I’m going to be holding onto my “professional heart” until they earn it.
I’m currently working out my notice and I start the new job on the 9th. Here’s to brighter futures and reclaiming a sense of professional promise.