I'm shocked at how many people I talked to are looking for something better. Heck, some of them said they're not even looking to go up in pay or benefits, they are even willing to take a pay cut to get away. When did we become a place people were so desperate to leave?
61 replies (most recent on top)
The people saying leave make it seem like you can snap your fingers and poof! New job. People want to leave but the market is not in the best position for that to happen. If you stay in this industry, tech companies are laying off left and right, replacing with AI and only doing internal hiring. If it only it were that simple.
@e1
"The leadership is constantly coming up with one "urgent" priority after another, almost all of them ridiculous and nothing that would actually bring in new revenue."
DO THE AI THING! FASTLY!
…But wait, I thought we already a leader in AI? /s
I wish I’d left 5 years ago. I would leave if I wasn’t only 1-3 years away from retirement. Just hanging on (barely) waiting for the next buyout.
@fr I left when you did, and I also wished that I had left earlier.
Between the fear of recession, and the genuine threat of AI, it’s more difficult for people to leave now.
I left during Covid after 12 years at SAS. It was during WFH I realized how ordinary the perks, benefits, pay, and bonuses were. In retrospect, my career would have been much further along if I had left much sooner. SAS is a great place to chill but not the place to work if you want a career path.
"The leadership is constantly coming up with one "urgent" priority after another, almost all of them ridiculous and nothing that would actually bring in new revenue."
And this will never change.
@dt If you know the relationship between the majority and minority owners of SAS, you know that JMP would not be allowed to exist if it were not profitable.
You claim "the fat in JMP is evident" -- but you furnish no evidence.
JMP is one of the few parts of SAS growing revenues -- ~8-10% annually. If the rest of SAS did that, there'd be no need for layoffs.
People don't need to leave. We can just re-org under a goofy term and that will give the VPs and directors lots to do.
"The folks in the Art Department, which is safe, aren’t looking to leave."
Exactly. Fleas never jump off a dog until the dog is dead.
Same can be said for JMP. Some pontificate that JMP makes revenue. A better question: is JMP profitable? Until GAAP is in place we will never truly know. The fat in JMP is evident.
I find it less that people want to leave but more of a feeling of anxiety and unhappiness with the current climate at SAS. The leadership is constantly coming up with one "urgent" priority after another, almost all of them ridiculous and nothing that would actually bring in new revenue. And the (albeit small but) steady cycle of layoffs put everyone on edge.
I am sure if not for AI and the terrible economy we would be seeing more folks leave. As it is, most are hunkered down because a job is a job.
The folks in the Art Department, which is safe, aren’t looking to leave.
People don’t leave companies. They leave leaders. Many managers are creating toxic environments, and the truth is that the company isn’t firing them. VPs+ are too busy putting out fires to deal with the people who are actually lighting them.
“Complacency is the silent partner of failure. It convinces you nothing is wrong while everything falls apart.”
@c2 if I had been paid well, I would have stayed.
When I left, SAS was not paying market rates. I was replaced by a junior who made even less money.
YMMV.
Especially a profitable boat that pays you well
it's difficult to change boats at the moment. it's good to be on a boat, or really, even just a raft.
It doesn’t matter how fast you paddle, it matters what boat you’re on. SAS became the wrong boat once the market soured on Viya and the company tripled down on it.
Whether JG and the executives have the ability to pivot doesn’t matter. They don’t have the incentive to, and that tells you what the future holds: more of the same.
Good luck to all.
@b9 So stop typing about it here and start typing your resignation letters.
You won’t. No amount of downvotes will change it.
At least 2500 people have left. Perhaps a third of those were laid off, but the majority took buyouts, or found better jobs.
"The benefits this place offers are now standard... The pay here is lower..."
Yup, that's good reason to leave.
And yet so few of the complainers leave of their own volition.
When?
Little by little, over the past 5-10 years.
The benefits this place offers are now standard at many other tech companies. The pay here is lower and the bonuses and other incentives are meagre in comparison. Maybe once upon a time SAS wrote the book on being a great place to work. But other companies stole the book and ran with it, and SAS is left holding the bag now.