Should I leave my first dev job to be a support engineer at my dream company and then move into a dev role from there?

Giuseppe Dion — Sat, 10 Oct 2020 17:33:01 +0000

I started my first jr. software dev position about 8 months ago. I made the transition from tech support. However, I feel that the role isn’t helping me grow and I feel less and less motivated to be there. I’m not really doing any projects but I am growing in other areas - like research, problem solving & presenting ideas, which is good.

I have to engage in side projects outside of work just to keep my skills up. It’s also a contract position which means IF they have the budget they’ll renew my contact after a year. I’m also very underpaid for the market where I am.

Basically my dream company is hiring senior devs (they hire jrs to but no avail positions right now) but I don’t feel like I’d pass the coding tests (just yet). However they are hiring support engineers and I applied and they’re interested. I was thinking I could have a foot in as a support engineer while continuing my projects on the side and practice their stack, even make some contributions and then apply from within once I feel confident enough.

The dream company aligns more with my values and provides more freedom & opportunity as a whole. I could see myself being there long term way more than where I am now even if I have to start in support. The support role is also $25k more than what I make now - actual market rate.

The support role involves helping people with their websites so it’s not completely left field and I’m already familiar with the product and tools.

I’m just thinking long term. I’m not a bad coder just very new but I could do better just building some stuff on the side and just regroup from there and then give it another shot.

My current job will not provide me with enough hands-on experience. I’m afraid it might stagnate me and plus it’s draining me and making me feel slightly trapped. Just feel I need to move on.

I feel stuck on what to decide.

I don’t want to feel like I’m back tracking but I don’t like the idea of wasting my time anywhere.

Is this a bad move? Would this hurt me career wise as a developer?

DEV Community: Giuseppe Dion

Should I leave my first dev job to be a support engineer at my dream company and then move into a dev role from there?