I took a job for the money in Austin and it backfired in a way I didn't see coming

I accepted a project manager role last year that paid 30k more than my old job, but the company culture was toxic and I burned out after just 8 months. The stress actually set my skills back because I was just putting out fires instead of growing. Has anyone else taken a high paying job that ended up hurting their career path?

3 comments

3 Comments

elliot_johnson3mo ago

My last role was a 50% pay bump in Denver, but the constant chaos meant I left with worse technical skills than when I started. It felt like running on a treadmill for a year. That kind of burnout is a real setback.

hill.troy1mo ago

You ever seen a buddy take a fat raise only to crash and burn after six months? I had a friend who jumped for a 60% bump at a startup, and he spent a year just rewiring broken code left by people who'd already quit.

kim_hart73mo ago

My buddy in Phoenix took a 40k raise for a lead dev spot that turned into a glorified babysitting job. He said his coding skills got rusty because he was always in meetings dealing with other people's messes. That paycheck can trick you into thinking you're moving up when you're really just stuck. It takes months to get your real momentum back after a gig like that.