Should you stick out a job you hate?

A case for loyalty (it’s not what you think)

Photo by Jaycee Xie on Unsplash

I recently went to a UX meetup here in Boston, MA. It’s the first in-person meetup I’ve been to since 2019, and it was pretty trippy. Somewhere along the way, in the time void of Covid, I got more experience as a product designer. So I found myself in the unexpected position of being asked for advice.

One of the questions I was asked by multiple early-career designers (or at least earlier than me) had to do with loyalty to a company.

I really don’t like my job but should I stick it out for two years?

No

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

If you had asked me in 2018, I would have said, “I would, it’ll look better on your résumé.” In fact, from 2019 to 2021, I did exactly that — stuck with a job for two years for the sake of making it to two years (although I loved that job and my peers, the pay was very low.)

Post-covid, I find myself saying a very emphatic “no!”

Corporate loyalty