I somewhat regret leaving my law firm job instead of waiting to be fired for insufficient billables. I probably could have lasted at least another 12 months before they even counseled me to start looking, plus maybe another 6+ months after that, and that's a lot of money left on the table. If I could have made myself not care about "failing" I might have been better off.

The graveyards are full of indispensable men. I'm way down the food chain and have left when laid off or when I had a better opportunity. My feelings and "leaving on my own terms" don't have enough value to affect my decisions.

Want me to leave but I want to stay? I certainly will be out looking but am not leaving voluntarily just for pride.

Hey, I'm just here to do work that I find meaningful while exchanging my time for cash.

Anonymous wrote:Never been laid off or fired always left for a better opportunity when I was ready to go.

Same, except once when my firm collapsed and went bankrupt — everyone was laid off on the same day. Nothing personal about that.

It is important to me that I do a good enough job they will be sad when I leave! I actually just gave six months notice and I will help transition my role in the company to my successor. I have a contract for the next opportunity already signed. I have never left on bad terms.

Never been laid off or fired always left for a better opportunity when I was ready to go.

Anonymous wrote:What difference does it make? You made your call on your term and isn't that enough? They won't remember you the day after you leave. Certainly not as much as you think/want/believe.

Doesn't matter what they think. It's what I think.

I have been laid off once and passive-aggressively pushed out of a job once and IME it's tough on your mental health. The layoff was easier because it was very easy to recognize its as not my fault I was losing my job, but I still struggled with the feeling of instability and realizing that when you work for others, you really don't control your own fate even if you work very hard and do your job well. I was also laid off into a difficult economy so that feeling of not having any control was compounded. In the end I think I was better for having gone through it, as I gained resiliency, but it was still hard.

Getting pushed out is absolutely miserable and I don't wish it on anyone except that people who pushed me out -- I would love for them to experience what I experienced. In my case I was pushed out purely for personal reasons -- my director didn't like me and wanted to give my job to someone she was friends with, so she just made my job an absolute nightmare until I left and she could do so. It left me with a lot of bitterness and frustration, and I unfortunately did carry that into my next job and it was just a tough few years. I'm past it now but it was really tough.

Very. I quit two jobs where it was toxic, coworkers awful, stressed me out.

What difference does it make? You made your call on your term and isn't that enough? They won't remember you the day after you leave. Certainly not as much as you think/want/believe.

Very. I’ve done it more than once. Life is too short to be treated less than what you are worth.

Vs. being fired, pushed out, or a mutual decision to leave?

I just announced my decision to retire and am working with them on a mutually beneficial, smooth transition. OK, fine. But this is a PE portco and the top level and PE firm shall we say, leave something to be desired. For that reason, damn happy that I made the move instead of some of the things I have seen done with other people. Is it conceivable they wanted me to go? Sure, but I beat them to the punch.