I’m a few months into a new job with a big corporate firm. I came here after four years working for successful high-growth websites and startups. I was enticed by a very impressive pay package, but they also offered an interesting challenge. However, I’m feeling a lot of culture shock that isn’t dissipating. Despite the work being interesting and challenging, there’s a lot about how stuff gets done that is making me unhappy and is getting in the way of me doing the things the business needs to succeed: there’s a lot more bureaucracy than I’m used to working with; people care about hierarchies in a way that I’m not accustomed to; different teams seem very siloed; and it takes months to get access to basic software and tools that are industry standard.
There is support from senior management to change to a more “agile” (a wonky term, but it is a working practice) tech/startup/get-stuff-done/entrepreneurial approach, and the desire to change the culture is one of the reasons they hired me. But while I can encourage and champion change, it’s not in my remit to make it happen and I don’t think I’ll win friends if I keep trying to get established practices to change.
I’m thinking of just chalking it up to being a bad cultural fit and leaving at the end of my probation. I specialise in the booming fintech industry and won’t struggle to get another job. But I’m worried this will burn bridges, be the the coward’s way out, and could look bad on my CV (ie, like I was fired). I’m also concerned about Brexit and think it might be wiser to ride out 2019 in a large firm that could weather market shocks. So should I rough it out for a year and see if things improve? Or leave to go back to the culture I like to work in?
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