I just had my resignation interview with my department head. He told me, as “advice as a member of society,” that since hiring costs are high and it takes years to recover the investment, I should “choose a company you can stay with for a long time next time” and “try to think from the company’s point of view.”
Honestly, I was speechless. For the last 3 years, 2 people quit every year from our dev team — all for the same reasons. And yet, the manager still doesn’t see the problem.
When I joined, the team didn’t even have a proper development setup. No Git. No VSCode. No CI/CD. People were literally coding with Sakura Editor (a plain text editor). I thought, “I don’t want my juniors to go through this again,” so I started improving the environment — introduced modern tools, tried to build a dev culture, and pushed for in-house development in a company that used to rely completely on vendors.
On top of that, I was constantly dragged into nonsense tasks — managing contractors, fixing HQ’s login issues, or dealing with pointless administrative stuff that had nothing to do with engineering. Every time something went wrong, somehow it ended up on my plate.
It was exhausting, but I still believed I could make things better. Now, hearing “think from the company’s side” from the same boss who ignored every improvement proposal… it just feels ironic.
Our team went from 10 people to 6 in 3 years — all leaving for the same reasons — and he still doesn’t notice. Maybe I tried too hard to change something that didn’t want to change.
*I have been 2 years and 8month at this 100% Japanese Company.
by Reasonable-Till6483
27 comments
Lol he sounds like a fun boss who will continue to wonder why people are failing to “think from the company’s side” every time they quit.
Imagine his face if his spouse ever said “Think from my side.” (I mean I’m joking, probably sad and alone…)
Don’t take it to heart. It’s the classic bullshit pettiness that happens when they want to get back at you for “daring” to leave. I’ve had it happen to Japanese friends, too. Just be glad you’re out of them and let your boss stew in his/her bitterness!
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you had me at Sakura Editor
I feel your pain, I’ve been there too.
But a few things I’ve accepted that have made corporate life easier are:
Work here is largely performative. Results don’t matter – being so busy that your suffering does matter. It’s ridiculous but it’s true.
Serfdom never really disappeared in Japan, it was absorbed into corporate culture.
“As a member of society, let me advise you that working at this dead-end company has cost me years off my life with stress, and yen out of my pocket on account of zero opportunity for professional development. You should try to improve your company so people actually want to work for you before hiring next time. Try to think from an employee’s point of view”
Fuck that guy.
Did you tell him “advice for management: try to think from the employees point of view. why are you losing so many employees for the same reason? aren’t the hiring costs high and it takes so many years to recover the investment that it makes more sense to improve what’s wrong than to lose the people?”
Honestly, not really a Japanese/Japan issue, this kind of ignorant or just plain incompetent managers are everywhere.
I’m not sure why you were surprised, this is obviously a terrible place run by idiots, lol
Sounds like you already did think from the company’s point of view. It’s not your fault or responsibility that the people with the power to implement beneficial practices collectively think so little about the company they run that they’re unwilling to adopt your suggestions.
I don’t think this has anything to do with the company being Japanese…I think it has to do with the boss being a fucking idiot. I mean maybe he’s clinging to some old sense that people should stick with a company for their whole career but I mean we have that in the West, too. I mean, that’s why pensions exist. People have been known to put 10, 20, 30 years or more into working at one company.
Ignore it
Did you tell him this?
If no one points out that *he* is the problem, then he will never get it
Most people choose a company they hope they can stay at for a long time. But sometimes the company makes that too difficult.
If your company is now hiring, I’m looking for a stopgap job until I can find something better… Could you DM the company name? I’ll piss them off more for you!
I feel sorry for you…. but obviously this is not rare in Japan…. some old boss are just lacking social intelligence to run a company without “damages”
No git? Like, no git… or no version control at all?
Sounds like they had at least one git.
Oh, that sounds like a him problem and not a you problem. Companies with superior compensation, culture and benefits tend not to have high turnover.
“I did think from the company’s POV. I’m leaving because the company is fucked.”
Fuck him and the company. Dinosaurs still think you are supposed to suck it up and stick around until you die for a dead end job.
>Maybe I tried too hard to change something that didn’t want to change.
That’s a really good line. Also, it might not be that he doesn’t want to change, but that he resents that the change is being implemented or pushed for *by you*.
I thought you just quit, 2 years is enough especially working for such team
Are you allowed to respond when he’s having his adult tantrum? What happens if you respond?
I’m daydreaming about yelling at your ex-boss on your behalf. <3
Is this Rakuten?
Uerukumu tu japan
The guy doesn’t represent the society. Fxxk it and move on. My surprise is your energy to write this whole thing. LOL. Good luck in your next job.
Sometimes at an exit interview you have a chance to say.
* Actually, it is this attitude that is causing people to leave.
* I tried my best to improve this company but it is because you refuse to do things in a better way I have to leave. It might be selfish, but if my leaving helps you to understand what you should be doing better, I have actually contributed more than staying.
Seriously, in the past, I quit companies for similar reasons and I have worked with them later but never again as an employee.
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