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In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions:

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1. \n

   How do you quit when you\u2019re indispensable to the team?

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   I am the lead developer at a startup. I have a small team of 3 developers under me. I am essentially the \u201cperson who wrote all the code\u201d. I have an offer from another startup for more money and more percentages of the company and they want me over there asap.

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   I\u2019m afraid to quit this startup as I fear that it\u2019s not yet at a place where it could survive without me. I realize that sounds super egotistical but unfortunately I don\u2019t have a successor ATM and none of the other developers are at a level where I could potentially train them to be my successor in the time frame I have with the other offer.

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   The other sticky thing is that the current startup probably doesn\u2019t have enough money to hire someone at my level for what they\u2019d actually be worth. I, and the rest of the team, are severely underpaid, as this is a bootstrapped startup. Love your show, would love to hear your guys\u2019 take on this.

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2. \n

   I recently interned at a local factory to help clean up some broken 20 year old databases. After remaking them, I quickly became a rising star and word spread fast of my aptitude. I was offered a full time salary position, in which I was able to negotiate for some special privileges and a cool title: software engineer.

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   I am having an awesome time building little tools for various departments while learning different languages. I\u2019ve been very fulfilled with the projects and recognition I\u2019ve been getting, there\u2019s just one problem: the IT department absolutely despises me.\nThey see my sole existence as an affront to their entire structure. I am a part of the engineering team and work very closely with product and process engineers, which is apparently hurtful to their ego.

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   Lately, IT has been actively obstructing every project I work on and refusing many requests, sometimes with obviously false excuses. I do not have admin privileges, I have limited internet access, I\u2019m not even allowed to have my email password. It\u2019s at a point where I start getting serious anxiety when I need to see IT (e.g. to install a framework or IDE extension).

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   How can I navigate these awful encounters without letting it harm my view on the rest of the job? I am feeling like I need to wage war but I want to retain my golden boy status.

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