Htydjtk

Long story (not so) short.

I've been working for a small/mid company (around 40 people) for last 4 years as a Python developer.

Money was good, there are better paid jobs in my area but I'm not cash-hungry person - as long I can have decent life according to my standards and make some savings for future I'm happy and will prioritize nice work environment over the salary.

And my current company was exactly it - very nice people, interesting stuff to do, I really had fun with stuff I'm doing.

In January I had standard semi-annual talk with the supervisor about my job. He gave me some praises about stuff I did in last year, mentioned few things I could improve / learn, no true "negative" feedback was present. He then told me that at the moment there is not many possibilities to progress my career in my company and I will stay at mid level development till whoever knows when.

He also mentioned that the management wants to restructure the company around June due to slightly loosing traction / market stagnation and will probably need to cut down our team a bit.

I got a proposal from him / management.

I could voluntary leave by June - I won't be assigned to any new projects, my job for next 4 months will be just support / maintenance of stuff I already did, I will receive full salary for those 4 months and on my leave, a severance package + 1 extra salary as a "loyalty bonus".

The extra time I'll get from having less work I can spent however I like, looking for a new job, learning new stuff and so on.

Yet for that extra salary I need to stay all the way till beginning of June so I can start looking for new job around end of April / May.

Or I could stay, yet there is no guarantee I will be laid off in the future if my work is deemed not profitable enough by the management (with no extra salary, just the severance package, and I still need to work "full time")

Now the company wants the response from me.

I would like to ask, what you recommend me to choose. Should I risk and stay in a company I like, or jump the ship and take with me as much as I can?

The writing is on the wall. In Big Neon Letters: sorry, you have no future there.

Your company is very nice and transparent about this. They treat you fairly and offer you a very generous deal. Take it and focus on the next adventure in your career.

Edit:
Just to elaborate, there are two things going on here

1. Your company isn't doing well: They may recover or there may be more layoffs and potential end of operations.


2. Even in the first round of "restructuring", your name showed up on top of the list of people to part with. This may be related to your skills/role being less critical to the business or that your performance is on the lower end (recent review not withstanding). Either way, it's bad. You may be able to survive the
   first round of layoffs, but not the second, should there be one.

Hence: you have no future there.

The "definitive" answer: only time can tell.

However, if I were you, I'd take this "hint" as a sign that there is not going to be too much positive possibilities.

Start brushing up your resume and look for other opportunities. You had a good career there, now time to move on and find another (maybe better, who knows?) workplace.

Take the package.

Even though you might not be greedy for money, you can always bank away the extra cash for incidents that might come up (illness, repairs) while in the meantime be paid (!) to do a job search.

This company is looking out for your well-being, while admitting they may not last longer if you do stay. I admire companies with that kind of honesty.

Personally, I would take the deal and immediately start looking for a job.

If they are offering everyone the option then they're just looking for people to leave on their own and you might be safe if you stay. If they aren't offering it to everyone you are most likely going to be laid off either way.

You can always tell interviewers when the earliest you can start is. Unless they are really looking for someone to start right now it should be fine that you cant start working there until June.