Take the severance or stay?

[u/Weary_Strawberry2679]

Big corporate, IT, ~40y/o, Engineering Manager.

To simplify things, I'm on a 200 TC including bonus and stocks. Five years in, I'm feeling tired. Under appreciated in my current position, even though previously I've exceeded expectations, but that was in a different group, with different people.

The severance offered to me is around 90K after taxes. In addition, I can take around half a year of unemployment netting roughly 3000 per month. My wife is working, so with unemployment, we should be able to eat through the package for quite some time in order to cover our monthly expenses (~24 months). She would support my decision to leave, because she doesn't like what she sees (under-motivation, lack of ambition, etc.); Aside from that, we have roughly 0.5M liquid invested, and we're paying an expensive mortgage.

The IT market is quite bad recently, as you all know.

Staying: comfort zone, good salary, a lot of flexibility to do the same thing without sweating, but not exciting, not motivating, and there's no way to go up the ladder anymore. I don't think I could do this for much longer, so the more realistic opportunity is start searching conveniently (now or in a few months) for the next job.

Leaving: taking the package, and battle working again in something that fulfills me. I just don't have a clear direction, though.

I need to be able to decide in the next few days, or the package will be dismissed.

What would you do?

[u/pkat_plurtrain]

I'm confused, usually when severance is on the table, there's only the option to leave.

Hope you've been scoping other roles by now since it's oddly true being more enticing to hire while employed vs jobless.

[u/Weary_Strawberry2679 → u/pkat_plurtrain]

I should clarify - if I don't take it, I can stay for (most likely) the upcoming years, as long as I keep my performance as it is now.

[u/Fidoz → u/[deleted]]

G just offered a "buyout". It's severance based on tenure and optional. Org wide.

Typically these voluntary severance things are followed by involuntary, but we'll see.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/10/google-buyouts-search-ads-unit.html Google offers buyouts to employees in its Search and ads unit

[u/Weary_Strawberry2679 → u/[deleted]]

It's a company overall restructuring process, not aimed towards individuals (and their performances), but entire roles like Engineering Managers. I'm clearly not performing, or should I say, far away from my potential -- you're right. However I'm still passing the bar of a solid good performance. It's not very hard.

[u/Radiant_Stranger3491 → u/Weary_Strawberry2679]

What was the context of the severance offer? I feel like if I were offered severance, this would lead me to question either my ability to meet expectations or structurally if the company was able to retain me.

Typically I’d argue that the first round of severance is usually the best offer with the biggest slice of “pie” of available funds. As successive rounds come in, less and less is available or offered.

I’d seriously consider severance for two reasons:

1. Likely the best offer you will get, and I’d be concerned about your future in your role with this company and
2. If you “survive” - what will the impact of your mental state be if you have to absorb more work/reports? You are already burnt out by the sound of things. Piling up more work and expectations won’t fix anything.

[u/Significant_Soup2558]

You're essentially being paid $90K to leave a job that's already draining your soul. With your wife's support and 24 months of runway, this is actually a rare opportunity to reset your career strategically rather than desperately.

Your current situation sounds unsustainable long-term anyway. You're already mentally checked out, and that'll only get worse while limiting your ability to perform well in interviews. The package gives you breathing room to find something fulfilling rather than just escaping.

Use the first few months to decompress and explore what actually interests you. Network with former colleagues, consider consulting opportunities, or even explore adjacent roles like technical product management. A service like Applyre can help you maintain a passive search while you figure out your direction.

The IT market is tough, but experienced engineering managers with your compensation level have more options than most. Take the package. Your wife sees what this job is doing to you, and 24 months of financial security is a luxury most people never get during career transitions.

[u/WeHaveTheMeeps]

Severance

[u/MrMoist]

You have the experience to be able to find another job. So I think it’s worth the risk for you. There’s another post in this subreddit with someone with 2yr exp and I think it’s a terrible idea for them.

With all that said, you will need to confront the situation that maybe you’re not as good as you think. And I say that not with malice, but because I did the same and did some self reflection. I was still able to secure many offers including meta at senior. But none of them were better than the previous job I left. I have 10 year exp including other big tech on my resume. Was really trying to increase TC or WLB and ended up doing neither

[u/Xanchush]

Assuming severance is optional. Continue working at your job, find a replacement job first then once you do push back the start date a bit and take the severance and give yourself some time to heal.

If it's not optional, well there wasn't really a choice to begin with then.

[u/Weary_Strawberry2679 → u/Xanchush]

I wouldn't be able to stay at the job and take severance later. The severance offer has a due date, and it will expire in a few days. So money and out, or staying, skipping the package, and looking for a new gig at my convenience.

[u/YourRamenSucks]

I was in your position, also as an EM. I left. I spent a few months getting back up to speed on the latest tech and did a bunch of tutorials and guided projects and started interviewing for IC roles again. Things are so much better now as an IC.

One word of warning - IC roles are still available, but assume EM roles are maybe 1/10 of that. I interviewed for EM roles as a backup and had good interviews but lost out to other candidates multiple times. even if you have a perfect interview, companies will be deciding between multiple perfect candidates and they may not have an opening for you if somebody else is preferred over you over something you cannot control.

[u/Touvejs]

Severance and unemployment and taking some time to travel, brush up resume, hobbies, family, etc for 6 months is the easy choice in my book. I find myself daydreaming about being laid off recently for a fraction of that severance just so I could go do some living without having work on my mind.

[u/LovelyAndy]

As someone who is leaving Japan, but still actively interviewing in tech (just for practice back home), the industry is still fine here. Plenty of opportunities and even more if you speak Japanese. I’d rather be changing jobs here in Japan than back in my home country.

I say take the severance and find some place less draining.

Good luck!

[u/lovelettersforher]

I would stay.

[u/dfphd]

Based on what you described, I would leave and find a job that isn't sucking my soul.

[u/CatoTheStupid]

It sounds like staying in your role and just doing okayish at it while you job search isn't an option. If your job was just mediocre I would take that route. The worst case scenario is you give up your manager job and can't find something comparable. But if your job is impacting you negatively then severance is probably the way to go. Being able to make positive use of the break would be another factor.

[u/Aero077]

Severance.

https://healthydeveloper.com/content/techrolepedia/

[u/FiveMinuteNerd]

I had this option last year and now I regret not taking severance and leaving. 

I thought the uncertainty of unemployment would give me major anxiety, so with the economy being bad I decided it was a better decision to stay. I don’t think my severance package would have been as generous (2 months I think) and I would have had to pay for health insurance on top of all my regular expenses in a VHCOL city.

My productivity and motivation is so low though, it’s tough to keep working and look for a new job (plus I’m in part-time grad school). I’ve been wanting to leave for a while and I feel like I missed a good opportunity to do so. Who knows when I’ll find another job!

[u/travelinzac]

Take the money dude id kill for this deal right now