[patio11]

Talk to a lawyer and ask what "detrimental reliance" means. (Short version: what you just did owing to representation that they had a job for you. Comes with damages.)

Let your old company tell you you can't have your job back, don't make that decision for them.

[tptacek]

Careful about paying a lawyer up front, though, because it's apparently very hard to make a detrimental reliance claim about a rescinded at-will job offer; it appears to be impossible in several states (at least Florida, Louisiana) and very hard elsewhere.

In the US, most jobs are at-will (you can be fired for no reason, and you're not supposed to rely on your employer maintaining your job); a Rails dev job certainly is.

That said: Patrick is almost certainly right that your company will be happy to keep you on. It'd be almost irrational not to.

[sounddust]

I have a friend who is a lawyer, and his stance is that when it comes to employment, there are too many variables involved to make a good judgment on where you stand without contacting an attorney who practices in the relevant jurisdiction. Most people who lose their job think they're doomed because of at-will, but it's not that simple.

I'd recommend calling an employment lawyer. What will likely happen is that he/she will return your call, ask you a bunch of questions, and give you some very good free advice on where you stand and what your options are. If they can't do anything for you, they will tell you that without you having to pay anything.

[Terretta]

The "at will" issue is not as cut and dried if on a company sponsored visa.

[apgwoz]

I'm wondering if they discovered later that sponsoring a visa is more work than they originally thought, and that's what happened.

[joboffer]

I don't want to make a decision for my current company. They may even let me have it back. I'm on very good terms with my team too and they were in fact, disappointed to see me go.

I'd just hate myself to go back with my head hung in shame telling them that 'oh my job didn't work out'...take me back. I had a farewell lunch yesterday. Everyone in my extended team knows I'm leaving. My exit interview is planned for early next week and they're processing my final paystubs.

I can't believe this level of unprofessionalism exists.

[frossie]

I had a farewell lunch yesterday.

Make a joke of it. If you get your job back, take all the same people out to lunch. Play up the funny side. Give a "take me back" speech, "what was I thinking" etc etc.

Laugh at yourself, and the world with laugh with you. With your immigration status at stake, this is not the time to stand on some misplaced ego thing.

[noonespecial]

Every once in a while you've got to double-take and say to yourself 'damn, there's some good advice floating around HN'.

This is one of those times. The process of leaving a job makes it feel so very final. A bunch of people made an effort to give you a good send off and just coming back seems like making a mockery of that. They gave you a good send off because they cared. You are the one who made the most effort and got burned the hardest. They'll understand. They'll be glad to have you back.

Hell, they might even feel like they dodged a bullet on this one and work extra hard to make sure you stop looking elsewhere for employment. "Remember that time we almost lost Bill to that startup? That was a close one, eh?"

[pierrefar]

You can return the favor. Throw an "anti farewell party" after they have you back and invite everyone on the extended team. Maybe not necessarily a party, but you get the idea.

[mpk]

> Make a joke of it.

This right here.

If you didn't have immigration status to worry about I'd say just go find another RoR job, the market is full of them ATM.

But in your case I'd say swallow your pride. You seem to be on good terms with your current team so yes this this will be a little bit awkward, but nothing more. Make a joke out of it and let people make jokes about it at your expense. Put it out in the open and laugh about it.

Don't apologize for the choices you've made (it was a business decision, not a personal one). Your manager and team will probably be relieved that you're staying, though you can probably forget any significant promotion in the short-term :)

If you can find some reasonable token of commitment (though I have no idea what that might be - anyone?), keep that in reserve.

[khill]

Just tell them the lunch was so good you've decided to stay.

[flatulent1]

Or tell them an evil twin tied you up and decided to try a prank.

[megablast]

I know exactly how the poster feels, but your suggestion is the best way to handle it. Do it this way, and it will be forgotten that afternoon. Do it wrong, and people may never trust you again.

[flacon]

Don't say "The position didn't work out", which would cause suspicion and make you look bad.

Blame them (Flaky Corp) for acting unprofessional.

Go into your current manager, tell them you are in a really difficult and awkward situation. That you have had some communications very recently that have made you very uncomfortable with the new company and made you reconsider your decision.

Your Boss will understand that messed up stuff happens sometimes and will want to avoid interviewing for the position. Tell your Boss you honestly do not want to leave the company now given this situation and that you want your old job back.

Value yourself and take charge of the situation. Dont just allow an awkward ego-feeling or unprofessional behavior by Flaky Corp to own you!

[hga]

In general I agree except don't lie!. Whatever reason would he have to not say "my offer was rescinded by Flaky Corp" and he can use that as an opportunity to praise the stability of his Fortune 500 company and that sector.

[muppetman]

Thank you! There's so much moping and sadness in the world! Lighten up and laugh people!

[speby]

Better yet, who cares? Take your chances and apply to YC. This must be your calling.

[jarek]

Did you miss the part about OP's immigration status?

[kno]

What a careless advice, your are just telling him: just play lottery! With all due respect to YC, getting into YC is not easy.

[ashitvora]

100% agree with frossie. I know it is ridiculous but with your immigration status at stake, don't think of all this. Just go and talk to them.

Also, once you get your job, send http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:yR0N5a0R8puacM:http://www... to the company who retracted the offer.

[jacquesm]

There is no shame in this, there is just the reality that you were dealt with in an unprofessional way and I think that they will see it just like that.

If you're any good at all your boss will be happy to see you back but I wouldn't count on a raise or promotion until you've more than proven to be there to stay.

And it wouldn't hurt to have a solid backup plan just in case they do decide to lay you off at some point in the future.

Keep in mind too that since you left voluntarily that if they do take you on again it counts as a new employment, essentially you're a new hire. You may even have to re-negotiate your salary.

Being out of a job normally would be hard enough, but since your residence depends on your job there is a very important reason to make this work.

[rbanffy]

> You may even have to re-negotiate your salary.

That would be nasty. The gentleman thing to do would be to pretend this never happened. Everything was conducted in the most civilized way. There would be no reason to change.

Well... I wouldn't change that.

What I would ask in return, at most, would be that, next time you give me a month of advanced notice. It takes time to replace a good member of the team.

You are employed in the US for 5+ years. How's the permanent resident paperwork going?

Oh... BTW, "you" != "jacquesm".

[yourmomcalled]

last line made my day

[starpilot]

Unprofessionalism? Retracted offers aren't new. During the 2001 recession, many fresh graduates newly at Boeing had offers retracted. At my current company, one employee left to join Doctors Without Borders. We gave him a farewell dinner, and talked about the work he'd be doing abroad. Two weeks later he was back in the office. Turned out, DWB couldn't take him after all (I don't recall the details). He made the best decisions given the information he had. He did nothing wrong, and nor have you. Explain the situation to your employer. You have nothing to be ashamed about, but maybe your new employer does.

And stop tying your self-worth to your career. You are not your work.

[sumeetjain]

Just a small addition to what everyone else is saying: After a couple months, no one will remember this event.

(I always find it easier to deal with unfortunate or embarrassing situations when I'm reminded that they appear more severe and permanent to me than they actually are.)

[adityakothadiya]

I heard a similar story the other day by a friend of mine about his colleague. This guy left his job at previous company while his Green Card application was in the 2nd stage. He was tired of waiting in that 2nd stage for years with the hope of reaching to final stage. Finally he got too tired, and he switched the job to a different company. Just within 1 week of joining a new company, magically USCIS released new dates and that guy's application was able to go in the final stage of the Green Card process. Unfortunately, for that to happen, he needed to work with his previous company. He has no option than to talk to his old employer. They took him back.

Weird things happen with immigration cases. And big corporates are sensible enough to understand such situation and help good employees.

[angstrom]

Unfortunately it does. I've seen the exact same thing at a startup where they hired a receptionist. The girl took the job and told her current employer she was quitting. Probably no more than 2 days later the company reneged on their offer. All I know is nothing legal ever came of it, but it made those of us working there that found out sick at the gross negligence on behalf of accounting to say the funds were there when they weren't. My guess is someone working a receptionist job doesn't have the funds or time to seek legal counsel.

[jacquesm]

Likely in the long run that move cost them dearly.

[msisk6]

This exact thing happened to me last year, too. Though in my case I was already between gigs so it wasn't as big a deal.

Look at it this way -- would you really want to work at a company that would rescind a job offer this way? It says a lot about a company that they don't have their act together enough to know if they can hire or not.

Good RoR devs are hard to find -- I'd just let your current employer know what happened and see if they'll keep you on. Just say that the offer they made was too good to refuse. And, as it turned out, was too good to be true in the end.

[strlen]

There's no shame in going back, in fact, you'll likely be welcomed. It makes sense for you, it makes sense for them. Swallow the pride, do the rational thing.

[floatingatoll]

It's not a blemish on your record that your new employer flaked out. That's a blemish on their record. Your job seems to like you, or they would have fired you for giving notice, right? So don't panic. Talk to your boss. It'll be an uncomfortable conversation, but that's par for the course in uncomfortable situations. You're still awesome.

[catshirt]

just to clarify, the blemish is his disloyalty to his previous company (i mean that strictly literaly- i would not call someone who takes a new job disloyal)

[nl]

If you aren't terribly unhappy there, tell them what has happened and ask to come back. There is no shame in that at all - in fact it puts you in a pretty good position at your old job (because they now know your skills are valued elsewhere).

Another possibility is telling them what has happened, but say you still planning on moving so offering to stay for another month.

OTOH, there is plenty of RoR work around, so I'd be surprised if you can't pick something else up pretty easily.

[stretchwithme]

Totally. Put your resume on Dice or hotjobs and you'll have interest within a few days. Even if you go back, it won't hurt to have more confidence about your marketability

[geuis]

Realize that in any good company, there will always be an expectation that people eventually move along to other opportunities. Don't feel any shame about going back.

[pyre]

In any good company that has been around awhile, there is doubtlessly a number of people that have left the company and come back again under much better circumstances (as in worked another job for a while and then came back). At the company I work for, there are a handful of people that have left the company and come back again over 2 or 3 times over the years.

[sigzero]

There is no shame in it. The took back the job offer. No big deal. More forward and just tell your company you would like to stay.

[abalashov]

It's not just a pride issue; your bargaining position in relation to your previous employer changes in this situation, whether you like it or not, whether or not your manager acknowledges it or not, whether you get the sa, me terms as before back or not, and whether they are nice people or not.

The fact is, you left, it didn't work out, and now you're back because you need something. Next time something good comes up and works out, you're going to leave, they reason. That makes you a risk.

[pyre]

If you're a valuable worker, then you are hard to replace. It would be in their best interests to make use of you while they have a chance to, rather than cast you aside over petty 'loyalty' BS.

The downsides of hiring someone new:

* It could take an indeterminate amount of time to find someone of a similar caliber (1 month? 3 months? 1 year?).

* It takes a certain amount of time to get comfortable with the internal codebase of a company, let alone the time that it takes to become proficient with it. This amount of time increases the larger the internal codebase and the older the company is.

* It takes time to 'bond' with the team and for the new social dynamic to become settled and understood by everyone.

* There is no guarantee that the new person that you hire will stick around either. You could spend a whole year looking for someone as skilled, just to have the person leave after 3 months before any of the growing pains associated with bringing on a new person are worked out. Then where are you? Back to square-one possibly spending another year looking for a similarly/equally skilled person.

You could side-step all of these issues by bringing this man/woman back on. If he/she leaves after another 3 months, who cares? He/she will be more productive during those 3 months than a new hire would be.

[RealGeek]

Stick to your existing employer. This event might be embarrassing but everyone will get over it.

If you leave the job; not only you will be out of job, but out of immigration status as well. There is a lot at stake, this could ruin your career and personal life as well.

Ask your current company, if you can have the job back.

[prototype56]

I am not sure if i would take back someone who is anyway planning to leave.Even if they do they will fire after they are sure you are redundant, that will mess up your visa status. Search and take up any job for the time being and keep looking.

[lukatmyshu]

Well ... did you want leave your company? If that's the case then going back seems like the wrong idea. If you're good, you can find a new job in this market in no time.

[ahoyhere]

Would you rather be temporarily embarrassed, or kicked out of the country? Pick your battles.

[retube]

> Let your old company tell you you can't have your job back, don't make that decision for them.

This. If you were leaving on good terms, and were a valued member of the firm, there's absolutely no reason why they wouldn't take you back. In fact, they should be glad to keep you!

There's no shame in having wanted to try something new. People move shops all the time. So this time you got unlucky with the move, but no biggy. Just be upfront with your current employer and tell them what's happened.

[mikeryan]

The key here is damages. ie. what have you lost. If you ask for your old job back and they don't offer it then you're in a stronger position to show damages. If they do offer it - well then you're in better shape then you are now.

Just another point in the "suck it up and ask for your old job back" camp.

[anigbrowl]

Sorry, no - his immigration situation is the priority, and if it turns out that he can collect damages (insufficient data to say), they would include the cost of the immigration lawyer.