[corp_confusion]

Why? Because you're invested in it. Or you feel a responsibility to the users, some kind of ethical sense for your fellow developers. Or maybe just wanting to do the best in your job in the new company.

We all have things we love, or responsibilities we feel.

[strangattractor]

Sounds like your in a cult not a company. NPR had a piece the other day about how companies are having trouble retaining people. They are offering added incentives like paying student loans. Why do they have this problem? Because they have spent so many years laying off people to increase profits they now have to spent more money to retain people that no longer trust them to provide steady employment and move on to other employers every 2 years. If you really value those things find a company that values them also. You will be happier. https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/national-public-radio/how-i...

[corp_confusion]

> Sounds like your in a cult not a company

I don't think that's fair at all. Idera acquires developer tools companies, and the tools are used by many developers - people here on HN. Let's suppose you built a tool used worldwide by your peers: would you just shake your head and go "yep, don't care"?

Have you read the tweets by the departing Sencha devs? They were desolate.

[zerohp]

Tools come and go. Companies come and go. Developers will find new ways to work. The world keeps turning.

Yep, don't care.

[corp_confusion]

“Don’t care” is not something to live your life by. You should care about your fellow developers and peers, and if you spent years of your life building respected technology, it is natural to care about it.

The answers on this thread (along the lines of ‘don’t care, give up’) shock me. I see HN as an audience of passionate, tech-loving people - people who would not want to be in the position described in this question and people potentially with the passion and drive to do something about it.

[ocdtrekkie]

It's not about not caring, it's about realizing being the one person who cares in a company who doesn't isn't helping anyone, and that you could better apply your time and skills to one that does.

If there are a lot of people in need of medical attention, the compassionate doctor stops working on the dead one, and saves those she can. We're all trying to tell you your patient is dead. You loved your patient, but it's too late, and now it's time to move onto another.

[JoachimSchipper]

You may be inspired by "Fork yeah" - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16839529 - bcantrill on Solaris.

But that was a situation in which an earlier version was already open-sourced. You could consider reimplementing the system as open source, if IP rights and non-competes don't prevent it.

But accepting that the owners killed the system is likely to make you happier.

[corp_confusion]

> You may be inspired by "Fork yeah"

I've seen that. A wonderful talk.

> But accepting that the owners killed the system is likely to make you happier.

I understand. Nevertheless, I always feel there are options for making something better. This Ask HN is about how to do so.

[AnimalMuppet]

You may feel responsible, but can you change anything? It sounds like the answer is no.

You may love it too much to let go - you feel like you would lose a part of yourself if you leave. But if you stay and watch the thing you love being dragged through the mud day after day, is that going to be better, or worse? I suspect worse.

I suspect that you can't do anything to help. I suspect that you need to get out, because staying is going to destroy you. Staying (even at the price of being destroyed) to save others is noble. Staying and being unable to do anything to help isn't noble - just unwise.

[toomuchtodo]

Don’t cling to the Titanic, build a better, stronger boat.

[justaguyhere]

Life is too short to work for people who care for nothing except money/profits. Sometimes it is best to cut our losses and move on, even if we love our users/product. Nothing can be more heart breaking than misplaced trust and misplaced loyalty.