[legerdemain]

I have a non-traditional, non-CS background as a software engineer.

I worked for a number of years in my first tech job that made me increasingly anxious. At the same time, I believed that I was completely uncompetitive as a candidate, and that leaving was professional suicide.

Last year, the situation came to a climax and I left the company without any plans for the future. After decompressing for a few months, I started looking for work again, and was very surprised that only a bit of study and preparation (as a non-CS grad, mind you) got me a number of offers from a range of software companies. Every offer I got was better than what I was getting at the company I had left.

Just an anecdote, but I don't think it's that unusual, especially for people early on in their software careers.