[derekja]

I had a BigCo manager once who gave me some really good advice, that is to publicly let it be known that you are interviewing at least once a year. Now, in your case I'm not sure I'd let it generally be known how much I was interviewing, but letting people know you're looking at what's out there is usually not too bad an idea. Who knows, maybe they'll be able to do something to address your concerns?

But if not, and you just don't have any passion there, please leave. Life's too short to work on boring crap and decent developers are rarely at risk of starving.

[codeonfire]

I have to say in my opinion I don't think this is good advice for a developer unless you don't care about being fired, which honestly you shouldn't since being a developer is awesome right now.

Any employee should treat their ability to quit as a loaded weapon. Don't pull it out unless you are going to use it.

[big_co]

Right, I have already decided to leave. That's definite. It's just a matter of how to go about doing it. Quitting immediately frees me up to interview with more folks, to pick and choose so I don't make the same mistake again.

The concern here is how potential employers look at this. Would they rather hire someone who's already working, or someone who doesn't have a job? I'd like to get some opinions from people who make hiring decisions if possible.

Thanks

[pudakai]

Don't leave until you close on other job. As others have noted, your value plunges in the eyes of other hiring folks even though you feel you are the same person.

You also are perceived to be less in a position of strength on compensation negotiations.

And finally, since you don't have a job, there will be a little bit of a question about why you left your last job, a little bit of a non-positive aura about that.

This is just the way the interview/hiring dynamics go, whether we think it is fair or not.