Possibly, a bit irresponsible to write off a large group of people as idiots, not knowing them individually, or their situations?

I will say that developers in similar situations will leave if they don’t believe in the new leadership’s *vision*, don’t align with their *core values*, and/or their methods. It isn’t as simple as “who is in the right and who is wrong ”, but an issue over compatibility of beliefs/values. A developer who has integrity does not have to work against their values. And shame on anyone who says they should.

As far as sticking around for the glory of turning a company around into a profitable one, individual developers won’t get inducted into the hall of fame of industry rockstars for this. It will be C-Level, finance and management who get the credit.

As for a chance for promotions and to climb the corporate ladder, finally I can agree with you. However, I’ve been in the situation of surviving mass downsizings, and being among the few people who remain, the work is insane, everything’s a mess and morale is very low. And still, advancement isn’t guaranteed.

There’s the third option: stay and see how bad it gets, leave if you can’t handle it (forfeiting the severance). Not exactly the smartest to turn down free money, but this gives you flexibility.

This hustle-culture is getting old. I’ve hustled hard my whole career as a developer and have nothing particularly spectacular to show for it - except for an extraordinary burnout. Those who hustle, hey good on them if it gets them where they need to be in life, but don’t force it on others or it’ll start becoming the norm.