241–250 of 320 posts
Quit and did my own thing for a year. That worked out pretty well, but one man team got old. Now been working at mega tech co 2, best job of my career. Comp doesn’t match the hot startup though.
Do it, nobody cares.
After skimming half the thread and only seeing one view (DO IT! It’s GREAT!), I’m going to throw this out there: - You will have heavy selection bias here (people who did not succeed might be working at a crappier job and unable to comment at this moment) - You will also have confirmation bias among those who willingly quit (“of course it was the right move”) - You are asking a very unique set of people with very val…
OP is also asking people their experiences, but those experiences are informed by their local set of pros and cons. What I've encountered: 1. I've never had bigger improvements in my financial outcomes than when I said 'f-it' and pulled the ripcord 2. Doing so dropped my into a stresspit that was grinding me into a red paste, resulting eventually in being Riffed 3. Which let me find a job that, while not great, has g…
removed myself from an incredibly toxic environment. the relief was incredible.
I then landed my first job in my new field and loved it.
10/10 would recommend to anyone (providing you have at least a few months runway of personal funds)
He ended up in a 6 month job search, and when he finally got a job it was in a role no more senior than either of the 2 he had just left. Those 6 months were pretty grueling for him, and I'm sure a lot of the reason it took so long was because it was hard to find a job in the pandemic, but when you're trying to find a job and failing to, it wears on your self esteem and your soul, in ways that compound the difficulty of finding the job. And realistically, 6 months isn't even that long when it could've become 1 or 2 years.
That said, I became insanely burnt out at my job after he left and kept telling him that I was going to quit with nothing lined up. He just kept telling me it would be the stupidest mistake for me to do that and for my situation (still early in my career, have some savings but not a ton, some minor family-related issues going on) he was definitely right. I did work through the burn-out, though I may have permanently lost some enthusiasm for software development because of it. Or possibly I'm just still burnt out.
I've done this 3 times in my 8 year career so far. I pretty much leave every job this way. I like to take a few months between jobs to do my own thing and take a break. If you are financially stable enough and are in a spot in your career where you don't think you'll need to worry about getting another job too much. DO IT. Looking back at the last 8 years, those periods off are the periods I remember the most. One ti…
Big tech companies rarely have a problem pushing a start date a few months in the future. At my last positions at G and Snap, HR had no problem accommodating my request that I not start until about 5 months after my interview. I was just upfront and told them that for some personal reasons, I'd be taking an extended break between positions, and wasn't interested in interviewing unless they could promise me a start da…
After skimming half the thread and only seeing one view (DO IT! It’s GREAT!), I’m going to throw this out there: - You will have heavy selection bias here (people who did not succeed might be working at a crappier job and unable to comment at this moment) - You will also have confirmation bias among those who willingly quit (“of course it was the right move”) - You are asking a very unique set of people with very val…
But some lessons learned. Manage your money carefully so you're not always in a inflexible spot, and manage your stress levels carefully. Pay attention to what is affecting you and why, and be good/take care of yourself emotionally so you're not always in stress/reactive mode.
After skimming half the thread and only seeing one view (DO IT! It’s GREAT!), I’m going to throw this out there: - You will have heavy selection bias here (people who did not succeed might be working at a crappier job and unable to comment at this moment) - You will also have confirmation bias among those who willingly quit (“of course it was the right move”) - You are asking a very unique set of people with very val…
>Quitting to do your own thing, as long as you show employers why you did it in a year or two, shouldn’t be a detriment for getting rehired. That said, hiring managers may question if you’d quit again in a year (depending on your past employment tenure)… It shouldn't be a detriment for getting rehired, period. If you are qualified for a role and pass an interview bar, there is no reason a potential employer should ca…
Knowledge has a half life. If you have taken 6 months off, and have an interesting story, this is not a big deal. (For example, I took 8 months off to live in Istanbul. I had two interviews and two offers when coming back, one of which was completely outside my network.)
However, I had also just taken a month to do a functional course, and had worked half-heartedly on a startup that went nowhere. I had a story.
The longer you take off, the more of a story you will need, even if that's "in the last 3 months, I built a small toy to get myself reacquainted with React and Python" even if this is a Rails omakase shop.
Or, that story may be something completely different. All I care about is "can you hit the ground running?"
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Practical question: if you're in the US, how do you deal with health insurance?
ACA (ObamaCare) is available. Your monthly cost for top tier coverage can be as low as ~$5 a month for a family of 4. The qualifying income cap is based on you anticipated "Modified Adjusted Gross Income". They don't count assets. This means that if you may have losses that bring your income for the year down to the income limits, then you can honestly say that and get subsidies. If you currently don't have any incom…