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Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

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Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#31

Post by testmasterflex »

marshallbananas wrote: post #26

I burnt out hard after almost 20 years programming, mostly web things, last decade in the full-stack JavaScript ecosystem. Last year I started building simple electronic stuff with the Raspberry Pi Pico board. It's not far off from programming and I had to learn C (Python feels too JS somehow), but being able to literally move things with electrons and code and talk directly to the metal awakened something in me. I g…

Any special YouTube channel you got inspiration to do that particular project?

Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#32

Post by LewisVerstappen »

chii wrote: post #29
majikaja wrote: post #21

If I had $1m lying around now I would drop everything and focus on longevity/medical research. Who cares about making improvements to gadgets if we're all going to die in a few decades. The faster this tech bubble bursts and people stop flocking to engineering the better.

> I would drop everything and focus on longevity/medical research if you are not someone who is already trained at this field, it's inefficient to start on your own. You'd be giving up your expertise and productivity in tech, in return for mediocre output in the research. Much better option is to keep working in tech, earn as much money as is feasible, and then funnel the excess funds into companies that _do_ longeti…

> Much better option is to keep working in tech, earn as much money as is feasible, and then funnel the excess funds into companies that _do_ longetivity research.

THat's a good idea. But I think an even better strategy would be to start a cryptocurrency hedge fund and later start an associated exchange.

This will allow us to maximize the amount of money we earn, so we can have the greatest impact on companies that do longevity research.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#34

Post by majikaja »

chii wrote: post #29
majikaja wrote: post #21

If I had $1m lying around now I would drop everything and focus on longevity/medical research. Who cares about making improvements to gadgets if we're all going to die in a few decades. The faster this tech bubble bursts and people stop flocking to engineering the better.

> I would drop everything and focus on longevity/medical research if you are not someone who is already trained at this field, it's inefficient to start on your own. You'd be giving up your expertise and productivity in tech, in return for mediocre output in the research. Much better option is to keep working in tech, earn as much money as is feasible, and then funnel the excess funds into companies that _do_ longeti…

I'm not sure if money is the bottleneck - I think billionaires are already throwing as much funds as they can to such companies. I don't think a few extra millionaires are going to make a difference.

I'm not particularly concerned about partially starting over in a new field - I'm not that old so my skillset is not particularly tremendous. If anything, I feel coming from outside the traditional system and already having financial freedom is a positive. When I was in academia (not CS) I didn't feel the standard of the people there was particularly great and my trust in top-down organizations is generally quite low.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#36

Post by earthnail »

What helped me was surround myself with people I like - I mean, work wise. That’s much easier said than done.

Michael and Dalton touch on this on a recent video where they compare modern FAANG with Goldman Sachs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia7IKW0yuG0

The founder culture is so full of kool-aid that it can be tough to find those people there, too, but I found overall that that was the best place for me. Interestingly, I found the older and more successful people to be much more sane, and super happy to meet smart sane young people. I have a lot of older friends now; many are founders of large companies who are just glad to have normal conversations - the kind of people that as a FAANG middle manager would be status contacts to brag about but now are just nice folks to grab a pint with.

The good people in tech still exist, and they’re often at key positions. But at Goldman Sachs I mean FAANG you’ll have a tough time fighting through middle management. And BOY was that FAANG culture bad for my mental health…

I hope this makes some sense. Watch the video, I think it will cheer you up big time:).

Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#37

Post by amrocha »

LewisVerstappen wrote: post #32
chii wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would drop everything and focus on longevity/medical research if you are not someone who is already trained at this field, it's inefficient to start on your own. You'd be giving up your expertise and productivity in tech, in return for mediocre output in the research. Much better option is to keep working in tech, earn as much money as is feasible, and then funnel the excess funds into companies that _do_ longeti…

> Much better option is to keep working in tech, earn as much money as is feasible, and then funnel the excess funds into companies that _do_ longetivity research. THat's a good idea. But I think an even better strategy would be to start a cryptocurrency hedge fund and later start an associated exchange. This will allow us to maximize the amount of money we earn, so we can have the greatest impact on companies that d…

That's a great way of minimizing the money you earn

Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#38

Post by joshvince »

If I were in your position, I’d evaluate my relationship with “work”. Challenges you describe might be perennial wherever you go, so maybe the question is not “how can I be more fulfilled at work?” But rather “how can I maximise the fulfilment I get outside of work?”

You sound like you’re going to have to trade your labour for money (ie you don’t have enough to become independent yet) so if you accept that fact, perhaps you can find a non stressful job and discover meaning in the Real parts of your life. Good luck

Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#39

Post by solarist »

testmasterflex wrote: post #31
marshallbananas wrote: post #26

I burnt out hard after almost 20 years programming, mostly web things, last decade in the full-stack JavaScript ecosystem. Last year I started building simple electronic stuff with the Raspberry Pi Pico board. It's not far off from programming and I had to learn C (Python feels too JS somehow), but being able to literally move things with electrons and code and talk directly to the metal awakened something in me. I g…

Any special YouTube channel you got inspiration to do that particular project?

I like very much Andreas Spiess for making projects with microcontrollers and his tutorials:

https://youtube.com/@AndreasSpiess

He has also a second channel for HAM radio.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What's next?

#40

Post by chii »

LewisVerstappen wrote: post #32
chii wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would drop everything and focus on longevity/medical research if you are not someone who is already trained at this field, it's inefficient to start on your own. You'd be giving up your expertise and productivity in tech, in return for mediocre output in the research. Much better option is to keep working in tech, earn as much money as is feasible, and then funnel the excess funds into companies that _do_ longeti…

> Much better option is to keep working in tech, earn as much money as is feasible, and then funnel the excess funds into companies that _do_ longetivity research. THat's a good idea. But I think an even better strategy would be to start a cryptocurrency hedge fund and later start an associated exchange. This will allow us to maximize the amount of money we earn, so we can have the greatest impact on companies that d…

> But I think an even better strategy would be to start a cryptocurrency hedge fund and later start an associated exchange.

> ???

> profit

> This will allow us to maximize the amount of money we earn

So if you could fill in the ??? on how to profit, then yes, this is a good way too. Note that it needs to be legal.

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