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Ask HN: Am I committing career suicide?

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Re: Ask HN: Am I committing career suicide?

#31
5+ years bankrolled on savings from working full time? Well done. I mean damn, well done.

You are not crazy to give it up. I can't speak from experience; I am in my early 30's and gave up a lower rate about six years ago to good result, but that's just anecdotal. It seems to me you have a very strong position: You have serious industry experience and, from your description, very strong financial responsibility. It's almost irritating that this should be impressive, but it is: You are a whale among greedy remoras. ;)

It is certainly obvious to you that this is a risk. Being single and without dependents does help, but that also brings to mind the question of priorities. You're in a position, now, where you earn enough to wrap up your retirement reasonably early, if this pace keeps up. If that is what you want, then you might consider that starting a family -- if that's a priority for you -- could actually make your current income sources very, very valuable in a meaningful sense.

If your primary goal is work satisfaction... then yes, I would say this is an excellent opportunity to step out of your current environment (calling it a rut or anything else would paint a biased picture, I think) and potentially do something more rewarding, in terms of personal fulfillment. I would not go into such a venture with the expectation of more lucrative results, though. You seem to be in a good position. There are certainly many startups that succeed, and that won't change. But the reality will always be that more fail.

Be careful. You are in a good position, and you seem to know it. My suggestion would be to try and decide what it is you would be happiest doing, or at least deciding on things you want to accomplish. If you can manage that, then you will at least have something interesting to work towards. If not, then you may need more time before you can do something new and expect it to end well or at least satisfy you.

Re: Ask HN: Am I committing career suicide?

#33
post #4

Do it. Your savings exist precisely for that sort of situation. Take time off, and figure out what you want to do. Maybe it'll be freelancing/indie development. Maybe in 6 months you'll want to come back to the tech world. Or maybe you'll just say "fuck it" and go teach high school mathematics or help out with IT infrastructure in third world countries or whatever. The point is: you only live once, do it.

Perhaps good advice for HORRID reasons. Anyone spouting "YOLO" or any such thing should be ignored out of hand.

"You only live once" used to be perfectly fine before a bunch of kids gave it bad connotations.

Once upon a time it used to be a way of saying that you only have finite amount of time on earth and you should make the best of it. Somewhat similar to "Carpe Diem" and "Momento Mori".

The fact that a bunch of kids that use it as reasoning to smoke alot of dope and do stupid shit doesn't change the original meaning in the eyes of many folk.

Re: Ask HN: Am I committing career suicide?

#34
post #27

Do it, and come to Malaysia. Savings that lasts 5-10 years in the states would lasts you at least 20-30 years here. Most people here speaks English fluently, and the startups/hackers culture here are vibrant and growing. My good friend quit his cozy programming job in Canada and spent a year travelling and hacking in Malaysia + Singapore. He left with more money than when he started (took very very few consulting job…

I could probably move to Ecuador or Cambodia and retire outright. Trust me, I've been considering it. But there's something about the developed world that I enjoy. When I traveled through Asia, I like Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea. But Singapore seems to be even more expensive than the US?

What's beautiful about Malaysia is that it's somewhere in between. The major cities (KL/Penang) are like developed world, but the living costs are relatively (way) lower.

Re: Ask HN: Am I committing career suicide?

#35

Not sure if this is a popular sentiment, but the Bay Area is expensive. I would probably move to a cheaper area for a while if I wanted to work on cool stuff on my own for a while without taking a nice salary.

I've been thinking a similar thing. It's probably not very smart, but one idea would be to move to Honolulu. Same cost as the Bay Area, but much more beautiful and no tech echo chamber.

If anyone has a suggestion about equally beautiful places in the US that are cheaper, please share! Virginia Beach? Fort Lauderdale?

Re: Ask HN: Am I committing career suicide?

#36
post #30
post #12

Would it be possible to make a few apps on the side, see if they get any traction and then decide whether or not to jump? You could try taking a month off (without resigning) just to work full time on this. This way you could figure out if you're passionate about mobile apps without actually giving up your job.

I have a line of Android apps that have a few thousand downloads. So far I've made about $30 in half a year with ads. But I'm positive that it would be a different story if I could dedicate myself to that full time.

Cool, so it sounds like you know what you're doing and you've got a pretty long runway. Go ahead, jump. This will probably end well.

Re: Ask HN: Am I committing career suicide?

#37
I may be echoing others, but I to say to go for it.

As for the "gap", this is simple. Start a business. If you're going to be making and selling mobile apps, you'll want a basic corporate entity behind you anyways. Now, instead of being "unemployed guy building apps" you're "Founder of Mobile App Development Consultancy" or something along those lines.

Given what you stated about not liking the corporate world, that's completely understandable. I certainly prefer smaller companies, even startup, bootstrapping level ones. J2EE and .NET aren't strongly used outside of the big enterprise-y corporate world. Given your experience with Java, I'd say you might find Clojure to be a great move and still be able to leverage your Java past.

Go for it! Get yourself an LLC or similar and build some apps. If you have 5+ years of financial runway, you should certainly be able to find something self-sustaining in that time. :)

Jump and don't look back!

Re: Ask HN: Am I committing career suicide?

#38

Do it, and come to Malaysia. Savings that lasts 5-10 years in the states would lasts you at least 20-30 years here. Most people here speaks English fluently, and the startups/hackers culture here are vibrant and growing. My good friend quit his cozy programming job in Canada and spent a year travelling and hacking in Malaysia + Singapore. He left with more money than when he started (took very very few consulting job…

I have to agree with Cheng.

Malaysia is probably your best bet for somewhere in between if you are looking for a balance between the developed world and stretching your savings. KL is a pretty laid back place to be with awesome food! And with AirAsia being based in Malaysia, you could pretty much travel anywhere in Asia for cheaps. And if you ever decide you are running out of money or are bored, there are a multitude of companies/startups you can start consulting for!

Btw, bearwithclaws, how did your friend end up with more money than when he started? I'm curious.

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