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Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?

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Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?

#321

Post by agotterer »

randomsearch wrote: post #89

> How do I know what the source of the problem is? You don’t like working for FANG. That seems like a totally normal sane response to me. I’d be more concerned about the people who love that corporate environment rather than those it doesn’t give meaning to. Some people like the security and routine and structure (understandable), some people like the politics (weird), but I don’t think you need to overthink this. Th…

You are touching on something called the "4 pillars of happiness":

1) Having a purpose and meaning

2) Feeling as though you are in control

3) Feeling as though you are making progress

4) Being connected to other like-minded people

If you Google it you'll see similar ways of describing the same concept. I've personally used it as a framework in my professional career to help me understand why I'm unhappy. You can then use that information to identify opportunities to improve happiness or as a realization that a pillar won't improve. What you do from there is up to you. I personally strive for 4 out of 4, I can survive (sometimes) with 3 out of 4, anything less and it's time for a change.

Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?

#322

Post by sriram_malhar »

smrr723 wrote: post #216
sriram_malhar wrote: post #53

I quit full-time work in 2001, after being burned out in the dot com boom. I did well for myself financially after the startup I was in got bought. The phrase "well" is of course subjective, considering that no colleague of mine quit. I left a whole lot of money on the table, but never once have I regretted it. I decided that the name of the game is to optimise quality of life. That means, infrequent brutal deadlines…

> That means, infrequent brutal deadlines, minimal (pref. zero) commute, opportunity to learn, and spend time with family and friends and be of use to society at large. This is what I'm aiming for in the near term, but how on earth do you find a position with infrequent brutal deadlines?

I have not found one. That's mostly my fault. I try to jump in whole when I'm getting stuff done.

What I meant to say earlier is that in a consulting lifestyle, one gets to choose how soon to move to the next gig. For me, it is always a few months between gigs, so the average number of deadlines per year is low :)

Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?

#323

Post by sdegutis »

> I am cynical of the "mission", and I can't connect my work to people I care about. How do I know what the source of the problem is?

You just answered your own question. You see that the work you're doing isn't really benefiting society in a way that's meaningful.

What you have is wonderful: you care about people, and want to improve people's lives, and not just superficially. Please don't ever lose that!

It sounds like you already have the money to just quit for a while. I suggest "taking a sabbatical", in other words just quit and spend more time with the people you care about, learn more deeply what are the source of their problems, and figure out how you can help solve them. Then start working full time at that.

And the solution usually isn't technology.

Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?

#324

Post by ambicapter »

o-__-o wrote: post #246
christiansakai wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am 32 now. I am inspired to read this. I still need to get over the fact that I am not making anywhere near a FAANG engineer.

I was you, 5 years later I am working at a FAANG making 400k/yr Mind you I was making only 80k less at my last job, a non-FAANG startup. So not saying FAANG is everything, but the workload is sufficiently less than the mad max startup lifestyle.

What did you do in the 5 intervening years?

Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?

#325

Post by NotHereNotThere »

ghaff wrote: post #290
fooker wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>barring misfortune like a health incident. Here is a reminder to everyone that a health incident is only a financial misfortune in the US.

If a health incident makes you unable to work, that's a financial issue in much of the world.

Not being able to work is one thing.

Not being able to work and have hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt because of it is a whole other situation

Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?

#326

Post by the_cat_kittles »

C1sc0cat wrote: post #180
the_cat_kittles wrote: post #41

i have nothing but contempt for the industry at large, even though there are occasional companies that are not completely horseshit. its great to have the inside experience so you can speak with authority about all the ways its fucking garbage. most people here have their personalities too wrapped up in it to realize. pretty pathetic overall, but everyone's motivations and particular jobs differ, so i dont want to pa…

Id suggest you chill out and get some therapy

unless you actually grapple with the substance of what i said, you are cloaking a condescending dismissal in a “friendly suggestion” which is kind of embarrasing

Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?

#327

Post by cloverich »

greggman2 wrote: post #165
randomsearch wrote: post #89

> How do I know what the source of the problem is? You don’t like working for FANG. That seems like a totally normal sane response to me. I’d be more concerned about the people who love that corporate environment rather than those it doesn’t give meaning to. Some people like the security and routine and structure (understandable), some people like the politics (weird), but I don’t think you need to overthink this. Th…

> You don’t like working for FANG. That seems like a totally normal sane response to me. I’d be more concerned about the people who love that corporate environment rather than those it doesn’t give meaning to. There are lots of people at Amazon, Google, and I'm sure Facebook that find meaning in their job. Improving search actually does help people, billions of them. Improving the web stack (Chromium) also helps bill…

I think the distinction is that FAANG companies are so large, all of these experiences could happen to different people:

    - Works on core or important projects that are released regularly (yay)
    - Works on important or cool projects that get canned before being release, or cancelled shortly after (fun for some, deeply frustrating and demoralizing for others)
    - Same as #2, but the person see's it coming a year ahead of time (my scenario in non-FAANG. Impossible to stay motivated)
Unless you can get back towards #1, the work will be deeply dissatisfying for most. Though some people don't care all that much, and as long as they like the team or their work life balance, are perfectly happy. That's fine too. But I think hn attracts a lot of start-up crowd, and most of us identify strongly with position #2 / #3 being deeply dissatisfying. So it colors our vision quite a bit.

Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?

#328

Post by ghaff »

ptero wrote: post #257
mertnesvat wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your answer is very inspiring and also perfect example for youngsters to understand money and productivity are not the only things that matters in life. I had a similar junction in my life and I selected money instead of pursuing family and academic life, now I'm starting to think maybe wasn't a good decision. I'm getting older (38) Do you mind if I ask did you also quit your job to pursue Phd? Nowadays started worki…

The grass always seems greener on the other side. Academic careers have their own stresses and challenges with many postdocs and pre-tenure professors working slave hours at just-above-poverty wages for many years. If you want to do academic research (and teach a lot), you are definitely young enough to get a PhD. But make sure you are switching because academia is what you love doing, not because you hate your curre…

>The grass always seems greener on the other side.

Everyone should memorize this adage. Sometimes making a change is the right decision of course. But I've also known a lot of people over the years who just got an itch to make a change because of some relatively minor gripes. And things did not work out as hoped.

Academia in particular is easy to idealize based on successful tenured professors at top tier universities who seem to have a pretty good life.

Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?

#329

Post by sriram_malhar »

realitychecker9 wrote: post #239
sriram_malhar wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I consult, I teach (distributed systems) at a university, I sit on a few technical advisory boards for a few companies. I don't really go out of my way to find clients; word gets around and I get referrals. If the problem interests me, I'm happy to sit with the potential client and give pointers and advice (for no charge) even if I don't want to take that project (cf. rule 1 -- never pack my calendar). It is a win-wi…

"Once you own a home outright, and health insurance is taken care of, the other expenses are completely manageable. I don't need to earn a lot to lead a rich life." That is the checklist of a rich person, own home outright, health insurance taken care of, and manageable other expenses. If you were the same age, but had no home ownership, no health insurance, and dependants how would that change your perspective?

I aim to earn about 50K a year. That's my treading-water level. Does that sound doable? My wife and I have discovered that it is possible to lead a rich life within that income in the Bay Area -- international travel, more books than we have time for, eating well with friends and so on. Insurance comes out of this amount as well.

A young person with desired skills could easily be making more than twice this amount in the Bay Area. Owning a house is strictly optional (and a bit mad, to own a house in earthquake country, esp at those prices!)

Point is, many people vastly overestimate how much they need to enjoy a rich life. There's plenty of room at the bottom :)

Now, 50K is huge for the vast majority of the population, so this is all still rich talk. But the HN community is probably in the top 2 percentile of the world's population, so I feel little freer in saying so.

Re: Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?

#330

Post by hintymad »

A surprise can be that there are plenty of fulfilling and financially rewarding jobs out there. See, it's not about FANG vs other companies. It's about big Co. vs smaller ones. You'd be surprised to see how easy it is to get challenging and meaning projects in a fast-growing small companies. You'd be surprised to see that fewer people does not not mean more work, but less and innovative work. You'd also be surprised to see that the financial reward can be much higher.

Note I'm not saying big companies are bad. They are innovating. They can pay you handsomely. They can be better managed. Most important of all, some people are just really good at navigating company bureaucracy and moving things forward -- they should stay at those companies. What I'm saying is that smaller companies offer different dynamics without necessarily compromising total package or meaning of your projects.

What? You're concerned that there are too few good smaller companies. Well, let's just say the Bay Area disagrees, at least for the past 20 years.

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