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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?

#371

Post by badfrog »

war1025 wrote: post #369
techslave wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$10k/month gives you pause? that’s intern wages. so that you hired a low skilled person gives you pause? it should.

Outside the tech bubbles, that is an obscene amount of money. The fact that that amount of money is regarded basically as chump change is something that is very strange to certainly myself and I'd guess most people outside those regions.

We're specifically talking about somebody who came from Google, so whether that's a lot to an average person is irrelevant. Somebody making that at Google would be very inexperienced, and the fact that they left to work for much less at another company probably indicates they were struggling at Google. So this person is by no means an accurate representation of a typical Google SWE.

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

#372

Post by ThrowawayR2 »

aerophilic wrote: post #255
pmoriarty wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"what would you have done instead?" Maybe teach or try to make it as an artist... or try to get in to making movies. I have so many other interests apart from computers. Trying to pursue any of them professionally might have lead to something, and, honestly, maybe I would have burnt out on whatever it was or just failed, but at least I wouldn't have kept banging my head against something I hate and dread over and ove…

I realize this may come off poorly, but I intend this as a serious question: What is stopping you from trying a career switch now? I get we all need to pay the bills, but hear me out: could you explore alternative options slowly? One piece of insight I received from my advisor: “How do you know someone really wanted something. They DID it.” If you are serious about wanting to try something else, start doing it. See i…

We all need to pay the bills, as you noted.

It's difficult to hold down a job and re-skill yourself at the same time. It's more difficult as one gets older. It's even more difficult if you're burnt out.

Once you get done with re-skilling, the question still remains: how are you going to get someone to hire you?

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

#373

Post by war1025 »

badfrog wrote: post #371
war1025 wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outside the tech bubbles, that is an obscene amount of money. The fact that that amount of money is regarded basically as chump change is something that is very strange to certainly myself and I'd guess most people outside those regions.

We're specifically talking about somebody who came from Google, so whether that's a lot to an average person is irrelevant. Somebody making that at Google would be very inexperienced, and the fact that they left to work for much less at another company probably indicates they were struggling at Google. So this person is by no means an accurate representation of a typical Google SWE.

But the thing that the OP is talking about is specifically that they think it is nuts that said person made that much money, regardless of the fact that relatively speaking that wasn't much money for the company.

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

#374

Post by singron »

ctvo wrote: post #142
Redoubts wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't call that stressful, just interesting.

What would you call stressful? Impact (on others, on myself permanently) correlates very well to stress for me. High impact decisions cause more stress: getting a project defunded, letting go of people, critical mistakes in execution that cause the company reputation or finance damages, etc.. At the very far end are life and death decisions that impact others and the very low end day-to-day decisions that only impact…

Low impact can also be stressful for me (I might be unusual). First, there is guilt that you are being paid all this money to twiddle your thumbs. After you stop feeling guilty for the wealthy corporation, you realize that you aren't fulfilled if you aren't achieving anything meaningful, which causes you to go on a stressful hunt to scratch any real impact out of the available work.

Then after still achieving nothing, you get nice ratings on your performance reviews, and then you realize that barely anyone is actually having any real impact. There is an enormous organ you are attached to that absorbs money to write fluffy annual performance reviews.

Then you eat ice cream in the nap pod hoping that you can feel content with your extreme comfort, but the most meaningful change in your mental state is a mild brain freeze.

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

#375

Post by drngdds »

mav3rick wrote: post #295
whitehouse3 wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small-medium sized businesses without dedicated devops people. I'm working with an ex-Googler who struggles with basic dev stuff like * How to make a Python environment for a brand new project * Source control basics like commits and merging * Reading documentation or using SO * Basic command-line debugging or even using print() statements! I've asked a few times: "How did you get anything done before?". And (S)He re…

Wtf ? This is not true. 99% of devs at Google would go above and beyond this.

Yeah, I work at another large tech company and I'm pretty sure all of my coworkers know that stuff or would be able to easily figure it out.

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

#376

Post by badfrog »

username90 wrote: post #305
whitehouse3 wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small-medium sized businesses without dedicated devops people. I'm working with an ex-Googler who struggles with basic dev stuff like * How to make a Python environment for a brand new project * Source control basics like commits and merging * Reading documentation or using SO * Basic command-line debugging or even using print() statements! I've asked a few times: "How did you get anything done before?". And (S)He re…

> I don't thing FAANG's are touchy about firing people. Google basically doesn't fire people unless they are grossly incompetent or if you broke some rules. It is very likely it took a year and a half to fire the person and they joined your company thanks to their credentials at Google and not their skills.

Does Google have a time limit for new grads to reach L4? Seems like this person may have hit that wall.

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

#377

Post by StacyRoberts »

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…

I made exactly the same choice after the dot com boom. I have a wonderful rich life with less money but very high quality of life and more than anything, freewill, compared to peers.

Highly recommended. The most valuable things to me are love first and time second. The benefits of freedom to be good and feel good about what I do are immeasurable.

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

#378

Post by mark_l_watson »

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…

Thanks for sharing that, good example! I have done well in my career, but for 20+ years working for large companies, I took Mondays off every week and had HR/accounting only pay me 80% of my salary. Later when I was a consultant, I would also take long periods off, like you do. I left money on the table, and I am fine with that.

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

#379

Post by StacyRoberts »

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…

I don't believe the grass is always greener on the other side. In fact, many people agree with me that the grass on my side is way greener.

It takes effort on my part to control envy from others. I actively suppress it.

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

#380

Post by crucialfelix »

tiborsaas wrote: post #177
lotsofpulp wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beginning in 50s, health insurance alone is $25k per year in premiums with after tax money plus ~$13k out of pocket maximum per year. Don’t know how a couple can afford to forego that, especially if they have assets that can be taken, the hospital will come for them.

Oh, I almost always forget how fucked up American healthcare system is. However with this much money, even a 1M stacked, one can live a happy life in anywhere in the world. I have a friend living in Berlin working 10h / week for a SF startup remotely and meanwhile he enjoys playing music and building stuff for fun.

I live in Berlin, pay $5.3k health insurance with $1k deductable.

I was considering applying to remote jobs in SF but I think the time zone would mess with my family life.

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