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Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier

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Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier

#51

Post by yieldcrv »

some answers mention impact, that isn't important for me, I have a life and the job isn't part of my identity

but I did have a bad commute once to a boring office park from San Francisco to San Mateo

the people in that region said my commute length was lucky, which felt like collective cope and brainwashing because of the shared compromises they made

I unsubscribed and took at 20% paycut to have a job in the Mission, which was a 10 minute walking and subway commute, and in the middle of trendy cafes and shops all day. Most of my friends could only go to the Mission at night or on weekends, and many of those same cafes were not open then, or were packed for a different crowd's rush. I felt really lucky, and in these salary ranges there wasn't a compromise in paying for things and saving.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier

#52

Post by cybervegan »

I left a decently paid managed service 3rd line linux/foss admin position in 2019 to do projects with a friend. The pandemic happened, and things changed and got weird. I did a stint as a contractor again for nearly a year, doing deskside and infrastructure support (general IT dogsbody) part time, for a small startup; after they got bought out I ended up doing part time digital service delivery (laptops and mobile device support with a bit of MS stack admin). Much lower stress levels and more predictable hours. Not looking back.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier

#53

Post by itronitron »

My last two job changes I took a paycut, which speaks to the inverse relationship between my job performance and interviewing skills. I don't mind starting low as I know I'll move up quickly.

However in both cases during the first 1.5 to 2 years there were one or more 'senior-level' people quite aloof, disrespectful, and unprofessional in some of their remarks toward me. Not sure if it was my biased perception, or more likely they just treat everyone like that.

Point being, when you take a pay cut your more exposed to that sort of treatment.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier

#54

Post by joshcsimmons »

philco wrote: post #10
rapjr9 wrote: post #8

I left the electronic warfare industry even though I'd helped build a program from nothing to a product bringing in $100M (probably billions since I left) because I didn't want to be in the war industry any longer where the entire legacy of my lifes work could be measured in destruction. Worked as a software engineer in industry for a while, gradually moving up in salary, then went into contracting. Contracting seeme…

rapjr9 - I commend you for using your talents to help the world instead of hurting it. From one human to another, thank you.

Why? He was building tools. Tools can be used to defend or to attack.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier

#55

Post by ChrisKingWebDev »

I was working for a fintech startup and hating it. It was boring and the upcoming work was about 6 months of incorporating a credit card system into the code.

I quit that so I could open a music school with two of my friends and bandmates, with the idea that I could go back to part-time dev work to pay the bills while the school gets going.

And that's what happened. I got a part-time front-end job at an online game, which I had already been playing for about 3 years. They had a "come join the team" posting in the news ticker of the game. I'm making about the same hourly, but only working 20 hours a week, which is the perfect amount. The rest of the team is on a different continent so I basically just pump out my code as I see fit. No morning status calls, no scrums, etc. And I'm pretty sure I can work more hours once if needed, depending on what happens with the school.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier

#56

Post by doublerabbit »

frithsun wrote: post #41
tasuki wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can understand software work can be tiring. But I can't imagine it being so tiring I'd rather do a factory job (maaaybe if it was a bread factory or lego factory or some such). How is it?

I'm not trying to sell anybody on it, but it was certainly the right choice for me. Maybe it's just that I'm, burned out, in my forties, and I would rather make widgets all day than learn another framework.

35 and feeling the same.

This contract working as an linux engineer bank only allows me to work 24 months without having to take three months off.

Working 15 years none stop since the age of 17, time to rest for a bit.

I hope to work in a old persons retirement home next year. So much wisdom and knowledge that year by year goes and is forgotten, I would love to hear past time stories.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier

#57

Post by itronitron »

mikrl wrote: post #43
tasuki wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can understand software work can be tiring. But I can't imagine it being so tiring I'd rather do a factory job (maaaybe if it was a bread factory or lego factory or some such). How is it?

From experience, counting small stock (10s of pieces) in a warehouse allowed me to zone out into a high fidelity mental landscape. At one point I was doing my job and vividly hallucinating what I was going to do in dwarf fortress later that evening. Honestly one of the trippiest experiences I’ve had and a sign that I should probably be applying my mental abilities to something else, which I did eventually.

There is a comedian who would tell a story, years ago, about how they knew they needed to move on from their job after they earned 'employee of the month' for three months in a row, without even trying.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier

#58

Post by FLT8 »

I left a well paid gig in the finance industry, where I'd been supporting a team of ~15 through a large restructure. I was getting fed up with the pointlessness of it all - there was more distraction than value creation going on and it was the kind of place that succeeded despite itself. I was stressed-by-proxy for my team who had all been told they needed to reapply for their jobs, and I needed a change. I left, and went to work for a small government agency, I think it was around 1/2 the pay. The work was ultimately much more meaningful and fulfilling, and I could make a bigger difference in the smaller team, but believe it or not the small-office politics and personalities there ended up getting to me, and I decided that if I was going to have to deal with that kind of BS anyway, I might as well do it for more money. I'm back in a large org now, but with a different perspective, which has made it easier mentally to deal with things. I pick my battles, try to help improve things as much as I can for my team, and let a lot more things wash over me. I'm still not completely fulfilled, but I'll be able to retire earlier here than I could otherwise and that thought keeps me going.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier

#59

Post by TrevorFSmith »

Most gigs are fine as long as you refuse the responsibilities of leadership. The compensation bump rarely compensates for the weight of catching the crap that's falling down the org chart. Don't let your ego drive you up the org chart either, it will never be satisfied.

Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier

#60

Post by badpun »

elevatedastalt wrote: post #48
bre1010 wrote: post #20

Worked at Facebook from 2016 - 2020. I couldn't handle how flippant the leadership was about profiting off of genocides, Trump, and the degradation of everyone's mental health. Now I work for my county government as a computer programmer. I make 20% of what I would've been making at Facebook if I hadn't left (60k vs 300k) but I don't regret it at all. My work helps real people in my community instead of siphoning off…

In what way was the leadership profiting off of Trump?

I imagine both Trump mania and Trump-induced rage were massive drivers of traffic for Facebook.
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