Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Am I committing career suicide?

news.ycombinator.com

1–10 of 89 posts

Ask HN: Am I committing career suicide?

#1
I've been working in IT as a software engineer for almost 12 years now. Half of that in Europe with J2EE, the latter half in the Bay Area as a web developer in .NET.

I'm starting to become more and more bored with work. I started to look around for other opportunities, but I feel it's hard to do that while working full time. Also, my problem does not seem to be with that particular job, it's with the whole corporate world. Being forced to sit at a desk the whole day. I'm still motivated to work on my own projects after work and on the weekends. I still like programming. I just don't like coding stuff for other people.

Long story short, I'm preparing to take a time out. Maybe one year, maybe two, maybe only six months. My savings could probably sustain my current lifestyle for 5-10 years, if not more. My plan would be to crank out mobile apps, maybe one every two months, see if any of them can make some money. If it doesn't work, I could use them as a reference to get a mobile dev job, hopefully at a company with a product I can be passionate about.

Am I crazy to give up a six figure salary just because I don't feel like being employed anymore? I'm in my mid-late thirties, will I even find a new job with a gap in my resume like this? Any first hand experiences? I'm single, no kids.

Re: Ask HN: Am I committing career suicide?

#2
You're definitely not crazy. I am not as far into my own career as you, but I would even say that it seems the crazy thing to do, in your position, is to do nothing. You want more from life? Get it! You will be able to find a job later, guaranteed, especially if you kept hacking after leaving your big-co job! (Do re-adjust expectations, though. A start-up will not pay you nearly as much as your last job did, although you should get stock. You know all this, but it will still be a big change.)

Re: Ask HN: Am I committing career suicide?

#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.

Re: Ask HN: Am I committing career suicide?

#6
> My savings could probably sustain my current lifestyle for 5-10 years, if not more.

You're successful,

> I'm single, no kids.

and you don't have obligations.

Considering these, I'd quite safely say this is a game you are not likely to lose. While it's a decision you need to make by yourself, your worst case scenario is better than lives of most people in the field. Plus, taking a year or two to work on startups as far as I can see is quite normal and even seen in a positive light in many places.

Re: Ask HN: Am I committing career suicide?

#9
Neither you are crazy nor you are the only with such feelings. I am a 3x entrepreneur, have sold 2 companies and 25 years old. I am working for the acquirer of my last company for last 14 months and I am already tired of writing code for someone else. I am all set to leave my six figure salary and keep hacking & building products that inner me wants to build. Believe me, getting a job at the same pay scale will never be a problem for you. Go ahead and start working on your own ideas full time.

Re: Ask HN: Am I committing career suicide?

#10
You're absolutely not crazy. I'm 30 and in the midst of traveling the US meeting with software developers for 5 months. Every minute, both the ups and downs, have been worth it. Check out my site codingacrossamerica.com and shoot me an email if you're interested in figuring out whether this is the right path for you.
Post reply on HN