Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 221 posts

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#211

Post by yourapostasy »

throwaway12393 wrote: post #202
yourapostasy wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not on the same wavelength as retired people who complain about boredom. If I retired today, I literally have a >5000-line list of ideas, topics and activities I want to pursue, most of them inexpensive or even free to pursue financially for developers, but time-consuming. You could develop software to largely automate the municipal bureaucracy of a village in your nation. It takes a surprising amount of paperwor…

I find you very fascinating. Is there some way I can contact you?

Put string "thereal" in front of my username, then direct towards Google Mail.

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#212

Post by sobani »

zump wrote: post #205
peller wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I find myself thinking along similar lines, I go back and read a quote from The Conquest of Happiness [0]. Perhaps it may resonate with you. "The habit of thinking in terms of comparisons is a fatal one. When anything pleasant occurs it should be enjoyed to the fun, without stopping to think that it is not so pleasant as something else that may possibly be happening to someone else. With the wise man, what he ha…

Thats all well and good, but I hate to earn peanuts. I doubt someone has 10x better skill than me, so why do they earn 10x as much?

Because they asked for it?

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#213

Post by mnmlme »

brokenmachine wrote: post #207
peller wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I find myself thinking along similar lines, I go back and read a quote from The Conquest of Happiness [0]. Perhaps it may resonate with you. "The habit of thinking in terms of comparisons is a fatal one. When anything pleasant occurs it should be enjoyed to the fun, without stopping to think that it is not so pleasant as something else that may possibly be happening to someone else. With the wise man, what he ha…

I agree with most of that, however... My aim is not to work for someone else, so I can decide to spend my limited time doing what makes me happy. When I'm getting paid peanuts there is no prospect of being able to have that choice. I find it very difficult to just try to be happy with whatever "the man" has decided he wants me to do today.

Have you honestly figured out what make you happy? For most people it turns out that answering that question is a lot more difficult than it sounds -- at least long term. A cookie would certainly make me happy right now, but then what happens once the cookie is gone?

Without really knowing what you want in the long term to make you happy, it's gonna be a struggle to figure out how to get to that point in your life. :)

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#214

Post by [deleted] »

grecy wrote: post #44

I quit my Software Engineering job and am now spending two years driving my Jeep around Africa. I'm working while on the road, writing for magazines, selling photos and filming a YouTube series. I am having the time of my life, and am extremely happy I made the decision I did. IMHO, sitting at a desk is just not worth it. Life is too short. I'm meeting a ton of people who agree, and are living the kind of life people…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#215

Post by mnmlme »

grecy wrote: post #75
james_niro wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please next time take me with you

I have toyed with the idea of running some kind of "competition" where someone can win a couple of weeks on the trip with me. Fly into some airport, I will pick them up, tour them around a country or two and drop them off again. I have no idea if people would actually be into that, or stay away because I'm nuts. Serious question - would you go for that if I offered it?

I'm about to start a deep-dive into Africa in Namibia in March. I'd totally be interested to learn the ropes from someone more experienced as a way to get my feet wet before heading off solo. For some reason despite having been to 90+ countries, the African continent is still daunting. So a hands-on practical intro would be more than welcomed if it wasn't outrageously expensive.

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#216

Post by dracht »

peller wrote: post #204
zump wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not this again. Someone will always make a post about earning a ridiculous salary that will ruin my entire week. I just don't believe people can add 800k of value to an organisation.

When I find myself thinking along similar lines, I go back and read a quote from The Conquest of Happiness [0]. Perhaps it may resonate with you. "The habit of thinking in terms of comparisons is a fatal one. When anything pleasant occurs it should be enjoyed to the fun, without stopping to think that it is not so pleasant as something else that may possibly be happening to someone else. With the wise man, what he ha…

I always feel like people telling me to be happy with my piece of the pie and to not compare it to others is a ploy by those with a bigger piece to keep me docile and content. Do our feelings of envy not serve a purpose? Would Napoleon have become Napoleon had he not envied Ceasar?

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#217

Post by macca321 »

DCoder wrote: post #198
potterboy67 wrote: post #13

I would think long and hard about leaving an industry you're established into, before doing it. I left in 2008 because, after two mergers, I had run out of steam and felt I wasn't wanted. I lost money because the crash caused the options I had to be worth less than I had hoped, but I attempted to make a living making wood-fired pots. I'd been making pots for ages, but they weren't good enough, and I didn't know how t…

> find an unrelated but expensive hobby Why expensive?

so you need to turn up to the job you hate!

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#218

Post by throwaway12393 »

yourapostasy wrote: post #211
throwaway12393 wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find you very fascinating. Is there some way I can contact you?

Put string "thereal" in front of my username, then direct towards Google Mail.

Emailed you.

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#219

Post by DCoder »

macca321 wrote: post #217
DCoder wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> find an unrelated but expensive hobby Why expensive?

so you need to turn up to the job you hate!

I thought so. What if I don't hate my job yet? Should I just give it more time? :)

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#220

Post by brokenmachine »

peller wrote: post #210
brokenmachine wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with most of that, however... My aim is not to work for someone else, so I can decide to spend my limited time doing what makes me happy. When I'm getting paid peanuts there is no prospect of being able to have that choice. I find it very difficult to just try to be happy with whatever "the man" has decided he wants me to do today.

In my experience it's a bit of a catch-22. I find by working for people I respect, I learn more about how I can get to the point of having the freedom to do whatever I want. But until that day comes, I have to keep my head up and my attitude positive. If I don't, I find I learn less and I become less productive, and thus less valuable to "the man", thereby pushing my goals further away. But you're absolutely right; i…

Nice post. Thanks for that.

> You can control how you spend your free time / what you learn about in your free time (How much do you know about investing? Tax law? Corporate/economic/governmental trends?)

Good advice, there is always stuff to learn. It feels like my problem is that work drains so much out of me that I am too tired/unmotivated to do anything else when I get home. I know it's a discipline issue but that doesn't make it easier. It's hard to come from a day spent working "for the man", straight into more work for yourself at night.

Good luck, I hope we both end up beating the system.

Post reply on HN