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

Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 175 posts

Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?

#51

Post by watwut »

WheelsAtLarge wrote: post #6

Don't... Most jobs suck. There's no way around it. Most jobs have aspects that you just don't want to do. That's why you get paid rather than you pay. You need to figure out how to make your current job fit your needs, financial and psychological. One thing you can do is to decide how much it takes for you to retire in a more affordable part of the country and work until you reach it at the fastest rate. Starting a s…

"Have aspects you dont like" and "can't really stand my job" are two fundamentally different statements. It is not the same.

Majority if tech jobs are not "high stress" either. They are "somewhat stress" at max.

Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?

#52

Post by yranadive »

Your risk tolerance should be a function of your confidence in turning your company in to something of future value. It seems like you haven't done your research on your probability of success yet. I'd advise talking to investors about your idea to get a sense of that. Try approaching them to get seed funding. If you can't raise, quit, and try raising again.

If you can't raise within a year, go back to work. You need to talk to investors to get a feel of how people will value your company if you take the plunge. If you feel your probability of breakeven is at least 50%, I'd say go for it. Keep in mind, every person that joins your company after you will do an implicit probability calculation, so think about what makes you unique and hence more likely to succeed.

Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?

#53

Post by dmoy »

smilesnd wrote: post #39
hfdgiutdryg wrote: post #11

$500k per year?! You would be insane to walk away from that. Keep it up for a decade, save as much as you can, and retire in your 50s.

$500k a year Cali translate to $100k a year where I live. Cost of living in Cali is crazy expensive.

Cost of living in Cali is crazy expensive, though your example is a bit exaggerated. $250k if it's medium-ish midwest town maybe.

Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?

#54

Post by DubiousPusher »

If your job is making you miserable, how are you even worried about some hypothetical future job?

You have a 1.1 million dollar safety net and you're worried about having to take a random job. I think this is a classic case of having too much money for to long. You need to make a change but you need to be 100% that change is likely to increase the happiness of the people in your family. You have the finances to live your life 1000 different ways. Think for a moment if these two really are the only options.

Make a change soon or you never will. And if that change is needful for family reasons it's even more important it comes soon.

Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?

#55

Post by DubiousPusher »

tsetse wrote: post #43
justonepost wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong advice. First live the life before doing it. Going to move somewhere? Rent first. Going to live a life with a lower living standard? Start living on a budget first. So when you are forced to do this, you and your family will be able to accept and adapt properly.

Good news on the living standard - I grew up in relative poverty, so that won't be as much of a problem. I still don't spend a lot these days...

Oh, I get you now. I grew up super poor and the thought of falling back into it keeps me up at night to this day.

That's what's making this decision hard.

Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?

#56

Post by mykull »

Trundle wrote: post #36

Have you looked in to FIRE (financial independence; retire early) at all? At your income it doesn't seem like it would take all that long to get to a point where retirement is a possibility. Then you'd be free to pursue your low cost hobby business without fear of returning to the job market in a reduced capacity. It would come down to how important your lifestyle is to you and your spouse I guess, but if you conside…

I don't understand the idea that living off investments is "independence". It's just a different kind of dependence. You're depending on other people to do work while reaping the benefits. Sounds great, except when too many people do it.

Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?

#57

Post by smilesnd »

From my experience companies love a failure since it means you got your one idea for a business out of the way. As long as you fail gracefully then it is a selling point for companies because you became more diversify in dealing with business related matters. It also shows you have a passion for what you are doing. Who wouldn't hire someone that could make this kind of statement "I had the experience and knowledge to start x company, but bad luck and timing played against me, and I ran out of run way"?

Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?

#59

Post by thrwy473727 »

I quit my high paying big tech job in 2014 to start a YC company that failed miserably after about 6 months. I spent another couple of years funemployed. Money was tight but I really enjoyed spending week after week reading, playing videogames, and working on side projects. I’ve had a real job for a year now. Interviewing was hard —- trendy tech stacks shifted significantly in the time I was away.

If its possible, get a ramen-profitable version of your idea launched while you still have your job.

Post an email address if you would like more specifics.

Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?

#60

Post by smilesnd »

dmoy wrote: post #53
smilesnd wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$500k a year Cali translate to $100k a year where I live. Cost of living in Cali is crazy expensive.

Cost of living in Cali is crazy expensive, though your example is a bit exaggerated. $250k if it's medium-ish midwest town maybe.

There is a website that calculates this kind of stuff.

https://www.bestplaces.net/cost-of-living/charlotte-nc/palo-...

*Edited: Should also say I fully understand that if your duckduckgo skills are hardcore mode you can find a website to support anything you say.

Post reply on HN