31–40 of 122 posts
> How did you escape Out the window. I had to back up quite a bit and take a running leap, but I was able to easily shatter the floor-to-ceiling pane glass. Marge from Accounting tried to stop me, but luckily I had begun taking Parkour classes recently and was easily able to dodge her. > Did you have a strategy or was it a leap of faith? It was a literal leap of faith. Some banners set up to advertise a corporate con…
i left my cushy consulting gig for a small startup that was acquired a year later. if i had decided to stay there, i would likely be doing the same meaningless projects for about 5% more than I was the year before.
I am good at software development. I help a company with software development 8 hours per day and they pay me for my time. They take care of hardware, air condition, desk space, social stuff, cleaning, internet connection, tax pre-deduction and regular payment transfers. I get to focus on what I'm good at.
My colleagues are pleasant and my work tasks are challenging.
In the evenings and weekends, I spend time with my family, make things for myself, or play games alone or with others.
> Did you have a strategy or was it a leap of faith?
It was more of a loose plan. I'd been reading Patrick McKenzie's articles about consulting and knew I wanted to try it. When my 9-5 (more like 8-10) job pushed me to the edge, I decided to put in my notice and give consulting a shot.
I had about $30k saved up from four years of 9-5 work which helped A LOT because I made zero dollars for a few months. But that cushion was a result of good personal finance decisions, not because I knew I'd quit some day.
> Did you regret it later on?
No, never.
> Are you happy with the decision you made?
Absolutely. I still have challenging moments but they're the good kind of challenges; interesting and rewarding.
> Where do you think you would be today if you had decided to stay in that job?
Miserable. No way my mind or body would survive that long in that environment for that long.
In short: I made the right decision for myself, but it wasn't a rash decision. My savings cushion helped me survive for the first few months. Even if things didn't work out as well as they did, I would have no regrets for trying.
[1] https://www.gkogan.co/blog/how-i-learned-to-get-consulting-l...
I bought a side project from someone else that was doing 2K per month at the time and 4 years later, I have turned it into a 10+ person company (yes bootstrapped so slow but controlled growth and I own 100% of the company). So pretty happy about it. It cost me 60K upfront though which I had saved by working a miserable Wall St. Tech. Job. I just couldn't figure out how to get out of that routine. I had tons of ideas…
How did you find that project?
Is a safe 9-5 job inherently "meaningless" now? I am good at software development. I help a company with software development 8 hours per day and they pay me for my time. They take care of hardware, air condition, desk space, social stuff, cleaning, internet connection, tax pre-deduction and regular payment transfers. I get to focus on what I'm good at. My colleagues are pleasant and my work tasks are challenging. In…
I didn't read it that way. Two sets of ppl whose 9-5 jobs can be 1. meaningful 2. meaningless. OP's question is for second set of ppl. Wans't implying that set one doesn't exist.
I bought a side project from someone else that was doing 2K per month at the time and 4 years later, I have turned it into a 10+ person company (yes bootstrapped so slow but controlled growth and I own 100% of the company). So pretty happy about it. It cost me 60K upfront though which I had saved by working a miserable Wall St. Tech. Job. I just couldn't figure out how to get out of that routine. I had tons of ideas…
I bought a side project from someone else that was doing 2K per month at the time and 4 years later, I have turned it into a 10+ person company (yes bootstrapped so slow but controlled growth and I own 100% of the company). So pretty happy about it. It cost me 60K upfront though which I had saved by working a miserable Wall St. Tech. Job. I just couldn't figure out how to get out of that routine. I had tons of ideas…
I was product manager for fast growing product, but I was waking up at 5am every morning, just so I can do some coding before work and then do another coding session after I get back from work. That managerial job was ok and it paid well, but still my morning/evening coding sessions is what I was looking for all day. One day I was like "Cmon somebody will always pay me to write a code." I had some savings, didn't hav…