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Ask HN: Should I quit my job?

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Re: Ask HN: Should I quit my job?

#61

Post by claviska »

I quit my job in 2010 after matching my income with my side project. I’ve ran it full-time ever since, but despite the best income I’ve ever had, I still wonder if it was the “right” decision. Should I have stayed two more years to finish my Master’s degree loan-free? What if I stayed and saved all that side money I made instead? Etc.

On the other hand, I watched a colleague leave a stable job to start a project from scratch. He had a good reserve, but he burned through it and the project didn’t make any money. Last I heard, he got a new job.

There’s probably not a right answer to your question, but my advice is this: if you’re not happy with that you’re currently doing, it’s probably time to move on one way or another.

Re: Ask HN: Should I quit my job?

#62

Post by userulluipeste »

drjesusphd wrote: post #50
rossdavidh wrote: post #23

This will sound odd, but hear me out: assuming that whichever way you choose, it will be wrong, which would you choose? If you quit this job to pursue your side project, and that doesn't pan out, will you forever regret having given up this job? Or, if you don't quit this job, will you forever hate your career because part of you is wondering what would have happened if you just "went for it"? Figure out which mistak…

I've also used the aversion to regret to make several big decisions. When I explain this to people, the reaction I sometimes get is pity. Having ones life dictated by the fear of regret seems repulsive to some people. I don't really understand that perspective myself, but it may be one to consider.

Living defensively may be good for one's chance of survival but is not that glamorous to tell. That should, as you correctly pointed out, be taken into account. What happens now when one's fear is ending up without having a life to talk about or not living fast enough? Joke aside, I think that, besides a fringe minority whose choices are dictated by kicks and thus subject itself to the high risk of natural (de)selection effect, most of us have lifes dictated by the self preservation instinct.

Re: Ask HN: Should I quit my job?

#64

Post by m0zg »

This early in your career you shouldn't be in the same job for five years unless you're making serious forward progress career-wise. Go work elsewhere. Sounds to me like you're depressed because your job is just not that exciting and you don't feel like you're getting anywhere with it. Go work elsewhere, move around. If nothing else you'll meet new people. More than a few times in my career old friendships turned into new jobs, and this has cumulative effect as time goes on (assuming you do a good job and people like you in general).

But don't just quit your job outright. Find a better job first, then quit your job. You'll look much more "attractive" to a potential employer if you are already employed and successful elsewhere.

Re: Ask HN: Should I quit my job?

#65

Post by gridlockd »

rossdavidh wrote: post #23

This will sound odd, but hear me out: assuming that whichever way you choose, it will be wrong, which would you choose? If you quit this job to pursue your side project, and that doesn't pan out, will you forever regret having given up this job? Or, if you don't quit this job, will you forever hate your career because part of you is wondering what would have happened if you just "went for it"? Figure out which mistak…

This sounds good, but it doesn't really work, at least not in the way you think it will.

There's no way you can imagine yourself in an unknown future. You can not estimate how much you will regret one thing or the other, because you don't know the situation you will be in. All the variables affecting you (economy, health, family situation) are constantly changing. You're not going to picture yourself as a homeless alcoholic who somehow is still really glad he built that app once and would do all it all over again.

The first bad thing that'll probably happen after he quits his job is that his girlfriend will leave him. Not necessarily immediately, but it'll be a strain on the relationship. Even though she will not admit it (perhaps because she isn't even aware of it), she is probably dating him because he is a guy that has a decent job, not some dreamer with a wacky business idea (unless maybe that's how she got to know him). Breakups can be really tough on men, why can negatively affect work and motivation. Not being the guy with the decent job, it will be tougher to find a new partner as well.

The second bad thing that will happen is the realization that "being your own boss" and "working on the stuff that is important to you" versus "showing up" and "collecting a paycheck" always sounds better when you're doing the latter. Doing the former is actually a lot of stressful work and you can not tell how it works on you until you have done it.

Lastly, living with regrets is not such a big deal. Who doesn't live with regrets? Whatever you do, you can rely on your brain coming up with rationalizations on why this-and-that just wasn't meant to be.

Having said all that, with "five years of savings" (more like two years, am I right?), doing a sabbatical just to try it out should be in the cards. There may not be a need to quit the job, many companies offer this. If after six months to a year you aren't on the right track, it probably isn't working out, but you will have learned a lot about yourself.

Re: Ask HN: Should I quit my job?

#66

Post by mod »

claviska wrote: post #61

I quit my job in 2010 after matching my income with my side project. I’ve ran it full-time ever since, but despite the best income I’ve ever had, I still wonder if it was the “right” decision. Should I have stayed two more years to finish my Master’s degree loan-free? What if I stayed and saved all that side money I made instead? Etc. On the other hand, I watched a colleague leave a stable job to start a project from…

> On the other hand, I watched a colleague leave a stable job to start a project from scratch. He had a good reserve, but he burned through it and the project didn’t make any money. Last I heard, he got a new job.

This, for me, leads directly to the correct answer to OP's question.

Worst case scenario, you get another job. Of course you quit and give it a go. What have you got to lose? Your savings & potential earnings are likely not that much, and you don't have to burn through all of it anyway.

Do it.

Re: Ask HN: Should I quit my job?

#67

Post by userulluipeste »

haolez wrote: post #7

I’ve done the “jump” two years ago. My life is different now. There is much less stability, constant fear of not making enough money to pay for my expenses, my retirement, etc... also, I’ve never been so tired in my whole life. Having said that, I feel _happier_ than when I had stability in my previous draining day job. I also don’t have a single drop of regret. If you have something work wise that you love, just mak…

"You’ll survive and learn a lot."

That's textbook survivorship bias right there.

Re: Ask HN: Should I quit my job?

#68

Post by roddy237 »

I've quit three jobs - basically two because of salary and the last one due to bad working conditions. I've also been fired from one (after continuous arguing with a tyrannical German boss) and made redundant in another in the early 2000's tech crash.

In IT, and I'm assuming that automobile project management might be something similar, there comes a time when the cumulative frustrations are too great and there's no way to improve your lot except moving on. As a number of folks have already said - you can stay where you are, but you know things aren't going to improve. So you figure out what the odds are of improving by doing something else. For myself I always underestimated these odds, thinking safety and security first, but looking back, there's a few times where I'd have been better off leaving earlier, than sticking around hoping things would change.

You've got savings, you have an idea - worst comes to it you get yourself another job in two years after blowing some capital and gaining some experience. Go for it - it'll be worth it in the long run.

Re: Ask HN: Should I quit my job?

#69

Post by Jemaclus »

Reading this, it sounds like depression/exhaustion is your problem and not necessarily your job. I recently had a bout of almost burnout, and I did a few experiments to see if anything got better.

One, I realized that I was drinking a ton of caffeine (coffee, soda, etc), and that maybe that was the reason I was high-strung and irritable all the time. I cut out caffeine on March 3, 2019, and within 1 week I felt calmer and more relaxed. I was less irritable, and I found myself listening more calmly to the people that irritated me.

Second, I started running every day for at least 1 mile. I've been a runner for years, but I've gotten out of the habit. A coworker challenged me to run at least 1 mile per day (~10 minutes -- totally doable!) and I'm currently on Day 58. When I wake up in the morning, I immediately go for a run. This has three side effects: 1) it's a great way to WAKE UP, 2) it gives me a kick of endorphins that keeps me happy and upbeat for at least the next several hours, 3) it kickstarts the metabolism and I've lost a few pounds since I started and clearly built up some muscle as well.

Third, and probably most importantly, I went to see a doctor about my mood swings. She prescribed a mood stabilizer which took a month to kick in, but I definitely feel better. I haven't been grumpy in months, and I'm generally happier and more productive than I was before.

I don't necessarily recommend that you do the above things, but it sounds like a change in your daily routine, plus maybe some professional help (there's nothing to be ashamed of!) might be a good way to get through your current slump.

Changing a job is one way to do this, but it's worth taking a deep introspective look to see if it's the job that's making you miserable. Who's to say that the next job won't _also_ make you miserable? So my advice would be to see if you can determine what you _can_ control that might help you feel better.

Hope that helps.

Re: Ask HN: Should I quit my job?

#70

Post by humanrebar »

jwr wrote: post #35

My advice, for what it's worth, based on my experience: 1. Every time when I delayed making a significant decision in my life related to big changes, I regretted only the delay. I was always happy with the outcome, but always wished I had made the decision sooner. I now take this into account and decide faster. Life isn't that long. 2. Starting something on your own takes years. Unless you are very lucky, building yo…

> Every time when I delayed making a significant decision in my life related to big changes, I regretted only the delay.

Just to provide a counterweight to this, I've never regretted taking my time to consider things well.

Plenty of people would have married their spouse a little bit earlier. But plenty of people would have done well to wait another six months to get to know each other a bit better.

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