Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?

I work for big FANG. Even though my salary is not at the ridiculous level I feel it is more than enough to support my family and have a big chunk of saving aside. In contrary to what I assume, I never feel bored at work. I almost always find something more interesting to do. But maybe because I am lucky to have the trust and support from upper management to let me loose and find things to work on or improve.

I did it a little over two years ago. I had a pretty high paying job, low-stress work and desire to make a difference. I definitely miss my fat paycheck but love my freedom of experimentation, learning and doing what I believe in. I learned a lot about building a company from the ground up, but most of the miseries could have been avoided. I had to learn most of this the hard way, which might have been easier when I was working in a big corporation. These are my learnings and may not be right for everyone:

TL'DR: Product is more than just code. It's building something that people love and would pay for. Learn marketing, sales, storytelling. Connect with folks who are not like you.

1. I should have built a network outside of my immediate circle. I am an engineer and my entire work network was engineers.

2. I should have identified some of the best folks in sales and marketing and learned from them. It is easier to know who are the best folks in your company and know them. It's easier when you are inside the company. They can also help you identify/interview other sales/marketing folks in their network when you need to hire them.

3. I should have learned how software products are evaluated, sold and bought in my company. Just a hint, the quality of the product has little to do with whether it will sell.

4. I should have learned the importance of UX design and why certain UX design decisions were made. I should have spent more time talking to designers and learn how to evaluate a good designer.

5. I should have talked with engineers outside my organization. It helps to broaden your horizons and understanding the challenges.

6. I should have understood how business development works and learn how they talk. Most of the sales decisions are made by folks who might not be using the product you are selling.

7. I should have identified who are the M&A folks in my company and understood how the process works. These folks are well connected and usually know others as well.

8. I should have learned storytelling from some of the amazing PM's that I worked with. Some of them were startup founders. I should have tried it internally and improvised.

9. I should have learned from their story, their mistakes and what they could have done differently.

10. I should have learned to talk less and listen more in discussions.

11. I should have spent more time, validating ideas when I had all the time and more money. Some of the groundwork can be done when you are already working as long as you are not building a product that competes with your day job.

12. I should have spent more time reading/writing. You'll spend a lot of time writing emails/ specs in addition to code.

13. I should have taken YC summer school when I was working. I learned a lot when I took it this year.

In a similar situation, I decided to take a leave of absence with no plan for what I was going to do. Since I wasn't sure I'd go back, I made sure other people on the team were prepared.

Then serious family stuff happened and I was happy to have the time to deal with it. After the leave of absence was up, I still wasn't sure and asked about extending, but they didn't go for that so I left the company.

Since then I've learned to play the accordion and now I'm tinkering with electronics to come up with a new musical instrument. No real desire to get a job. After a while I decided I'm fine with simply being retired.

So I'd say try the leave of absence?

Consider avoiding sample bias (or any unconscious bias) that might shape your further hiring decisions. Also --even if they only lasted a year-- if they gave their A game, they may have made impactful contributions to the startup.

I only made it a year. It was incredibly boring. I was the same way, enjoying side projects at home so I knew I wasn't over programming. I realized that I was not engaged with the work and prioritized that in my next (current) role. Now I'm doing hard technical work in my domain for a small shop. I'm working 50% time so I have tons of time off. The pay is less than FAANG but I'm not dreading my life everyday. I'm also trialing another company in the other 50% of my working time, helping them solve some technical challenges.

It sounds like you're at a much higher level than me, but my biggest advice is to decide what is important to you and prioritize that. You are in a position to do whatever you want, so just decide what you want to do and go after it.