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

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

#211

Post by Redoubts »

ctvo wrote: post #142
Redoubts wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't call that stressful, just interesting.

What would you call stressful? Impact (on others, on myself permanently) correlates very well to stress for me. High impact decisions cause more stress: getting a project defunded, letting go of people, critical mistakes in execution that cause the company reputation or finance damages, etc.. At the very far end are life and death decisions that impact others and the very low end day-to-day decisions that only impact…

Impact matters but I think stress comes into play when you feel like things are going more wrong than right. And I wouldn’t say that most high paying tech responsibilities are anywhere near life or death decisions. But are much closer to comfortably fun and compelling challenges.

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

#212

Post by jakecopp »

wopwops wrote: post #199

I left corporate IT for good back in 2005. Then left the U.S. Moved to a small farm in the middle of nowhere. Never went back. Regrets = 0. Well, there are no Mexican food restaurants here.

Do you still work remote/at all? Sounds like a pretty good life!

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

#213

Post by Quarrelsome »

blablabla123 wrote: post #196
nvarsj wrote: post #149

These kind of posts keep making me think I should go work for a FAANG so I can actually retire one day. Anyways, as someone on the other side, who has never worked for or applied to FAANG, I have a few reactions. First, your salary is absolutely ridiculous. I know hard working people who have built their own businesses with blood and sweat, and they still don't make as much as a slacker engineer at FAANG. So I'd say…

> mature tooling that exists at FAANG I never worked at FAANG but even after more than 10 years working in tech, it still surprises me how undervalued well working tooling is. I'm not talking about 100% automation with infinite possibilities. Just really basic stuff, like deployment or setting up a development environment. That should always be a no-brainer.

it doesn't show up on the books. All companies over optimise for things they measure and under optimise for things they don't. Nobody has a reliable measure for development productivity so it oft doesn't receive the love it deserves.

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

#214

Post by radicalundoing »

The issue at hand here is deeper than money or mission or burnout.

There’s a lot I can say about it, in regard to transitioning from your current sense of “is there something more to life,” into the direct experience of that something more.

I work will high level clients on this particular, oft-confusing situation.

First, the answer can’t be found in the mind, nor can it be found from switching careers or companies.

It’s found in the body, the tensions, and a deep shift of some key perspectives.

If you want to meet up and discuss it, you can schedule some time with me here: https://radicalundoing.com/schedule

Or you can add me on Facebook and find out more about exactly how I help people in your situation.

Http://Facebook.com/liberationconsultant/

It’s an exciting place to be, when you’ve attained all the financial success you need, and your mind and body start to yearn for something deeper.

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

#215

Post by rpastuszak »

sriram_malhar wrote: post #53

I quit full-time work in 2001, after being burned out in the dot com boom. I did well for myself financially after the startup I was in got bought. The phrase "well" is of course subjective, considering that no colleague of mine quit. I left a whole lot of money on the table, but never once have I regretted it. I decided that the name of the game is to optimise quality of life. That means, infrequent brutal deadlines…

First, thank you for your answer.

Second:

> I have never learnt the art of work-life balance, but now I'm able to amortise it over the course of a year!

I took a similar approach and realised that with my attitude towards work I'd need to reduce the contract lengths to a week max, which is obviously impossible, unless I switch careers completely.

What I find really hard is to maintain a work-life balance in my _everyday_ life. I don't mind and occasional crunch—in fact to me it's something equally exciting and addictive. I keep switching between being excited, frustrated or depressed (bored).

It's something I'm trying to work on and recognise some of its triggers, but keep failing, miserably.

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

#216

Post by smrr723 »

sriram_malhar wrote: post #53

I quit full-time work in 2001, after being burned out in the dot com boom. I did well for myself financially after the startup I was in got bought. The phrase "well" is of course subjective, considering that no colleague of mine quit. I left a whole lot of money on the table, but never once have I regretted it. I decided that the name of the game is to optimise quality of life. That means, infrequent brutal deadlines…

> That means, infrequent brutal deadlines, minimal (pref. zero) commute, opportunity to learn, and spend time with family and friends and be of use to society at large.

This is what I'm aiming for in the near term, but how on earth do you find a position with infrequent brutal deadlines?

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

#217

Post by eb0la »

My case was not Big Tech, but Big Telco and the problem was a bit similar, since doing anything involved a pay cut.

First, I took _a long_ time off to rethink my career. I was really lucky to have the time, money, and support from my wife to do that.

During my time off I discovered that beign in a "top" company for some time was more a Handicap, than something valuable for the job market because my rate was far off the market.

I rejoined the salaried employee club after two failed startup attempts.

I got the job because instead of sending a cv or contacting whoever, I started sending a MVP to any potential employer.

I still do it now because I can discover beforehand if the job will motivate me.

Suprises found:

- Goverment status matters a lot. Lost one opportunity because the political situation in my contry scared the investor.

- I wanted to do both sales and technical stuff. It is compicated because you need both _deep_focus_ for some tasks and react quickly for others. Balance is... interesting.

- 2-3 months after I rejoined the salaried workforce, my wife told me It was the first time she saw me happy to go to work.

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

#218

Post by lrmunoz »

sriram_malhar wrote: post #159
mertnesvat wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your answer is very inspiring and also perfect example for youngsters to understand money and productivity are not the only things that matters in life. I had a similar junction in my life and I selected money instead of pursuing family and academic life, now I'm starting to think maybe wasn't a good decision. I'm getting older (38) Do you mind if I ask did you also quit your job to pursue Phd? Nowadays started worki…

Yes, I did. At the age of 42! Funny you should ask. I posted about my experience in a recent thread a few weeks back. Search for my user name here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21299546

Nice story! I'd love to try do exactly the same, did you have to move to Cambridge for your CS PhD?

For context, I have a graduate diploma from the Judge business school, but that was a semiresidential program that allowed me to live in my country.

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