Ask HN: Have you ever taken a 6-month to 1 yr break anytime during your career?

#1

Post by captmorrel » Tue, Jul 06, 2021, 1:17 AM UTC

I have been working in the software field 20+ years. During all this time, I have never really taken a long break. I have thought about it a lot recently, and feel that stepping away from a 9-to-5 grind for some time (with the intent of getting back) would be helpful for the following reasons: 1) Exploring tech you are interested in on your own schedule. If you are exploring something deep, I feel like its very beneficial to set your own pace and schedule. 2) Having a free mind might allow some ideas to emerge that you can refine and work on. And maybe set a track for a new job when you get back.

My aim with this question here is not to solicit suggestions on whether a break is good or not career-wise. I am also not concerned about employers seeing a gap in my resume, since I feel I would not do well anyway with employers who raise it as a red flag, and I would avoid them.

I am just trying to get an idea of what you did during a break like that, and whether you thought it was worth it, or if it helped you in some way when you got back to the grind. I would be more interested if your activity during the break was somehow related to tech, as that's what I am aiming to do. I am aware that traveling and unplugging/digital detoxing and all are excellent options - just not something I have in mind for this iteration :)

Thanks in advance!

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever taken a 6-month to 1 yr break anytime during your career?

#2

Post by elias94 » Tue, Jul 06, 2021, 1:33 AM UTC

Yes, I came back as engineer after this last two years off.

Having your mind free of the same routine and exploring interesting fields will really make your thinking process more elastic and new ideas will pop up more easily. But depends on why you want to take a long break.

Coming back to work, I found multiple HR compelling or asking more about my two years gap and telling me that I've to get a step back in my career. *uck them, is full of jobs at the moment and as always my rule is: if they talk about degree or career position instead of abilities is not worth it.

Going back to work is exactly as the last day that I left. Technology is evolving but not that fast, and filling a knowledge gap is quick. And you will not forget what you did for years ahah.

I traveled a lot, of the grid, did some project, read topics etc. So I obviously kept active at coding and technology.

If you have the gut is an experience that I recommend and I will do that again one day.

P.S. I'm learning Clojure. Rich Hickey developed it in two years off in his career as a hobby. So something good can came out from a long break sometimes.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever taken a 6-month to 1 yr break anytime during your career?

#3

Post by captmorrel » Tue, Jul 06, 2021, 1:41 AM UTC

elias94 wrote: post #2

Yes, I came back as engineer after this last two years off. Having your mind free of the same routine and exploring interesting fields will really make your thinking process more elastic and new ideas will pop up more easily. But depends on why you want to take a long break. Coming back to work, I found multiple HR compelling or asking more about my two years gap and telling me that I've to get a step back in my care…

Thanks for your input! My main aim for the break is to be a better programmer. During my short breaks, I always started something which I believed help me get better. A long break would probably be the same, but at a different scale. Btw, I love Clojure! Have had the fortune to work with it in my professional career for a couple of years (worked and contributed to the "metabase" project), and it would definitely be something I would love to explore in depth!

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever taken a 6-month to 1 yr break anytime during your career?

#4

Post by geophile » Tue, Jul 06, 2021, 2:03 AM UTC

I had a product idea, my company didn’t want to do it, so I took off 9 months to create it. I am an engineer and had no real sales or marketing plan, just software. I was scratching a really bad itch.

I connected with a startup with a complementary product, and we had some success before the company was acquired in late dotcom madness.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever taken a 6-month to 1 yr break anytime during your career?

#5

Post by sp332 » Tue, Jul 06, 2021, 2:14 AM UTC

Yeah, I got laid off around 2011 and couldn't find a job for about 9 months. I think 6 months of sitting around doing nothing was really nice, but 9 was kinda pushing it. Definitely could have felt better about a longer break if I had worked on being more social, but I was barely leaving my house during this time.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever taken a 6-month to 1 yr break anytime during your career?

#6

Post by ex3xu » Tue, Jul 06, 2021, 2:52 AM UTC

Sounds like you're looking to go on sabbatical? A lot of bigger companies have active sabbatical leave policies. If you're happy with your current company, you could talk to HR and see their position on it, as I think it's becoming a fairly common practice in tech and elsewhere.

https://blog.trello.com/sabbatical-leave

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever taken a 6-month to 1 yr break anytime during your career?

#7

Post by captmorrel » Tue, Jul 06, 2021, 3:47 AM UTC

ex3xu wrote: post #6

Sounds like you're looking to go on sabbatical? A lot of bigger companies have active sabbatical leave policies. If you're happy with your current company, you could talk to HR and see their position on it, as I think it's becoming a fairly common practice in tech and elsewhere. https://blog.trello.com/sabbatical-leave

Yes, you can call it that but I haven't been in my current position long enough to qualify for a sabbatical. Also, the sabbatical is only like for a few weeks. I feel that doesnt fit with my notion of a longer-term break.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever taken a 6-month to 1 yr break anytime during your career?

#8

Post by captmorrel » Tue, Jul 06, 2021, 3:48 AM UTC

geophile wrote: post #4

I had a product idea, my company didn’t want to do it, so I took off 9 months to create it. I am an engineer and had no real sales or marketing plan, just software. I was scratching a really bad itch. I connected with a startup with a complementary product, and we had some success before the company was acquired in late dotcom madness.

Sounds like it worked out well for you. Congrats!

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever taken a 6-month to 1 yr break anytime during your career?

#9

Post by captmorrel » Tue, Jul 06, 2021, 3:52 AM UTC

sp332 wrote: post #5

Yeah, I got laid off around 2011 and couldn't find a job for about 9 months. I think 6 months of sitting around doing nothing was really nice, but 9 was kinda pushing it. Definitely could have felt better about a longer break if I had worked on being more social, but I was barely leaving my house during this time.

Yeah I can understand - its a different mindset when you didn't intentionally take the break and it was forced on you. I have been laid-off and gone through the resulting emotions. I think I handle it much better now. Plus I have some runway to take a break.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever taken a 6-month to 1 yr break anytime during your career?

#10

Post by sp332 » Tue, Jul 06, 2021, 4:02 AM UTC

captmorrel wrote: post #9

sp332 wrote: post #5

Yeah, I got laid off around 2011 and couldn't find a job for about 9 months. I think 6 months of sitting around doing nothing was really nice, but 9 was kinda pushing it. Definitely could have felt better about a longer break if I had worked on being more social, but I was barely leaving my house during this time.

Yeah I can understand - its a different mindset when you didn't intentionally take the break and it was forced on you. I have been laid-off and gone through the resulting emotions. I think I handle it much better now. Plus I have some runway to take a break.

Yeah the stress was at a different level when I was coming to the end of unemployment benefits (which were extended due to one of those economic disasters), but that didn't seem relevant to your question :)