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Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

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Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#121

Post by ryandrake »

jstx1 wrote: post #105
ryandrake wrote: post #100

I'm going to be the contrarian. Keep the job. Power through it and retire as early as you can, then you can do whatever you want. If you're in $finance$ or $FAANG$, don't go to a non-FAANG. Definitely don't quit your job unless you have another one lined up, and definitely don't take an extended leave to travel and find yourself. Don't believe "CS grads will always be employed." There are people on HN who graduated i…

There's definitely an argument for making hay while the sun shines. But retiring early exposes you more to future bear markets since the value/returns of your investment portfolio will go down. Being employed seems a lot more resilient in that case.

> There's definitely an argument for making hay while the sun shines.

Forgot that phrase, but that's exactly what I'm getting at. Also, make that hay in the morning. Because of compounding interest/returns, dollars (or pounds) that you save in your 20s are far, FAR more valuable than dollars you save in your 30s which are more valuable than dollars you save in your 40s. The advice you sometimes hear to go traveling and backpacking in your early 20s to self-discover is total financial lunacy. Every month you don't earn money in your early 20s probably results in extending retirement six or more months.

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#122

Post by trhway »

>My parents, like most boomers, had a much better standard of living when they were my age.

that is BS. 198x and even 199x were much worse economically than today. Your parents grinded through it to give what you have, in particular education. Of course, because it was given to you and you didn't have to work for it really, you don't value it. There have been no better time in human history than what is in store today for a person with a high CS degree. And your experience just confirms it. Great job by all the standards and 10x house with a very low mortgage rates in the world top real estate destination and total affordability with just a bit of very convenient commute.

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#123

Post by hacknews20 »

“I would love to be able to retire and get into meditation / travelling the world / learning about things for fun.” So you are motivated by the idea of meditation but not enough to save/use money you have to attain it? Genuine question.

That aside - cyber security is an option for your skillset. You sound like someone who should take the plunge and go contracting 4 days per week. It’s either change job, change the terms of the job or quit. If you are that unhappy and your partner loves you, then tell them and they’ll say “ok quit the job and see if you’re happier, we’ll be fine”. If they don’t say that then there is something wrong with the relationship too. Is it the situation or the job that’s the problem?

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#124

Post by AnotherGoodName »

oneplane wrote: post #112
jstx1 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's definitely an argument for making hay while the sun shines. But retiring early exposes you more to future bear markets since the value/returns of your investment portfolio will go down. Being employed seems a lot more resilient in that case.

Being employed or running a business (or being in school, in a sports team etc.) also means you're part of the general actively synchronised life. Might sound fuzzy but it boils down to being in touch with society around you. Then again, there is plenty of society all over the world where that means working strange hours, strange jobs, or not at all.

What you've said is correct but if you take what you've said and apply it to the point of retirement it gets a bit depressing since you do indeed lose all those things. People have a lot of trouble accepting retirement because of that loss of routine and of connection.

So what's the best outcome? My point of view is that the answer is to find something right now that provides that connection to society without causing you harm in other aspects. So it's an argument for quitting.

The original poster in this thread says to push through pain now to early retirement. But lets think about that. You'd be working your ass off now merely to hit the issues of a loss of routine and connection later in life.

Instead find something now that you wouldn't mind doing past retirement age and you'll never have those issues.

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#125

Post by workethics »

vsareto wrote: post #106
f6v wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You have a PhD in Computer Science, one of the highest academic accomplishments in one of the hottest fields for the last 30-40 years. I want you to know how far ahead you are of people like me who just taught themselves to code and glue web apps together for 6 figures. Don’t want to be a buzzkill but OP can as well be a mediocre engineer, even with a CS PhD. It’s important to recognize your own strengths and weakn…

OP could be a lot of things, however, I'm going to go with OP being "likely employable in the future" due to having a PhD and being currently employed with a near-Google salary. Don't be an asshole.

So, in earnest, I don't see what the parent comment said that deserves them to be called an asshole. I actually see you calling them an asshole as much more rude than anything they said.

I figure there's some social implication that I'm missing. Would you mind breaking down the thought process for your reply?

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#127

Post by jgwil2 »

workethics wrote: post #125
vsareto wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP could be a lot of things, however, I'm going to go with OP being "likely employable in the future" due to having a PhD and being currently employed with a near-Google salary. Don't be an asshole.

So, in earnest, I don't see what the parent comment said that deserves them to be called an asshole. I actually see you calling them an asshole as much more rude than anything they said. I figure there's some social implication that I'm missing. Would you mind breaking down the thought process for your reply?

Not GP, but the "as well" in that comment could be seen to imply that GP is a mediocre engineer, and OP is as well.

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#128

Post by shrike »

If you have access to an extended leave program try and take advantage. FMLA in the USA allows for 90 days of leave, my last employers disability insurance paid 80% of salary during leave. I expect there is something similar in the UK. All it took was a letter from a doctor, most of the people taking leave had stress related issues. The letters were primarily from psychologists. Several people submitted their notice in the last few weeks of leave.

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#129

Post by jstx1 »

ryandrake wrote: post #121
jstx1 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's definitely an argument for making hay while the sun shines. But retiring early exposes you more to future bear markets since the value/returns of your investment portfolio will go down. Being employed seems a lot more resilient in that case.

> There's definitely an argument for making hay while the sun shines. Forgot that phrase, but that's exactly what I'm getting at. Also, make that hay in the morning. Because of compounding interest/returns, dollars (or pounds) that you save in your 20s are far, FAR more valuable than dollars you save in your 30s which are more valuable than dollars you save in your 40s. The advice you sometimes hear to go traveling a…

You can have other goals apart from increasing the balance of your investment portfolio or retiring early. It's not all about optimising this one aspect of your life.

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#130

Post by mech422 »

blunte wrote: post #111
ryandrake wrote: post #100

I'm going to be the contrarian. Keep the job. Power through it and retire as early as you can, then you can do whatever you want. If you're in $finance$ or $FAANG$, don't go to a non-FAANG. Definitely don't quit your job unless you have another one lined up, and definitely don't take an extended leave to travel and find yourself. Don't believe "CS grads will always be employed." There are people on HN who graduated i…

What you don't understand is that if you hate life, and perhaps if you have money and comforts that you know should help... but you still are miserable, it feels hopeless. The money traps you. It's so hard to imagine taking a huge pay cut. But that pay cut, and living life the way you want, is more important. Hating most of your hours each day until you're 45 or 50 and then retiring will leave you such a different an…

We do understand...

But if you want the money and want to retire early...that's the price you pay unless you're very lucky. Given the salaries O.P. and partner seem to be making, they could prolly power thru and retire in 5 years? 10 years tops ?

Also, if retiring at 45 or 50 leaves you 'sad', I'd question your assumptions about retirement? Working for 25 years, and having another 50+ years of retirement ahead of you makes you sad?

P.S. I don't do the "perpetual interest" thing..Even if you're very optimistic, 110 years should be plenty. I have mine based around 75-80. You'd be surprised how much that lowers what you 'need' to retire..

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