“Rich kid cash stocks and stops working in tech to do whatever he likes” Come on.
I was thinking the same thing while reading through the text
I quit the tech industry (2015)
51–60 of 276 posts
Re: I quit the tech industry (2015)
#52I think the picture of how he describes life and life-with-a-full-time-job is fairly accurate. One solution is to work 80%. Or even 60%. You can still make plenty of money to support yourself, and you can be happy while doing it.
There are barely any 80% jobs and the 60% ones are almost inexistent
In my experience, big but boring companies seem to more amenable to this. E.g. in the UK high street banks, supermarkets made quite a thing out of their flexible working when I was looking. I guess they know people aren’t “passionate about the product” so they focus on the working environment. Anywhere with a history of unions helps too.
Re: I quit the tech industry (2015)
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do we have some tangible numbers on the long term situation of those "quitting tech" people? Like, ok, they open a wind-surfing school, but then what? Does that work, are they more fulfilled and able to work the next 10+ years in that situation without burning out? Or do they go back to tech after a while because grass is always greener, and a job is a job and there are not as much fulfilling jobs as we would like to…
Usually, when the money runs out, they return with their tails between their legs, often in shittier jobs that they'd have had if they'd stuck with it. You're right about the grass being greener. The tech industry is an absolute plague, but most other industries are just as bad. In the long term, and for most of us, the only way to escape this garbage system is to blow it up.
But is the system really responsible for all of this? I mean, if we go back to a more "natural" state, with simpler jobs and with more direct impacts, are we actually happier? Is cutting woods all day long more fulfilling that a tech job? Or being a mason and putting block on top of each other for other people that you do not know about?
Or is it just that in tech, we have the luxury to think about all of that, and to potentially take several years without working much thanks to our high salary?
Re: I quit the tech industry (2015)
#54I think the picture of how he describes life and life-with-a-full-time-job is fairly accurate. One solution is to work 80%. Or even 60%. You can still make plenty of money to support yourself, and you can be happy while doing it.
> […] the picture of how he describes life […] AFAIK @eevee [1] identifies as she/her [2]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=eevee [2] https://twitter.com/eevee
does "literally who" work?
Re: I quit the tech industry (2015)
#55Have things changed much in the industry since then? Perhaps more innovation and more standard code base tools and sharing?
Haha
Re: I quit the tech industry (2015)
#56We talk about externalities. A chemical company pours toxins into a river, an automaker knows its products kill X people per year. These are tangible, understandable. But we don't yet think of the effects on the workforce as social externalities. Industrial safety has made the workplace a much safer space physically, but not mentally. The reality is, a great many jobs make us sick. Depression, anxiety, heightened agg…
Do we have some tangible numbers on the long term situation of those "quitting tech" people? Like, ok, they open a wind-surfing school, but then what? Does that work, are they more fulfilled and able to work the next 10+ years in that situation without burning out? Or do they go back to tech after a while because grass is always greener, and a job is a job and there are not as much fulfilling jobs as we would like to…
> But a lot of those people seem to struggle even more now than they were when being in tech.
Beware of bias when attributing value to someone else's struggles. "happiness" and "fulfillment" are innate personal perceptions. And they are the aggregate not just of one's job, but of one's circumstances in life on the whole.
For one person, the struggle associated with being a writer might be totally worth it. For someone else, it could be entirely the wrong road to follow. Thing is, the only person who needs to figure out what path in life is the right way would be... that person. That's what personal responsibility, freedom, agency, independence,... is all about.
In a way, the big trap in this debate is ending up shoehorning people into different boxes. Just because someone graduated with a tech degree doesn't mean they can't do something else in life. Even when that pursuit is, arguably, harder then just sitting in a chair and struggling with - say - Homebrew, trying to install a different versions of Node.
Re: I quit the tech industry (2015)
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do we have some tangible numbers on the long term situation of those "quitting tech" people? Like, ok, they open a wind-surfing school, but then what? Does that work, are they more fulfilled and able to work the next 10+ years in that situation without burning out? Or do they go back to tech after a while because grass is always greener, and a job is a job and there are not as much fulfilling jobs as we would like to…
Usually, when the money runs out, they return with their tails between their legs, often in shittier jobs that they'd have had if they'd stuck with it. You're right about the grass being greener. The tech industry is an absolute plague, but most other industries are just as bad. In the long term, and for most of us, the only way to escape this garbage system is to blow it up.
> the only way to escape this garbage system is to blow it up.
How so? Countries with blown-up systems typically become more shitty, not less.
Re: I quit the tech industry (2015)
#58Quoted post unavailable.
>A viable option if you have a zoophile polyamorous commune you can rely on to support you while you fiddle around
Does a bit of furry art really give you such mental anguish that you have to spew some junk on hn?
> Please don't pick the most provocative thing in an article or post to complain about in the thread. Find something interesting to respond to instead.
Re: I quit the tech industry (2015)
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
I echo this sentiment. My "real life" has improved massively because of the fact that I work in technology. Money can't solve all your problems but there is a class of important problems that only money can solve effectively and tech. is a good way of making that money. I'm extremely grateful for this and wouldn't diss it. On a more general level, the stress of working on multiple projects, dealing with different kin…
Once you realize work is work and not some romantic endeavour, then things become easier. All I read from this guy's post is a lot of bitching about how the work he has to do is meaningless and hard and it is just getting in the way of his hobbies. I once read a good line: Be thankful for all the problems out there otherwise you would be out of a job. This guy is lucky he had the money to buy his way out of this situ…
people wear different shoes, there is simply no single truth. What's the difference between your gratitude for problems / inspiring thankfulness and this guy's "bitching", when you think your reality is 'the' right one? I wish you all good luck in your rest life stranger.
Re: I quit the tech industry (2015)
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Sounds to me like a very selfish view of life It's not selfish not to have kids. And in western countries, spouses/parents can take care of themselves financially.
I'd argue that, while it may not be selfish to have kids, most people who are having kids do it for selfish reasons. They don't want to "die alone". They want to show that they can afford it. They want to vicariously get into Harvard and work in publishing (if traditional publishing still exists in the 2040s at all) and live some imagined high life... even though the probabilities are minuscule and most children are…
Whoa, that's a lot of super weird assumptions you're making. Fwiw, neither myself nor any other parent i ever met even gets in the remote vicinity of the picture you're painting. It sounds to me like you just have shitty parent-friends in your bubble? But rest assured that there a legion of other parents out there who neither got kids because they're afraid to die alone nor want to force their own wishes and life goals onto them.
In my experience, kids can be exhausting at times, and take a lot of dedication and time that you could otherwise spend on selfish persuits, so having kids for selfish reasons sounds insanely misguided to me. It's rather that despite all those sacrifices, kids enrich your life, and they allow tremendous opportunity for self-growth and a host of experiences that are hard to replicate otherwise.