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From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

jasonshen.com

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Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#31

Post by madrox »

avgDev wrote: post #9

"The experience was physically taxing, he was diagnosed with tendonitis after moving hundreds of boxes a day, but it pulled him out of his depression and helped him gain perspective and a deeper sense of meaning"....... I have mixed feelings about this. What this has proven is working at amazon warehouse sucks, and is not sustainable. I've had many physical shitty jobs in my 20's. Then, I had some health issue and co…

I don't think the author is recommending their experience. He's merely talking about what he did and what happened. We've known for millennia that physical work sucks. That's why the lowest echelons of society always end up doing the worst of it. This, I think, is why previous generations were so emphatic about college education. In their experience, it was a ticket out of doing physically taxing work.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#32

Post by spacemadness »

carlosdp wrote: post #27
spacemadness wrote: post #24

This person seems like they are suffering from typical tech bubble non-awareness disease. They always strive to make the world a better place as… a director of Facebook. Debatable. Early retirement is such a nightmare for me that.. I became an Amazon Warehouse Associate out of boredom? I’m not sure how any of this narcissism is making the world a better place.

Did you actually read the article? He's probably the one person in tech that is directly aware of what it's like to work at a warehouse because he actually did it for real. He's not claiming to be "making the world a better place" by working at Facebook. He's telling the story of how he got burned out from that world and sought out a real "honest labor" job that he'd heard a ton about in the media to snap out of it a…

“For me, a lot of my meaning comes from two things. One is doing something in the world that feels like it's actually making things a little better somehow. And so contributing to society in some meaningful way.”

Yes, I read the article.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#33

Post by avgDev »

spacemadness wrote: post #24

This person seems like they are suffering from typical tech bubble non-awareness disease. They always strive to make the world a better place as… a director of Facebook. Debatable. Early retirement is such a nightmare for me that.. I became an Amazon Warehouse Associate out of boredom? I’m not sure how any of this narcissism is making the world a better place.

This is what I felt but could not put it into words. Non-awareness disease is the PERFECT word to describe what I felt reading this.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#34

Post by asim »

Whoa that really sucks. I met Philip Su a really long time ago when he was at Facebook. I think he came to our office in London to give a talk. Sad to hear he's been through such a difficult time. Hope life continues to improve for him and maybe he makes his way back to tech at some point.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#35

Post by symlinkk »

avgDev wrote: post #9

"The experience was physically taxing, he was diagnosed with tendonitis after moving hundreds of boxes a day, but it pulled him out of his depression and helped him gain perspective and a deeper sense of meaning"....... I have mixed feelings about this. What this has proven is working at amazon warehouse sucks, and is not sustainable. I've had many physical shitty jobs in my 20's. Then, I had some health issue and co…

Software development is taxing on your brain the same way physical labor is taxing on your body. It’s depressing, soul sucking work. You’re stuck inside, staring at a screen for 8+ hours a day.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#37

Post by dfxm12 »

darod wrote: post #19

interesting that he's so programmed to work that just relaxing for a bit made him depressed. hard to see how working 11 hours a day is going to make it easier for him to still not have to put his kids on the calendar. on a side note, i wonder if the actual therapy was just doing something physical. sitting down not moving for hours and hours is not what we were built to do. i always found working out, brazilian jiu j…

More than just doing something physical, something group/team/class based like BJJ would also give the camaraderie and socialization that satisfied him.

I hear a lot of retired people say "I miss working", but when probed, they'll say things like "I miss the routine", "I miss the people I saw all the time", "I miss the structure". Work is not the only place you get these! Going to BJJ, kickboxing, clay studios, adult sports leagues, walking groups, some volunteer opportunities, etc., all fit the bill. I think some people put so much of their life/identity into work that they can't even imagine something else...

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#38

Post by yuliyp »

spacemadness wrote: post #24

This person seems like they are suffering from typical tech bubble non-awareness disease. They always strive to make the world a better place as… a director of Facebook. Debatable. Early retirement is such a nightmare for me that.. I became an Amazon Warehouse Associate out of boredom? I’m not sure how any of this narcissism is making the world a better place.

How dare he find meaning in things that are different from you. Congratulations on figuring out how to find fulfillment and a balanced life before the rest of us. Philip's journey toward that is clearly different from yours.

Re: From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate

#39

Post by et-al »

carlosdp wrote: post #27
spacemadness wrote: post #24

This person seems like they are suffering from typical tech bubble non-awareness disease. They always strive to make the world a better place as… a director of Facebook. Debatable. Early retirement is such a nightmare for me that.. I became an Amazon Warehouse Associate out of boredom? I’m not sure how any of this narcissism is making the world a better place.

Did you actually read the article? He's probably the one person in tech that is directly aware of what it's like to work at a warehouse because he actually did it for real. He's not claiming to be "making the world a better place" by working at Facebook. He's telling the story of how he got burned out from that world and sought out a real "honest labor" job that he'd heard a ton about in the media to snap out of it a…

> He's probably the one person in tech that is directly aware of what it's like to work at a warehouse because he actually did it for real.

There are plenty of people in tech who didn't have the traditional four years of uni -> FAANG route. They just don't blog about it.

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