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Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
21–30 of 87 posts
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#22I have - I left a a very stable job and pursued self-study for 9 months. I still pursue it, but not in a rigorous fashion as I had for those 9 months; once my startup levels out a bit more and I can hire more people to do my job, I will probably start going after more self-study.
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#23How do future employers look at this time of unemployment?
Is that still a thing? It's not like you'll be applying to law firms. I've found making yourself less available only makes your demand higher.
Unfortunately, yes. Employers, and the non-technical gateways in particular, still have the mindset of "reject for anything, weeding people out means I'm doing my job!"
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#24A bit of hard earned experience: Check for health problems. If you hate what you're doing, you might just be sick.
That said, it is really good to think about what you really want to do every few years.
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#25How do future employers look at this time of unemployment?
Is that still a thing? It's not like you'll be applying to law firms. I've found making yourself less available only makes your demand higher.
It is absolutely still a thing. Since the current top comment (from cletus) mentions working at Google I'll relate a story from when I interviewed there. From what I understand, I made it pretty far in the process (to the "executive committee review") and that's when they asked me to explain a gap in my resume. They pressed me for a detailed breakdown of what I did during the gap and the reasons behind it, and said that they take it seriously. This was after 8 technical interviews and after I'd passed their hiring committee. I didn't get the job, although I suspect that this was not the reason. I'm sure experience varies here, and this would likely be less of an issue at a startup or other small company where a record of getting shit done is more important, but it's worth noting.
I would recommend that if you take time off for whatever reason, prepare for questions like these and be ready to provide a succinct and compelling explanation at the drop of a hat, because being blindsided isn't fun.
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#26Took the Stanford Database class online (while working) at the end of last year. It was one of the best technical education experiences I have ever had. That said...
Self study does not include credentials and evidence of specific work that traditional education does. If your future work is largely freelancing, this is probably irrelevant. If you are targeting work in the corporate world HR still looks for gaps in employment.
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#27Good question. I've done this a couple of times. Self-study can be incredibly useful. Being able to do it within the "distraction" of a full time job can also be extremely rewarding. I have a very conservative financial point of view in that if I got fired tomorrow I would want to be fine for the next year without working. This has in the past allowed me to work on my own stuff a couple of times without much worry (a…
I agree, pick something you want to learn. I took about 6 months off. The first 2 I relaxed and didn't do much. Then, I bought a nice DSLR and got into photography. I would spend my days reading photography books, blogs, etc and my nights going out taking night photos of New York (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blakeperdue/sets/72157625542951...)
It was awesome to be able to have time to dive into a hobby and really soak it all in. I developed some great skills that will be useful to me for the rest of my life. It was also during this time that I realized what I wanted to do next.
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#28Good question. I've done this a couple of times. Self-study can be incredibly useful. Being able to do it within the "distraction" of a full time job can also be extremely rewarding. I have a very conservative financial point of view in that if I got fired tomorrow I would want to be fine for the next year without working. This has in the past allowed me to work on my own stuff a couple of times without much worry (a…
"(although in Australia, lack of health insurance isn't the issue it is in the US)"
OT: When are we here in the US going to start listening to these comments, and fix it?
Job mobility is a great feature of an economy. When, because of health or mortgage or whatever, you can't move your brain from one job that isn't the best one for your brain or that job, to a job that is much better for your brain and that new job, that's a loss to the economy. Multiply that by however many and it's a handicap to the economy.
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#29I did something like this to study math after a startup exit (so money wasn't an issue), around 2005, well before the recent spate of free online courses. I did a combination of self-study (reading books), informally sitting in on classes in the local university, and some small study groups I organized. That was all well and good, but it eventually became clear I'd make much faster progress in a more formal setting, so I went back to school. Formal deadlines are a powerful motivator. Also, reading math is hard and conversations with experts can often speed along understanding. Five years later, I'm in my 3rd year of grad school in a pure math program.
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#30Not that long but I did take 3 months vacations, or 2 weeks to learn something.
It feels absolutely great to be able to just learn for the sake of learning (but that learning can be: build a product etc too).
Now you have to secure your finances: know your burn rate, define a date in advance to start looking for work etc.