Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier

It's been a while, but I quit the aerospace industry in 1992 for a lower paying Unix (SunOS) job. Aerospace was hidebound, people refused to do anything new. Not because the new methods were risky, but rather because in 1965 they'd sworn to the Air Force they'd done the best job possible. Anything new put lie to that.

The security requirements were also anxiety inducing to me.

I've missed some me things, but mostly it's been nothing but up since then.

When I started my career I worked in an intense role for two years. So intense that I quickly realized such intensity was not sustainable, and I immediately pivoted into a role that I knew I could do with my eyes closed.

It's felt like I don't have a job for the past decade. In those ten years I've barely felt any stress, have read hundreds of books, mastered several hobbies, and started a family. Would I trade that for more money? I'll let you guess.

I left the electronic warfare industry even though I'd helped build a program from nothing to a product bringing in $100M (probably billions since I left) because I didn't want to be in the war industry any longer where the entire legacy of my lifes work could be measured in destruction. Worked as a software engineer in industry for a while, gradually moving up in salary, then went into contracting. Contracting seemed too uncertain in the rural area I lived in, so though it was bringing in a lot of money I took a job as a software engineer in a college CS department, supporting various research projects. The college job was dead end, there were almost no other people doing anything similar to me, and there was no path to advance (unless I wanted to get a PhD, no thanks, didn't want to be a slave for 4+ years at even lower pay), but the work was very interesting. So I stayed with it for 20 years. Maybe I worked on some things that will change the world, maybe it was all futile. I wasn't happy about the pay, but some of the benefits were great, I have some minor hopes of getting some future income from patents, some of the profs were not great to work with, but some were and the work in general held my interest. I learned a lot, though it was difficult, every single project was very different from the last project and often required learning new skills. I built a Beowulf cluster, electronically herded cows, did a lot of work in wireless sensor systems, help design and build a smart watch for medical applications, and much more.

rapjr9 - I commend you for using your talents to help the world instead of hurting it. From one human to another, thank you.