My employer is part of StartUp New York, a program that (among other things, for a time) refunds employees their state income taxes if they work in an office located in an "economically developing" area of the state. I'd been working in the office pre-COVID, but found I rather liked full remote work during the lockdowns. So I chose to forego the tax refunds and stay remote, though still living in the same area & working from the office occasionally to interact more with coworkers. It's a good balance for me.
Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier
81–90 of 111 posts
Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier
#82After decades in the software industry, I decided to just get a factory job within bicycling distance of my house and only do programming as a hobby. I can't take the hype cycle anymore. First it was big data this and big data that, now it's all AI. It's always about something other than crafting sensible solutions to real problems. A breaking point for me was getting scolded to figure out how to apply LLM technology…
Have a similar story. Was a front-end developer, then tried to go full-stack and it was just too much to deal with. I worked at a huge corporation and the team I was on was full of the "rock star" types - like you said, always chasing the latest thing. I finally had to get out when someone said, "Bruh, you still use Angular? Pfffft, SVELTE is where its now, you're practically a dinosaur!" Same thing, it became so con…
How did you get into that? What's the job title?
If you don't mind sharing I'd love to know more.
Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier
#83Worked at Facebook from 2016 - 2020. I couldn't handle how flippant the leadership was about profiting off of genocides, Trump, and the degradation of everyone's mental health. Now I work for my county government as a computer programmer. I make 20% of what I would've been making at Facebook if I hadn't left (60k vs 300k) but I don't regret it at all. My work helps real people in my community instead of siphoning off…
In what way was the leadership profiting off of Trump?
Andrew Bosworth (FB's blathering sociopath-in-residence) said Trump ran “the best digital ad campaign I’ve ever seen” and they even had marketing people embedded with the campaign to help them run more effective ads.
The final straw for me was in October of 2019 when Zuck had a closed door meeting with Trump and then "randomly" the next week announced that politicians are now allowed to lie in ads on facebook. Hmmm, I wonder who would disproportionately benefit from that policy change??
Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier
#84It'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 i…
with computers and drone tech, you can get back to "aerospace" for a fraction of the penny as a hobby.
Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier
#85After decades in the software industry, I decided to just get a factory job within bicycling distance of my house and only do programming as a hobby. I can't take the hype cycle anymore. First it was big data this and big data that, now it's all AI. It's always about something other than crafting sensible solutions to real problems. A breaking point for me was getting scolded to figure out how to apply LLM technology…
Have a similar story. Was a front-end developer, then tried to go full-stack and it was just too much to deal with. I worked at a huge corporation and the team I was on was full of the "rock star" types - like you said, always chasing the latest thing. I finally had to get out when someone said, "Bruh, you still use Angular? Pfffft, SVELTE is where its now, you're practically a dinosaur!" Same thing, it became so con…
I love your username -- it's a terrific reference, and ties into what you do for work as well!
Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier
#86I have 15 YOE and today I make what I did when I was in Year 2. I have the same employer as Year 2, but I relocated from US, PNW to Canada, Ontario. This resulted in a drastic reduction in pay. After taxes, I make 42% less than what I made before. I make a little more than what I earned as a fresh-out-of-college new hire. While I'm annoyed about the money, I have an improved quality of life in Toronto. My wife and I…
> we have a village here to co-parent with
As a parent with small kids, this really piques my interest. Could you share more details about this? Are you referring to a tighter community; neighbors that you actually know and interact with?
We're moving to the Midwest soon and hope to experience more of that compared to the where we are now.
Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier
#87> I'm getting cold feet because of the money Try this thought experiment: Think of the best memories you have in the last 1-2 years. Think of the best memories you had between 5-10 years ago. I’m willing to bet that the “core” of all the memories/episodes you thought of was people and experiences. Family and great friends. Travel, parties, hobbies, whatever is your thing. You did not think of money or things you boug…
> Travel, parties, hobbies
These things generally require a "nice pay check" though.
Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can understand software work can be tiring. But I can't imagine it being so tiring I'd rather do a factory job (maaaybe if it was a bread factory or lego factory or some such). How is it?
I'm not trying to sell anybody on it, but it was certainly the right choice for me. Maybe it's just that I'm, burned out, in my forties, and I would rather make widgets all day than learn another framework.
Good for you!
Majority of people choose to maximise money/prestige. I'm pretty sure you end up happier than them.
Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier
#89> I'm getting cold feet because of the money Try this thought experiment: Think of the best memories you have in the last 1-2 years. Think of the best memories you had between 5-10 years ago. I’m willing to bet that the “core” of all the memories/episodes you thought of was people and experiences. Family and great friends. Travel, parties, hobbies, whatever is your thing. You did not think of money or things you boug…
> Travel, parties, hobbies These things generally require a "nice pay check" though.
It can, but it certainly doesnt need to.
For travel there are probably many destinations in your own country, that people actually visit your country to see. Those a typically cheaper to do. Then there is asia - I’ve traveled tree months in asia for the same budget as 10 days visiting the States. Also in general very much depends on how/where you say. Hotel in Auckland vs pet sitting gig for a week 15 mins outside of the city (housing for free).
Same for hobbies. Depends so much on what you pick for a hobby.
Re: Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier
#90I took job that I thought it was going to be more fulfilling (for about 30% less than my current), and ended up regretting it massively... In fact I'm still here, but my work team is an absolutely hellish group of individuals, and my boss is the most crooked individual I've worked with so far.... so In retrospective, I've should picked the other job, the problem was that it was incredible specialized and involved wor…
> working in radar stations on top of remote mountain. Interesting story. I worked in a bike shop a number of years ago. Guy came in and I helped him find some stuff for a long distance ride he was going to do. I noticed he had a black baseball hat with the initials "NJTTTF" sewn into the front of it and I had no idea wtf it meant so as he was checking out I asked him. He said, "You don't want to know." and I said, "…
As former military intelligence, I have a hard time believing someone in that line of work would wear a hat advertising which task force they worked on. Or that such a task force would even allow such hats to be made.