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I am retiring from tech to live offline

openpath.quest

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Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#521

Post by Rover222 »

alephnerd wrote: post #417
Rover222 wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I was just living off $1k/month in Brazil just to see if it was possible. It definitely is. And was in a beautiful, safe area.

Of course you felt amazing living off US$1k/mo in Brazil - the average per capita household income in Brazil is less than US$450/mo and a salary of $700/mo puts you in the top 10% [0]. Basically, you enjoyed feeling rich in a country where the vast majority are getting screwed. And this is what I as well as my SO's family (middle and working class Vietnamese in VN) hate about digital nomads - y'all don't realize that…

oh please, get over it. I supported a local old lady who airbnb'd out her guest house. I shopped at the local grocery store. and I left.

you would drop that buzzword 'colonial', as though Brazil isn't a former European colony, just like the US. And they... gasp... used slaves for much longer.

I was in the southern cone of the country, first world lifestyles there. Brazilians are proud, they'd be insulted by your savior attitude.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#522

Post by siren2026 »

array_key_first wrote: post #479
drivebyhooting wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could and did live frugally before I had kids. How can one continue living in a small apartment with lead and asbestos hazards is beyond me.

Plenty of people grow up in apartments in cities and live great lives. Often, they enjoy greater autonomy as they age into adolescence. Suburbs are basically prisons for children these days. The truth is you don’t need a home or an SUV or a front lawn to raise children. And it’s also not necessarily better for them. It might be more cushy, sure, but that doesn’t mean it materially improves their lives in any meaningf…

I agree with this. From my experience the more isolated and cushy early kid's life are, the less capable they end up being able to manage rough situation later in life. It's counterintuitive because as parents we feel like we need to build a golden prison in the suburbs for them.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#523

Post by nahBro »

saadn92 wrote: post #300
siren2026 wrote: post #237

I have been at it for 20 years now and have started to feel my time is up as well As a lot of comments here highlights, the issue is not so much the tech but the politics, constant perf reviews, re-orgs, nonsense BS that is pushed top-down. This industry is taking a toll on you. My advice for anyone reading this that is starting your career: Live simply and save a lot. When I started my career I thought I would love…

It comes down to perspective tbh. For someone who's worked hard labor throughout their life, the cushy tech job you get is actually worth doing forever. But for people who have never experienced that, I can see why retiring early makes sense, but honestly most of us get to work from home and do our jobs on the computer, which doesn't require much. It's still an amazing career to be in IMO

the cushy tech job is built to debilitate you. steel sharpens steel. once the steering wheel is pried from your hands, it is all down hill!

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#524

Post by siren2026 »

robocat wrote: post #466
throwfaraway4 wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TBH I think most people's lives are on autopilot and I can't blame them. This is what late stage capitalism has endoctrinated into our culture. I was one of them until some events made me look critically at retirement. After crunching the numbers I could have retired years ago. Sticking it out a bit longer to squash the rest of the concerns my spouse has.

> late stage capitalism versus > crunching the numbers I could have retired years ago How do you reconcile the apparent hypocrisy of your wealthiness? The stereotype is a boomer taking their winnings and then complaining about the system. I've got just enough money to start worrying that my savings will mostly be taken by my government. Perhaps it is time for me to join the old white man complainer's club (is HN that…

> How do you reconcile the apparent hypocrisy of your wealthiness?

I'm not sure this is full on hypocrisy.

In this case this is the game we are forced to play (late stage capitalism). Doesn't mean I need to like the game, but since I'm forced to play I will darn make sure to win as much as I can.

Hate the game, not the players

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#525

Post by rdbl27 »

azangru wrote: post #32
kamaitachi wrote: post #7

I just retired after 40 years writing code. The last year or so wasn’t fun - battling with AI, trying to get it do what I wanted. For a long time, I thought I’d do a lot of hobby or open source coding when I retired. I haven’t even tried. I’m not burned out, but find I’ve lost the passion for coding I once had. Is that AI? Or is it me? Maybe as my retirement progresses, I can rekindle that passion, but as of now, I d…

> battling with AI, trying to get it do what I wanted What I am selfishly curious about is: is it possible to remain a software developer, and ignore AI? To write code the same way we did before 2022? I understand that there are many companies in which managers demand more of workforce — but are there still places where people are satisfied to not rush ahead and do business same way they did three or four years ago?…

Yes, in the same sense that it is still technically possible to ride a horse to work instead of using a car.

You can code in assembly instead of using a compiler, too.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#526

Post by asdfasvea »

nunez wrote: post #426
siren2026 wrote: post #237

I have been at it for 20 years now and have started to feel my time is up as well As a lot of comments here highlights, the issue is not so much the tech but the politics, constant perf reviews, re-orgs, nonsense BS that is pushed top-down. This industry is taking a toll on you. My advice for anyone reading this that is starting your career: Live simply and save a lot. When I started my career I thought I would love…

Some people need to touch fire to know the feeling of getting burned. I was one of those people. Excellent tech income; zero savings other than a 401(k) I barely contributed into. After an amazing meal at a burger place several years ago, I asked my wife about upgrading to a Model S. She figuratively sat me down (after we literally sat into the seats of our Model 3) and was more straight-forward with me than she had…

You are learning, but you haven't learned.

You didn't build a nest egg, you saved for a down payment.

You didn't rebuild your nest egg, you created a sinking fund for your home.

You praise yourself for not treating your home as a credit card, but your left hand is still borrowing money from yourself.

You've recognized there's an issue, but don't fool yourself into thinking you've done anything about it

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#527

Post by shawn_w »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #503
0______0 wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>says who? you? Yes, says exactly them. You have a problem with people's own opinions in their own comments? Should they somehow reflect your opinion instead?

I do not; but you didn't express it as just your opinion; instead your post was full of dogma that tech workers going offline are supposed to adhere to

You're replying to someone other than the original commenter...

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#528

Post by insane_dreamer »

shawn_w wrote: post #527
insane_dreamer wrote: post #503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not; but you didn't express it as just your opinion; instead your post was full of dogma that tech workers going offline are supposed to adhere to

You're replying to someone other than the original commenter...

oops, hadn't noticed the change in handle

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#529

Post by enos_feedler »

cubefox wrote: post #410
enos_feedler wrote: post #141

Left engineering & Google on my own accord in August 2020. WFH was the catalyst that helped push me over the edge, but it was a long time coming. The underlying feeling I always had when working on programming at work versus programming at school and graduate work: I am being paid to re-type out things that many people have typed out before. As I saw waves of layoffs both pre and post LLMs, it's funny how my gut intu…

Note to readers: I had very bad results with trusting my gut.

Can you explain?

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#530

Post by TacticalCoder »

> ... where the indigenous population kills any outsider...

Ah yes. Romanticizing the noble savage. It's as old as, I don't know what exactly (I could ask a LLM but fuck it).

Why stop at killing outsiders? We can do better...

We could also romanticize cannibalism that was all alive and well when europeans discovered the americas (yup, both in north and south america there was cannibalism).

What about we forget about the enlightenment and the great philosophers and just take a shortcut: why don't we start writing articles about how we should we should start eating each other? Yup, just eating. Because, you know, the myth of the noble savage. So why not?

And let me one-up that: what about torturing kids as much as possible (which was a thing in southern america before it got conquered), to extract as many tears as humanly possible? What about we venere the noble savages who were doing just precisely that. Oh but it was "contextual". Yeah: explain me the concept, please.

Wait: I can one-up that. Cannibalism? Wanna me to romanticize slitting the throat of your enemies and then raping and then turning into slaves their wives and daughters?

Oh wait I've got an even better idea: combine that with eating their boys. Rape the daughters, eat the boys. Not many lost calories.

Rape and enslave the daugthers and wives, torture the boys so that they cry as much as possible, then eat them (alive, because why not).

Such noble savages.

Very connection to nature.

Much simplicity.

Deep down all of us (well, you mostly really) aren't we (well, you mostly really) deeply connected to these wonderful noble savages?

/s (just in case it is isn't clear that this is sarcasm... I wouldn't want to end up in trouble)

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