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Ask HN: Who is quitting? (July 2026)

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Re: Ask HN: Who is quitting? (July 2026)

#61

Post by pelagicAustral »

c_hastings wrote: post #21
pelagicAustral wrote: post #6

Not long ago I had a dream about becoming a butcher, and so then I bought half a cow with a friend and after a week trying to cut it out in pieces I realised maybe I was too old to make the move... so im still a programmer.

Imagine the reverse. A butcher buys a Linux computer and tries to become a programmer in a week. Struggles with getting nested loops to work, so quits. Not saying you should be a butcher, but a week and no training is a difficult approach.

I think, to be honest, even with more training, I was already too old... A hindquarter is heavy as hell, I think I kind permanently busted my back just shuffling it around, nevermind cutting a shin bone...

Re: Ask HN: Who is quitting? (July 2026)

#62

Post by jghn »

tomaytotomato wrote: post #7

There's always been absurdity though, right? These are some I can think of or have witnessed since starting my dev career in 2010: - 4GL business languages making developers redundant - Big data - Cloud computing - DevOps - LLMs For those about to quit, I salute you.

I started my career in the mid-90s and 4GLs making all of us obsolete was already a thing by then!

Re: Ask HN: Who is quitting? (July 2026)

#63

Post by irishcoffee »

Edd314159 wrote: post #43
pron wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but because work is something we spend so much time on, when workers can quit when the work feels meaningless or absurd, that's a good thing. We should aspire for a society where all workers can do that.

I’m making no comment about how things _should_ broadly be. Only that we should consciously appreciate how rare it is for quitting to be a practical, and non-ruinous, option.

My spouse and I both work. We also live so far within our means that either one of us could quit tomorrow and our lifestyle would not change.

Is that privilege? I consider it basic fiscal responsibility.

Re: Ask HN: Who is quitting? (July 2026)

#65

Post by pelagicAustral »

wabbawabbe wrote: post #14
pelagicAustral wrote: post #6

Not long ago I had a dream about becoming a butcher, and so then I bought half a cow with a friend and after a week trying to cut it out in pieces I realised maybe I was too old to make the move... so im still a programmer.

While its not something I would like doing myself, what made it so difficult if I may ask?

Cows are heavy. Really heavy. And then after you've got things more or less sorted, you still need to know how to cut it in pieces, this is a lot of manual labor... It's painful slow if you dont know exactly where to cut, and you can spoil the meat if you dont know what you're doing... You need tools and you need to know how to use them... It's just a whole different world. Lets not even go on to actually killing the animal and cleaning it, or all that dance, which I have witnessed and its something else... bah! maybe in another life.

Re: Ask HN: Who is quitting? (July 2026)

#67

Post by Edd314159 »

irishcoffee wrote: post #63
Edd314159 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m making no comment about how things _should_ broadly be. Only that we should consciously appreciate how rare it is for quitting to be a practical, and non-ruinous, option.

My spouse and I both work. We also live so far within our means that either one of us could quit tomorrow and our lifestyle would not change. Is that privilege? I consider it basic fiscal responsibility.

I’m in a similar situation. I’m just saying that I know a lot of people who work much harder than me, without anywhere near the same financial freedom. I think it’s good to meditate on that fact regularly.

Re: Ask HN: Who is quitting? (July 2026)

#68

Post by 16mb »

malfist wrote: post #30
retired wrote: post #4

Already did. Hated working with AI. Will try to start a business one day where I can code how I like it. Currently not doing anything IT related. Just went on a bike ride.

What are you riding these days? Do you like it? I'm shopping to replace my old beginner bike

Nope the original poster, but check out gravel bikes. They’re essentially the geometry of a relaxed road bikes with massive tire clearance to make the rides more comfortable.

Lots of new bike tech, so depending on how old your “old” bike is. I would recommend going to stores and doing some test rides. Enjoy!

Re: Ask HN: Who is quitting? (July 2026)

#69

Post by one33seven »

phantasilide wrote: post #36

I just quit recently. After a few years in big tech the only thing I have to show for it is a fat bank account. I don’t remember the last time I’ve learned something new or had any kind of responsibility. I’ll be joining a startup in a few months to hopefully find the joy in my profession again with a fresh start and more skin in the game.

I quit recently too, typical reason: boss was being such a boss. My new bosses are way better

Re: Ask HN: Who is quitting? (July 2026)

#70

Post by ridgeguy »

snek_case wrote: post #51
tcp_handshaker wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I quit later, as it became increasingly clear to me that this guy knew nothing about technology, didn't care, but also had a fragile ego where he had to present himself to the company as being in charge, even though he was the worst person for the role. To top it all off, it also dawned on me over time that we basically had an absentee CEO who was working only ~15 hours a week at most. Then when I quit I found out t…

I've come to understand, talking to a friend who is also in the startup world, that there are some CEOs who run a "portfolio" of startups. It's pretty weird. I don't really understand why investors would put money in a company that only has a part-time CEO.

SpaceX, Tesla, and X have entered the chat....
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