do it while you're working..
Ask HN: Should i quit?
11–19 of 19 posts
Re: Ask HN: Should i quit?
#12Being the cautious type, I myself would reduce working time and start developing in my spare time until I have something to show potential customers.
Re: Ask HN: Should i quit?
#13Note, that you might not qualify for unemployment benefits if you left your employer voluntarily, which leaves social benefits. To get those you probably have to disclose any money you have on bank accounts. The job/employment office also forces you to actively look for a new job (go to interviews, maybe interview trainings, explain why you didn't take another lower-paying job they offered you, etc). Depending on cou…
All valid points, thanks.
In my case, it would be possible to arrange my resignation to appear as a lay off. Currently there are no eligibility criteria for unemployment benefits other than how long one has been employed.
Severance, at least here, is paid as long as one is laid off and has been working for the same company for a number of years. So, i would be getting some for sure, but i am also owed a few salaries so that would be a significant chunk of money in my bank as well (~5K). Severance could be another 4~8K.
A paid internship would be very interesting, unfortunately there are no programming/web dev jobs locally. At least not advertised. Even if there were, i'm not sure i would like to work on an anachronistic tech stack, which would most likely be the case. Food for thought though...
Re: Ask HN: Should i quit?
#14I was roughly in the same position as you couple of months ago. I was working in the banking industry for almost 2 years, but always had a thing for IT (start learning programming when I was 13+ but made a mistake when choosing career). What I did was I start planning for 6 months, and in those 6 months I try to improve my CS theory for interview purposes and start doing personal projects (finished projects, somethin…
> What I did was I start planning for 6 months, and in those 6 months I try to improve my CS theory for interview purposes and start doing personal projects (finished projects, something tangible that you can show). The projects should have some sort of complexity just for the sake of telling the interviewer that you are capable of doing/learning whatever that you are applying for.
Interesting, thanks.
Re: Ask HN: Should i quit?
#15I've seen two of these in Ask HN in the past week. I just want to say it's not as easy as building a SaaS and then customers will come knocking at the door to hand their giant stack of cash. We've been working on it or 5 months and are just now getting traction and we are in an established space. Marketing and getting people to sign up has been the toughest part of it all even with better/more features and easier to…
Thank you for your insight.
Building a profitable SaaS is very, very difficult, and can be soul crushing, i am aware of this (that's why i find people like @patio11 very special). On the other hand, working at a dead end job can be equally soul-crushing.
> ultimately you should figure out what will make you happy and go with your instincts
I'm slowly driven towards the same conclusion, but it's easier said than done. Stepping outside the salaryman nest, especially when jobs aren't easy to come by locally, let alone paying well, is scary.
Re: Ask HN: Should i quit?
#16Find customers first, atleast 10 paying ones. These customers should be non related (no family, friends, close contacts). Then you can declare some sort of product market fit. Depending on your market, this could take anywhere between 3 months to 2 years. Once you have had you have to concentrate on building a repeatable sales process. If you are non developer trying selling first and building later, and don't leave your job until you have some confidence in product/market fit.
Re: Ask HN: Should i quit?
#17Don't underestimate the anxiety that monetary stress will bring if you don't win the SaaS startup lottery in your anticipated time frame (in my experience the rule that it always takes twice as long and requires twice as much money as expected holds true). I commented on a similar post on how I dealt with it when I left the cushy corporate tech world 12 years ago: Note: I had more savings and it's easier to find a te…
> Don't underestimate the anxiety that monetary stress will bring if you don't win the SaaS startup lottery in your anticipated time frame (in my experience the rule that it always takes twice as long and requires twice as much money as expected holds true).
Thank you. I'd imagine my anxiety could very well be worse if things were tanking. On the other hand, i feel a sabbatical would greatly benefit my mental health. But the next step, after the sabbatical, would be uncertain.
Re: Ask HN: Should i quit?
#18Really depends on your personal situation. 23K goes away pretty fast especially in non-funded ventures. But then again, doing something in parallel rarely takes off.
Ask yourself: - How much do I stand to gain (whats your share of equity) - Who will seed fund the venture (23K is not going to be enough to live and fund even your prelaunch activities) - How quickly will you make your first sale. Better yet can you book pre-sales. This leaves you with a much cleaner milestone/deadline. In that case you can take some unpaid leave instead of quitting and see if you can hit that milestone.
Re: Ask HN: Should i quit?
#19Work on your project on the side AND take that developer job abroad.
A SaaS can take years to build to a point where you can even get in to see a real, live seed or angel investor. Live now and keep coding for your future.