I quit the tech industry

Having a traditional job is such a terrible experience. At the very least, it's terrible if you're not 100% in love with whatever company project you're working on.

I think there are some personality types that are suited to traditional jobs though, since most people don't share my concerns when I tell them how terrible it is to have a job. Because of this, I think more people like the author of this post should pursue non-traditional lines of work without feeling guilty. Perhaps our current economic set-up doesn't allow everyone to be happy, but more people could be happy than they currently are.

> I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to sit at this desk and I’m going to work on whatever the hell I feel like working on.

> I don’t know how to turn this into dollars yet. Hopefully I’ll figure that out.

Well, good luck. I'm just afraid the reality will kick in soon. Tech industry is by far not the worst way to get some food for fifty picnics; many others are much more soul-crushing, with less chance to retire early.

While i feel similar in that i don't think i could go back to a "normal" job, i also realize how incredibly lucky i am to have this choice. So many people have to do much more grueling work that is not even remotely their passion and earn much less doing so. It's not even a question of education really, imo it comes down to luck in where you were born and some choices that made you end up in an industry that allows all of this.

I also know that there are always people that aren't as lucky and privileged and that it shouldn't be the argument to end all arguments because otherwise no progress will ever be possible.

i find it impressive he resisted using the word 'fuck' until about 2/3rds of the way through. he may have a future yet.

the irony of course, is that anger and humiliation and frustration drive you to start your own company, but if you succeed, you will basically deal with new instantiations of the same old problems, except this time it's all your fault and they still need to be fixed. now 'that guy' is you. congratulations! you've made it.

technical debt, constant stressful fire-drills, ludicrously overloaded schedules, demands on your time and patience, inane re-inventions of established technology, etc. plus a whole host of others ('unknown unknowns') that you can't even begin to fathom as someone who was paid handsomely to care only about the technical problems in an organization.

but, of course, you will be king shit sittin' pretty at the top of the whole shit-heap by then, and see the entire heap of shit from a new, exciting, gilded perspective. and this is, in and of itself, worth something. in fact, it can be worth a shitload.

they don't call it an exit strategy for nothing!

I couldn't believe what I was reading. I have the exact same feeling about current state of the tech industry.

No one pushes barriers anymore. Rarely anyone makes anyones life better by doing things radically different. We keep reinventing the same wheel again and again. I've been paid handsomely in the last 5 years by doing pretty much the exact same things, using different frameworks for different (and at times the same) companies.