What I wish I knew before I quit my job
michaeldrogalis.substack.com
What I wish I knew before I quit my job
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Re: What I wish I knew before I quit my job
#2Quit his job to start a company. Probably different from quitting with the intent to look for another job, or take a break, or retire.
Re: What I wish I knew before I quit my job
#3Quit his job to start a company. Probably different from quitting with the intent to look for another job, or take a break, or retire.
Yes, this is "what I wish I knew before starting my first startup".
Which is an interesting topic, but very different from just "quitting my job and going back to interviewing", which is its own thing. I need a stable job (so no startups for me), but I've come to dread interviewing. It's not lack of experience (either job or interviewing), I'm experienced -- and my experience tells me they are dreadful.
I might be unfair, but "quitting to start my own startup" to me reads like the person doing this is: financially in a good place, in order to take the plunge (or alternatively: no family and responsibilities), and also very confindent that they can find another job if their startup doesn't pan out. This immediately puts them in the minority of engineers worldwide.
Re: What I wish I knew before I quit my job
#4I have a divided opinion on this one.
On one hand, when I used to treat my side project as, well, a side project, alongside my job, I barely had any progress. There is always this voice inside of your head that whispers “well, maybe it’s not that bad to be an employee forever, the money is definitely good”. In addition to that, if you want to have any social life, and avoid health issues, the amount of time you can dedicate to your side project is limited.
In six months of unemployment I achieved more for my business that in years of “side projecting”.
Having said that, there seems to be an aura around “quitting my job and working on my business” mentality. For many it seems like the only reasonable option. But nobody is talking about the other side of it: you need money to live; your product might suck; and after you finished building, you suddenly need to do marketing and I ain’t ready for this shit!
So to each their own I guess. :shrug:
Re: What I wish I knew before I quit my job
#5I quit a hell of a job (in the good sense!) kinda out of nowhere at a point in my career where I was in a great upward trajectory to go on an "indefinite sabbatical" (turned out to be 7 months).
I did not quit to start a company, but the sense of multiple plunges does resonate.
From my perspective:
- It's very hard to detach yourself from stable (and growing) personal finances
- The comparison aspect is always there, you just need to learn to manage it
- The most rewarding bit was re-adjusting my metric of what's sufficient/enough in life
- I was not familiar with that video, but, indeed, I did learn to ask myself "would you rather be doing something else?" and the answer was no
- I learned to dream again
- As soon as I pulled the trigger on the decision I was flooded by a sense of insecurity even if I was really certain of it
I wrote stuff about it at the time but never published it.
Re: What I wish I knew before I quit my job
#6I have a divided opinion on this one. On one hand, when I used to treat my side project as, well, a side project, alongside my job, I barely had any progress. There is always this voice inside of your head that whispers “well, maybe it’s not that bad to be an employee forever, the money is definitely good”. In addition to that, if you want to have any social life, and avoid health issues, the amount of time you can d…
Yes for me building was the easy part, marketing and sales, not so much.
Re: What I wish I knew before I quit my job
#7I have a divided opinion on this one. On one hand, when I used to treat my side project as, well, a side project, alongside my job, I barely had any progress. There is always this voice inside of your head that whispers “well, maybe it’s not that bad to be an employee forever, the money is definitely good”. In addition to that, if you want to have any social life, and avoid health issues, the amount of time you can d…
It's an incredibly difficult thing and for many, myself included I'd love to be able to work for myself, and actively try to do so. But the limited time between work and family make it incredibly hard.
There's also the part of me that knows even if I do quit, I'm immediatly going to be thinking about a second project, because what if the first one fails, what if someone comes along with a better product and takes my customers, etc.
It puts you into a state of permanent worry and decision paralasys, not knowing what to focus on, if its a waste of time, if its going to be enough, etc.
For most of us, sure we can build something - that's totally meaningless though if you cant get people to use it, and despite what everyone likes to say that right there is the bit thats near impossible for most.
Re: What I wish I knew before I quit my job
#8Quitting to quit working is a different feeling. You may spend time in the first month untangling your role and your ego. I had no idea how important the status was to me until I was just a guy, at home, that no one needed. It was a valuable lesson about self worth, and one that stayed around after I rejoined the work force.
Re: What I wish I knew before I quit my job
#9I love a good 'I quit my job to start my own business' story, but this one doesn't have much detail. Fair, everything is not written for me or this audience, but would love to know more about the particulars.
Re: What I wish I knew before I quit my job
#10I quit a hell of a job (in the good sense!) kinda out of nowhere at a point in my career where I was in a great upward trajectory to go on an "indefinite sabbatical" (turned out to be 7 months). I did not quit to start a company, but the sense of multiple plunges does resonate. From my perspective: - It's very hard to detach yourself from stable (and growing) personal finances - The comparison aspect is always there,…
Why did you quit?