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Quitting the rat race

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Re: Quitting the rat race

#131

Post by balaji1 »

halfmatthalfcat wrote: post #19
BizarreByte wrote: post #8

It’s a short piece, but it resonates with me, specifically this part: > I’m earning the most money I’ve ever made and yet I’m the least fulfilled I’ve ever been. I’m making the most I’ve ever made and I’ve never been less happy and more depressed. I despise being a cog in a huge corporate machine, it’s like the job was designed to be as unappealing as possible. At the same time I can’t get over the fact that I have i…

Planning an exit, if you truly want to leave, is possible and takes time (years). You don’t have to keep on but just know the time horizon is long and you need a solid plan.

society/civilization[/state/government] was meant to collectively make it better for the next generation in general. But society is not on that path anymore, it seems like there is serious decline happening in terms of quality of life all around the world. Everywhere seems to be converging to a consumerist, busier, fast, urban, sickly lifestyle.

On the flip side, it has never been easier for parents to ensure prosperity to their children. For some people, if your parents [and or spouse's parents when applicable] have saved enough to de-risk your [and your siblings'] financial situation; are there anecdotes of how to leverage that to exit the rat race [or probably not enter at all]?

Re: Quitting the rat race

#132

Post by dylan604 »

nine_k wrote: post #18
BizarreByte wrote: post #8

It’s a short piece, but it resonates with me, specifically this part: > I’m earning the most money I’ve ever made and yet I’m the least fulfilled I’ve ever been. I’m making the most I’ve ever made and I’ve never been less happy and more depressed. I despise being a cog in a huge corporate machine, it’s like the job was designed to be as unappealing as possible. At the same time I can’t get over the fact that I have i…

My approach to that problem is to oscillate between large companies where the pay is extra good and you get to see huge things but the work as a cog is not very appealing, and smaller companies / startups where work is fun and personal growth is noticeable even though it pays less. I think it also accelerates professional growth.

i've done something similar but different. when i get to the absolute breaking point of cannot stand to look at code any longer, i switch industries altogether and go back to a lower paying but much more creative field. once i get tired of essentially being a broke artist, i find a tech job again to start the process over. i also try to stave off the hatred of tech by having creative hobbies, and when i'm being a broke artist i keep up with coding trends to the best of my interest. the staving off of the hatred of tech is getting harder though. the pervasiveness of ad tech and privacy invading tech is just got me just under red lined.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#134

Post by ablatt89 »

alecbz wrote: post #88
ablatt89 wrote: post #24

It's a rat race if you never enjoyed software engineering and computer science from the start, and joined due to the growing SWE hype in the 2010s. Most people in the world have to work 40+ hours a week, and on weekends. It's kinda crazy to not take your career choice in perspective, which is relatively cushy, good perks, good pay, often wfh or decent offices, and call it a rat race because... you think you deserve t…

I still love programming but often feel burnt out at my SWE job. Things like: - coworkers - working culture - autonomy - sense of ownership - sense of impact - how much you actually get to code - whether the coding you're doing is interesting can make you hate your job even if you still like programming itself.

I think the things you listed are reasonable expectations to make someone happy for any job, but it's not what the original article seems to get at. At least from my perspective, he's dismissing software engineering as a fruitful career, humble bragging he's working at a "top investment bank" (?), and implying he's just somehow "better" than others for escaping the "matrix" despite being more "accomplished" (lol) than others.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#135

Post by throwaway_au_1 »

juve1996 wrote: post #107

This post really ruffled some feathers on here, talking about how he can't find happiness out there, you can't find happiness externally, it's all internal, he can only do this because he makes money, etc. It's amazing how many people simply want to tear others down, I think, deep down, many wish they could do the same as this man.

100%. The guy is leaving something behind that doesn't fulfil him in pursuit of something that does, and what do the best minds of HN have to offer? "Well actually"

Re: Quitting the rat race

#136

Post by [deleted] »

jonstewart wrote: post #103

I grew up in a rural area in the US. I love nature and the outdoors. I also love programming. But, rural living is vastly less sustainable on a per capita basis than city living. The elegiac tone of a rural paradise lost is a familiar one throughout the past few centuries. It’s an aspect of “blood-and-soil” nationalism ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_and_soil ) and Boomer-era environmentalism and of Tolkien (…

[deleted]

Re: Quitting the rat race

#137

Post by Loocid »

greggman3 wrote: post #63
gauravphoenix wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Hey, if being in nature makes you happy good for you but your outlook on the rest is kind of crap. It reads like you are stating a fact, but really, it is a matter of opinion. Perhaps, you can just say what you like without invalidating what others prefer.

They have opinions. One is nature rules. The other is the city sucks. I think their opinion of that the city sucks is wrong, full stop, and that a change in attitude would see all the great things a city provides that nature does not so that then you can appreciate both. To me, enjoying the good parts of both the city and nature is a better POV than shitting one one of them.

Have you considered that they may not value the things the city is good for? For instance, I really don't care that much for any of the things you listed (museums, concerts, restaurants etc). I value what the mountains have to offer significantly higher.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#138

Post by karmelapple »

Loocid wrote: post #113
fsckboy wrote: post #35

You being unhappy in your life does not mean that there is anything wrong with the world. Looking to pin the blame on society at large and other people's choices is a convenient escape from looking at yourself and your own fears, disappointments, choices made, etc. I grew up in a rural place, no mountains but we substituted beaches, marshes, and ocean. When I go back to visit I can't believe how beautiful it is. But,…

>The carbon footprint of the average New Yorker is among the smallest in the world Where does that come from? I struggle to see how any person living in the first world could be amongst those with the smallest carbon footprint.

I was also curious. Looks like a typical New Yorker has about 30% less than an average US citizen [1] [2].

But it’s not less than, say, someone living off the land without electricity and subsistence farming.

Maybe among smallest in the world for a large city?

1. https://www.livescience.com/13772-city-slicker-country-bumpk...

2. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/mar/23/city-dwe...

Re: Quitting the rat race

#139

Post by simplotek »

haswell wrote: post #127
lapcat wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think I'm old enough now to confidently say that, yes: Happiness really does start from within. What does age have to do with it? You're one person. It's anecdotal data. I'm old enough now (5 years later) to confidently say that, yes: Quitting my last job really did make me happier.

Age can have a lot to do with it, depending on your path through life. The adage is generally that wisdom comes with age, and there are some things in life that are difficult to internalize until you’ve gone though the experience. To me, it’s just another way of saying “the more life experience I gain…”.

> To me, it’s just another of saying “the more life experience I gain…”.

I believe that if you never were in a position where your job was a soul-crushig source of misery and despair, you've been lucky to live a sheltered life.

Most people don't have the privilege of picking and choosing outstanding jobs with decent work/life balance, nice colleagues, reasonable deadlines and considerate stakeholders. Most people have rent/mortgage to pay, kids to feed, and unfavourable odds of improving their life with low risk and impact on your life. I'm sure they gained a lot of life experience too.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#140

Post by mmaunder »

antihero wrote: post #26
mmaunder wrote: post #9

Funny, I was this guy 23 years ago working in London for Credit Suisse. It’s clear in investment banks that you can just keep doing that forever and get paid what most would consider a lot for doing routine stuff. What bugged me is that I’d stopped growing and wasn’t challenged. I quit and joined a fast growing dot com in 2000, met my wife, moved to the states and we’ve had one hell of an adventure since then. Someti…

I was in that office today, weird eh

Haha. I was at 1 to 5 Cabot Square. The Friday pub gatherings were pretty epic. One Friday I got seriously drunk and swam across the dock, banged on one of the old barges parked on the other side and swam back. Canary Wharf security was waiting for me. A colleague pretended he was an off duty cop from Manchester (he had the accent) and talked them out of detaining me. And that was pretty early on in the evening. Haven’t been back there in a very long time.
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