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I am retiring from tech to live offline

openpath.quest

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Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#151

Post by beernet »

thesamethrowawa wrote: post #91

Impressive to take such a stand, doing something they believe is the right thing. The home depot line says a lot though. I guess tech has been good enough to provide some kind of economic cushion that you can retain a reasonable life style as home depot as your only source of income. I would (genuinely) be interested in a follow up on how that works out for them. I've "threatened" to do this many times, but my partne…

> I guess tech has been good enough to provide some kind of economic cushion that you can retain a reasonable life style as home depot as your only source of income.

This is a nice understatement. What we see here is privilege at work and phrasing it in a likable manner. "Tech" folks appear to be particularly vulnerable to this type of framing.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#152

Post by andriy_koval »

azangru wrote: post #32
kamaitachi wrote: post #7

I just retired after 40 years writing code. The last year or so wasn’t fun - battling with AI, trying to get it do what I wanted. For a long time, I thought I’d do a lot of hobby or open source coding when I retired. I haven’t even tried. I’m not burned out, but find I’ve lost the passion for coding I once had. Is that AI? Or is it me? Maybe as my retirement progresses, I can rekindle that passion, but as of now, I d…

> battling with AI, trying to get it do what I wanted What I am selfishly curious about is: is it possible to remain a software developer, and ignore AI? To write code the same way we did before 2022? I understand that there are many companies in which managers demand more of workforce — but are there still places where people are satisfied to not rush ahead and do business same way they did three or four years ago?…

> In other words, is it possible to not battle with AI trying to get it what we want? Were you forced to do this by your employer, or was this entirely self-inflicted?

if you work in company with lots of AI generated code, then you can't handle it without AI usage anymore..

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#153

Post by antonyt »

moralestapia wrote: post #95

Very nice performative piece. The reason he, and others, are "retiring" from tech now is because they have the wealth to do it, in big part due to being at the right place at the right time in life. That’s it. AI has nothing to do with it, they just want a small ego stroke.

It can be both.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#154

Post by neutronicus »

mrmarket wrote: post #30
neutronicus wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do not do this until your youngest child is at least 4. There is no profession better matching what women in western countries expect from a co-parent than tech. The money first and foremost, but the flexibility to work (more accurately, pretend to work) remotely, too. Let me reiterate: For your marriage, do not do this until your youngest child is at least 4.

This would be ideal, but practically speaking, it will only become harder to switch careers and make up the income gap as I get older (i'm 30) and more people leave tech for less volatile industries. Plus, I don't think we'll be one and done re: kids. I don't think waiting is necessarily a smart long-term move given rising anti-tech sentiment among workers, even if it would be better to wait until the perfect age fro…

I guess it depends on how the pay actually compares.

If the tech salary is more than the trade salary, every year you hold on is more runway for the eventual transition. Even if it takes you longer to get into the new thing because you were slow jumping ship, the extra runway might cover the difference.

Obviously I've had similar thoughts to the ones you're having. But this is a pretty cushy gig and I don't think leaving it before they make me is the right decision.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#155

Post by lbrito »

I was about to comment something like "happy for OP, he's very fortunate to have enough to be able to simply retire" when I read the bit about Home Depot.

Amazing, really walking the talk at a level I've never seen before outside of novels or lives of the saints etc.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#156

Post by XorNot »

sharkweek wrote: post #117
kamaitachi wrote: post #7

I just retired after 40 years writing code. The last year or so wasn’t fun - battling with AI, trying to get it do what I wanted. For a long time, I thought I’d do a lot of hobby or open source coding when I retired. I haven’t even tried. I’m not burned out, but find I’ve lost the passion for coding I once had. Is that AI? Or is it me? Maybe as my retirement progresses, I can rekindle that passion, but as of now, I d…

Father in law was a real estate agent from the 80s until maybe 5 years ago. The day he retired was the day he absolutely positively suddenly wanted nothing to do with real estate anymore. He loved the career but it was interesting watching him just suddenly be done with it. He found other hobbies and interests pretty quickly once he took an inventory of how he wanted to spend his time.

Suddenly then all at once has been a common pattern for me too.

Its liberating to have the experience to know that once you're done with something you won't miss it's absence.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#157

Post by JackMorgan »

thesamethrowawa wrote: post #91

Impressive to take such a stand, doing something they believe is the right thing. The home depot line says a lot though. I guess tech has been good enough to provide some kind of economic cushion that you can retain a reasonable life style as home depot as your only source of income. I would (genuinely) be interested in a follow up on how that works out for them. I've "threatened" to do this many times, but my partne…

From 2024-2025 I worked as a firefighter instructor while running my own tech business, and after two years I decided I was done instructing. I could not handle working on my feet in the pouring rain, getting endlessly hassled for doing a task by the book but not the way the lead instructor likes it done, and then having to spend my lunch break listening to sexist and racist "humor" from my coworkers. Also getting exposed to seriously toxic materials at a radioactive building. Coworkers who all had the thinnest skin and most sensitive egos I've ever seen. All to get paid less in an 8 hour day than I make an hour at my business. It just wasn't worth it, even though I loved being there for the students and helping them grow. When I realized I could make more growing organic veggies in my yard than I could at the training center, I made the call to quit.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#158

Post by sqircles »

kamaitachi wrote: post #7

I just retired after 40 years writing code. The last year or so wasn’t fun - battling with AI, trying to get it do what I wanted. For a long time, I thought I’d do a lot of hobby or open source coding when I retired. I haven’t even tried. I’m not burned out, but find I’ve lost the passion for coding I once had. Is that AI? Or is it me? Maybe as my retirement progresses, I can rekindle that passion, but as of now, I d…

Sounds quite normal, honestly. Programming is in a dark place right now relative to how I used to enjoy it. I haven't touched a personal project in many months. You did something for four decades and whatever mystery may have been left there is probably gone with AI.

Try identifying what made it feel like a "passion." Was it problem solving and discovering new things on your own by piecing things together? Then yeah, AI probably has something to do with that in regard to software development - but there are many other avenues you can take to fulfill that whether it be unrelated hobbies or charity work, etc.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#159

Post by japhyr »

jdorfman wrote: post #89

For those scratching their heads asking who is this guy and why should I care? He has been tackling the open source sustainability issue since launching gittip circa 2012. Since then millions of dollars have been raised for open source because of him. Sure it’s a drop in the bucket but he did it. Chad is a friend of mine. You can’t find a nicer person in tech than him. I hope this is temporary because he can still ma…

I met Chad during the gittip years, and one of my life goals now is to go find him in the offline world some day and sit around an open fire at night to share stories. :)

I wish I still had my gittip penny, but I seem to have lost it in several moves since that time.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#160

Post by kellogah »

kamaitachi wrote: post #7

I just retired after 40 years writing code. The last year or so wasn’t fun - battling with AI, trying to get it do what I wanted. For a long time, I thought I’d do a lot of hobby or open source coding when I retired. I haven’t even tried. I’m not burned out, but find I’ve lost the passion for coding I once had. Is that AI? Or is it me? Maybe as my retirement progresses, I can rekindle that passion, but as of now, I d…

I think part of the problem is that source code is always in flux. So to think of the satisfaction of completing a project seems difficult to imagine.

Big corporations invent new “features” and then axe them, even if the products are delightful; venture capitalists obsessed with building to exit on profit alone; open source developers trying to make a name for themselves by building something in Rust to improve performance by 5%.

Compare that to something like architecture or woodworking, gardening, baking, painting—creating real tangible things.

My recommendation is combine the two: use arduinos and/or raspberry PI to automate water delivery in your garden. Stuff like that that you can experience the value at first-hand. :)

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