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Sergey Brin's Unretirement

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Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#361

Post by dubeye »

My doctor had a renowned research record, retired at 68 but got bored, and went back to work. Whilst I was in hospital, I got to observe him throughout the work day.

I don't mean this in a creepy way at all, but I got the impression the greatest source of joy was hanging around with younger people. A hungry grad, a cleaner, a nurse, male, female, whatever.

I'm sure he enjoyed his peers as well, but I could detect a shade of boredom of those interactions, which inevitably had stress and responsibility attached.

I think what I'm trying to say is that work isn't just about challenge, it's about socialization and having fun. And one of the greatest benefits of being financially independent is being able to navigate to those kinds of moments without the pressure of being on the make.

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#362

Post by virgil_disgr4ce »

largbae wrote: post #287

From observing my parents and other elders, it isn't "work" in the job sense that we all need. It is feeling needed by others. This can be accomplished by being an active grandparent, charity(active volunteering not just allocating money), open-source contribution, mentoring. It can be something other than a job. It just can't be done alone. We are social creatures and need to be needed by each other. Luckily there a…

Exactly, the prevalence of the word "work" in this conversation is such a telling indicator of what 'western' culture-at-large has been taught to focus on

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#363

Post by VikingCoder »

pzo wrote: post #344

> Adherents of the popular financial independence, retire early (FIRE) movement scrimp and sacrifice to retire early. Only for many of them to discover their dream of post-work life does not match reality. I think the more important goal in FIRE is the 'FI' part - financial independence. Something that allows you to retire early - not necessary that you have to use this privilage. Something that allows you to next da…

FIYNTBOM

Financial Independence, You're Not The Boss Of Me.

Once you're financially independent, at a level that you're comfortable with, you don't have to put up with crappy bosses.

If you're Sergey Brin, you kind of don't really have a boss, do you?

If you "retire" into working at a hardware store, or volunteering at the Humane Society, or just shifting into a lower-stress job...

Well, that's the dream, isn't it?

I was so happy when I realized that, unless there were dramatic shifts in the markets, I would always be able to find "decent" work for great wages. And maybe I could be patient and find "good" work for "pretty great" wages.

Once I had that level of comfort, I was way, way more brave at work. I thought, "Well, they could fire me for their own reasons, any day. So, I might as well do The Right Thing™. If they fire me for doing The Right Thing™, well, I didn't really want to work there anyway, did I?"

And then there were dramatic shifts in the markets, lol. But fortunately for me, I had built up a nest egg, and now I've shifted into a lower-stress job.

I honestly don't know what advice I'd give to younger folks. Move to Norway?

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#364

Post by plicense »

DannyBee wrote: post #326
senorqa wrote: post #114

> Sergey Brin’s lesson for the rest of us Is it? I know people who are really happy without doing much in their retirement. Probably because they weren't workaholics. To my mind, if one doesn't have hobbies during the working years, then they will struggle to find purpose when they retite.

This is kinda right, kinda wrong. I was a workaholic - I was a VP of engineering at Google. I'm doing fine retired. You don't have to find purpose when you retire At all. Instead, you just have to be willing to face each day when the day has no expectations. You can do anything you want, and decide you love it, hate it, whatever. You can do it again the next day, or not. you can hate it one day and love it the next.…

Just wanted to say, one of the exciting things I realized when I joined Google was that the maintainer of GDB was my org's director at that time. Not sure how much it matters, but it gave me confidence in the leadership to know that someone who knows the details is running the show at the top. It made me trust the leadership chain much more than I normally would otherwise.

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#365

Post by diamondfist25 »

I was semi in retirement.

Actually just jobless, but I was doing side projects here and there

Retirement gets boring fast —- and you lose connections to the rhythm of society fast.

For the vast majority of humans, an idle mind is depressing and destructive

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#366

Post by huhtenberg »

largbae wrote: post #287

From observing my parents and other elders, it isn't "work" in the job sense that we all need. It is feeling needed by others. This can be accomplished by being an active grandparent, charity(active volunteering not just allocating money), open-source contribution, mentoring. It can be something other than a job. It just can't be done alone. We are social creatures and need to be needed by each other. Luckily there a…

> It is feeling needed by others.

A more general need from what I see is to engage with and to accomplish non-trivial things.

For some it might be helping others people, for others it might be learning, researching or creating.

To each their own.

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#367

Post by singleshot_ »

lucianbr wrote: post #198
marcus_holmes wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took a career break and was weirded out by the question of "how do I introduce myself?". So used to saying "Hi, I'm Marcus, I'm IT Director of " that suddenly having nothing to say there was strange. When people asked "what do you do?" I had no good answer, and that felt like I had no good identity. I guess for Sergey Brin it's a little different, he will always be "Founder of Google" even if he leaves Google. But…

What is the point of the "I'm Marcus" part of your introduction? Reading your post I get the impression it has zero value, or at least you think so. > Hi, I'm Marcus > What do you do Marcus > I'm on a break now, but I used to be a director of IT Is this really difficult? Seems really easy, and I was never a director of anything. Maybe that's the problem.

It's like when people say their pronouns, but for nouns.

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#368

Post by ocdtrekkie »

Reminder: Sergey Brin is a creep who believes in hiring women so he can sleep with them.

The fact he's allowed back inside Google means Google still has a massively unresolved workplace sexual harassment issue.

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#369

Post by endemic »

throw101010 wrote: post #244
weinzierl wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So used to saying "Hi, I'm Marcus, I'm IT Director of " [..] Risking a stereotype. In my experience from traveling the world it's a tell-tale sign for being from a culture heavily influenced by the Protestant work ethic. Introduce yourself like that in Spain, Italy, or Brazil and you'll get strange looks. On the flip side, I've found that people who do not define themselves through their work primarily often do so…

In a business/formal context it would be normal to introduce yourself like this in the countries you've mentioned. Do people introduce themselves like that in informal contexts in the USA? If so that's indeed a bit weird, and more a topic you would start talking about for small talk or if someone asked about it.

I would find it strange if someone introduced themselves to me with their business title. I sometimes ask "what do you do for a living?" as small talk, but that's solicited.

Re: Sergey Brin's Unretirement

#370

Post by bsoles »

largbae wrote: post #287

From observing my parents and other elders, it isn't "work" in the job sense that we all need. It is feeling needed by others. This can be accomplished by being an active grandparent, charity(active volunteering not just allocating money), open-source contribution, mentoring. It can be something other than a job. It just can't be done alone. We are social creatures and need to be needed by each other. Luckily there a…

> It is feeling needed by others.

My perspective on these things have changed when I saw a successful old friend of mine thank his friend for asking his help. I feel like being asked to help by a friend might actually be a privilege sometimes.

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