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Quitting the rat race

seanbarry.dev

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Re: Quitting the rat race

#421

Post by bacon_waffle »

seanbarry wrote: post #410
bacon_waffle wrote: post #178

> If this resonated with you - reach out to me on Twitter It resonated with me, right up until the "on Twitter" part. A few weeks shy of 20 years ago, I was a fed-up high school student and made probably the best decision of my life so far. I loaded my stuff in to the back of a beat-up Nissan 720, drove it over to the high school to return their books and sign a few papers to drop out, continued driving a few hours d…

Author here. You'll notice I didn't ask the reader to "follow me on twitter". I had ~30 people reach out to me in DMs on twitter. Some were people who feel in a similar position but don't know what to do. Others were people who have been where I am and offered advice. Twitter is just a tool to connect with people outside of the immediate circle I have around me, I don't think there's any problem with using it as such…

Forgive me, but I don't understand the relevance of "follow" vs "reach out to".

In the post, you wrote a paragraph starting with `Almost everything around me is designed to addict me.`, which seems incongruous with communicating through Twitter. I'm glad it has worked out well for you and those ~30 other folks anyway.

Mainly I intended to say that I have exited and successfully re-entered the rat race (actually, a few times), and fully support others in doing so. Do it while you can!

Many commenters clearly don't get it, and probably never will. But, I do, and I don't have a Twitter account.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#422

Post by dvt »

seanbarry wrote: post #412
dvt wrote: post #11

I might be a bit harsh, but this is a typical western le bon sauvage misunderstanding about what goes on in the wilderness. I also grew up in the mountains (of Eastern Europe), and I equally despise the eye-rolling fakery and the hustle and bustle of modern day Los Angeles. I love camping, and I surf, and kayak, scuba dive, offroad, and explore. But I don't make the category mistake of thinking the former is somehow…

Hey, author here. When I wrote this, I had no idea it was going to receive so much attention. It was immediately after a call with my boss where I committed to leaving. I have learned a valuable lesson: how important it is to be crystal clear with the words you choose and the message you convey. Reading my post now, I agree it sounds like I'm naively planning on going to live in the mountains where I'll immediately d…

I hope I wasn't too harsh, and thanks for contextualizing your post.

> The TL;DR of my original post is "don't optimise for income over quality of life".

On this, we can 100% agree!

Re: Quitting the rat race

#423

Post by seanbarry »

dvt wrote: post #422
seanbarry wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, author here. When I wrote this, I had no idea it was going to receive so much attention. It was immediately after a call with my boss where I committed to leaving. I have learned a valuable lesson: how important it is to be crystal clear with the words you choose and the message you convey. Reading my post now, I agree it sounds like I'm naively planning on going to live in the mountains where I'll immediately d…

I hope I wasn't too harsh, and thanks for contextualizing your post. > The TL;DR of my original post is "don't optimise for income over quality of life". On this, we can 100% agree!

Not at all! You raised a valid point, I just wanted to clarify my intention. Thanks for engaging with the post.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#424

Post by nicolas_ »

biinui wrote: post #327
nicolas_ wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m earning the most money I’ve ever made and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been even. It doesn't mean everything in my life is perfect, far from it, but that money is a huge help. Doubling my salary and being paid what I am worth by doing what I wanted to do brought me a peace of mind I never had in the last five years (since I immigrated to a new country). I do not have to worry about so many things anymore, it's trul…

If you don't mind, which country did you come from and immigrated to? :)

Sure! France -> Canada

Re: Quitting the rat race

#425

Post by balaji1 »

prawn wrote: post #402
balaji1 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 prosper…

With regard to your first paragraph, I'd agree in part, but to me it appears more like polarisation than decline for the majority. The changes suit some people (owning property while the market rises, as just one example) while not others. To me, it seems like a clear societal improvement for almost everyone creates more reliable prosperity - less fear of crime, dangerous behaviour, risky events, etc. On the second p…

Right, it may not be a decline. But more of humanity is being pulled out of evolutionary stressors and forced into the same artificial stressors.

There is clearly not enough incentive to bring a bigger portion of a population towards a [somewhat subjective] better quality of life. This might be the polarization inherent to human nature.

So far we have done well to curb and mitigate crime, risky events, etc. Maybe the next phase will be more long-term focused including sustainability, responsible waste management, sensible regulations on fast-food and healthcare, etc.

Let owning property while the market rises benefit the few, we cultivate human capital more broadly. We have to be cautious of bloat, red-tape, short-term-thinking spreading to more systems and processes. We have to do something about education systems that seem to face too much inertia and vested interests among other reasons to not witness significant-enough innovation.

^ a few random thoughts in response to your first point

Re: Quitting the rat race

#426

Post by prawn »

balaji1 wrote: post #425
prawn wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With regard to your first paragraph, I'd agree in part, but to me it appears more like polarisation than decline for the majority. The changes suit some people (owning property while the market rises, as just one example) while not others. To me, it seems like a clear societal improvement for almost everyone creates more reliable prosperity - less fear of crime, dangerous behaviour, risky events, etc. On the second p…

Right, it may not be a decline. But more of humanity is being pulled out of evolutionary stressors and forced into the same artificial stressors. There is clearly not enough incentive to bring a bigger portion of a population towards a [somewhat subjective] better quality of life. This might be the polarization inherent to human nature. So far we have done well to curb and mitigate crime, risky events, etc. Maybe the…

I'd be interested in stats about negative social behaviours (say household burglary, graffiti, etc) and how it relates (or doesn't) to home ownership. Is behaviour significantly different if someone feels a sense of ownership and belonging in a community?

Re: Quitting the rat race

#427

Post by KronisLV »

seanbarry wrote: post #413
KronisLV wrote: post #23

What I feel is perhaps missing here is some sort of a plan, so the author can either generate enough income or control the spending well enough not to become homeless. It's nice to (hopefully) have savings for these sorts of situations, but for many out there the end result of something like that would be eventual financial peril. I recently also submitted my own resignation, except I've figured out that my current s…

Author here. Please see this comment I wrote: https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=34426360&goto=item%3Fi...

Thanks for the clarification, this is probably an interesting point to make:

> I don't have FU money, I still want to work as a software engineer and will have to very soon. The difference is that I will not trade quality of life for money, and I will try to find or create work on the terms that maximise happiness for me. These terms are different for everybody, so my solution is unique to me.

I'm inclined to agree, though of course having adequate savings and planning ahead both feel like pre-requisites to me. Best of luck!

Re: Quitting the rat race

#428

Post by kirso »

angarg12 wrote: post #283
dinobones wrote: post #12

I am in my mid 20s. I have about $200k saved and I think about quitting everyday, even though it would probably be disastrous for my career. I look up and I see colleagues in their 40s-50s. 20-30 years of experience in the industry, with the performance of their RSUs they probably easily have $2m+ net worth. I really don't understand why they don't quit. Just a naive example: Buy a cheap house ($250k) and live off of…

I'm a senior eng at FAANG nearing my 40s, so according to your napkin math I should be a millionaire. Of course is not that simple. I won't bore you with my life history, but I spent most of my career living paycheck to paycheck, and only got a high paying job recently. With the double wammy of moving to the US and stock plummeting, my life savings are paltry. I'm still renting and I project it'll take me 2-3 years t…

I would say this is pretty normal. Everyone thinks about life and salary and a linear path to wealth, but its not true.

Not everyone stick in a company for 10 years. Some take sabbaticals, some have medical bills, some go travel for 2 years.

I was earning peanuts up until my early 30s. Also if you are not in US and not in Tech which is lets face it, majority of people - you are nowhere near these numbers.

Survivorship bias at its finest.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#429

Post by qkls »

piecerough wrote: post #15

"The truth is: nothing I’ve done or experienced in this place has given me any experience comparable to walking along the ridge between two mountains. Nothing has made me feel alive like getting in to freezing cold water despite my body screaming at me not to. Nothing has made me feel anything like that feeling when you summit a mountain after 2 hours of solid climbing in the rain, and the clouds part to reveal the m…

Living in a rural area and visiting cities beats living in a city and viting the mountains for me. Visiting cities is super simple, and time of the year or weather basically doesn't matter. But for the mountains you need to be there to be ready for the best weather and conditions.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#430

Post by LoveMortuus »

dinobones wrote: post #12

I am in my mid 20s. I have about $200k saved and I think about quitting everyday, even though it would probably be disastrous for my career. I look up and I see colleagues in their 40s-50s. 20-30 years of experience in the industry, with the performance of their RSUs they probably easily have $2m+ net worth. I really don't understand why they don't quit. Just a naive example: Buy a cheap house ($250k) and live off of…

I'm about 30 and have only ~4.5k€...

Not because I didn't save more, but because I wasn't able to save more. I do look brightly towards the future and hope I'll turn for the better.

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