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I am retiring from tech to live offline

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Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#441

Post by anonymars »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #258
xp84 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good for you. It’s so exhausting dealing with these people who are constantly chasing a fantasy that through some process, or through sheer force of will, we can achieve a system where all the feature work gets done super quickly and we never have to pause or slow down to handle engineering concerns because they simply don’t exist.

The only thing worse is when they expect you to do all the above after they cut your budget in half. I'm so sick of hearing "Do more with less." "Yes we want you to build a faster-than-light spaceship. Your energy budget is this candle." Why do we give managerial control to insane people?

I think to paraphrase Plato's Republic, who else would want it?

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#442

Post by madrox »

siren2026 wrote: post #237

I have been at it for 20 years now and have started to feel my time is up as well As a lot of comments here highlights, the issue is not so much the tech but the politics, constant perf reviews, re-orgs, nonsense BS that is pushed top-down. This industry is taking a toll on you. My advice for anyone reading this that is starting your career: Live simply and save a lot. When I started my career I thought I would love…

This has been me as well. While I don't think my time is quite up, I have heard the call of the sea. Grey ships are waiting.

There have been times in the last decade where I wished I had chosen a profession that lets me stay offline more. Ironically, AI has given me more enthusiasm for tech than I've had in years, which seems opposite to most people's experience.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#443

Post by thesamethrowawa »

Barrin92 wrote: post #288
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…

>that you can retain a reasonable life style as home depot as your only source of income. that's pretty presumptuous I think. He says in the piece he is an Orthodox Christian who wants to build a offline community in Pennsylvania where he lives. The average salary at HD is 70k, that's the household income in the state. I know a bunch of Orthodox folks in the US and their idea of a reasonable lifestyle doesn't include…

> I know a bunch of Orthodox folks in the US and their idea of a reasonable lifestyle doesn't include two Teslas and three holidays, they do just fine on less than that without a tech cushion.

I'm not talking about Teslas and holidays. Where I am, an equivalent job would really be living on the edges in terms of the basics: rent, groceries, healthcare, energy, saving for retirement.

> It does seem a bit tiring to me whenever seeing articles about people moving out of tech...

It's tiring to me that tech workers really have no idea how well they live compared to people working retail full time - to the extend that it gets romanticised like this. It's incredibly patronising. Which is why I would be interested in a follow up on wether the reality matched the "dream".

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#444

Post by GaryBluto »

djeastm wrote: post #411
GaryBluto wrote: post #189

While I admire his commitment to his ideals, I find some of this veers into an uncomfortable fanaticism, especially the remarks praising the savage acts of violence committed by the Sentinelese (which I find particularly odd considering the author's professed religion). I doubt the Amish (who apply technology selectively and intelligently) would appreciate being compared to them either; the Sentinelese are not preser…

>barbarians I didn't realize people still used this word to apply to human beings.

Can you think of an appropriate application of the word "barbarian" that doesn't refer to humans?

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#445

Post by dilyevsky »

djeastm wrote: post #411
GaryBluto wrote: post #189

While I admire his commitment to his ideals, I find some of this veers into an uncomfortable fanaticism, especially the remarks praising the savage acts of violence committed by the Sentinelese (which I find particularly odd considering the author's professed religion). I doubt the Amish (who apply technology selectively and intelligently) would appreciate being compared to them either; the Sentinelese are not preser…

>barbarians I didn't realize people still used this word to apply to human beings.

> friendly neighborhood murderers

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#446

Post by sillysaurusx »

nunez wrote: post #426
siren2026 wrote: post #237

I have been at it for 20 years now and have started to feel my time is up as well As a lot of comments here highlights, the issue is not so much the tech but the politics, constant perf reviews, re-orgs, nonsense BS that is pushed top-down. This industry is taking a toll on you. My advice for anyone reading this that is starting your career: Live simply and save a lot. When I started my career I thought I would love…

Some people need to touch fire to know the feeling of getting burned. I was one of those people. Excellent tech income; zero savings other than a 401(k) I barely contributed into. After an amazing meal at a burger place several years ago, I asked my wife about upgrading to a Model S. She figuratively sat me down (after we literally sat into the seats of our Model 3) and was more straight-forward with me than she had…

As someone who took that time off, don’t. Not unless you have a solid re-entry plan. The money was nice for raising our daughter but I’m out of runway and no way to recover. Do well at your job and be thankful to live such a luxurious life.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#447

Post by embedding-shape »

magneticnorth wrote: post #246
embedding-shape wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Lived humbly" is vastly different from "reduce expenses and maximize savings" which FIRE is all about. I've basically always earned more than I could spend, although I thought nothing about saving money, does that mean I'm doing FIRE too, or just happened to be "living humbly"?

> "Lived humbly" is vastly different from "reduce expenses and maximize savings" which FIRE is all about. As someone who has successfully FIREd, I would disagree. If you are fortunate to be in a successful tech career and have a like-minded spouse, you don't need to do anything extreme to be able to FIRE. We only own one home that is comfortable but not impressive; we take care of our cars and drive them 10+ years; w…

Well, I'm also FIREd, and obviously I'd disagree with your disagreement :)

I do agree you don't need to do anything extreme, personally I basically stumbled upon financial independence, I was just doing what I thought was fun, turned out it was profitable as well, and here we are with 24/7 freetime for ~50 more years or whatever.

But when I talk with peers who are all into aiming for "FIRE", then that's very different from the experience I had actually achieving it, I haven't though about retirement a single time, and obviously don't relate at all to these people who think about "reduce expenses and maximize savings", but I'd still relate to "lived humbly", fwiw.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#448

Post by sillysaurusx »

throwfaraway4 wrote: post #309
saadn92 wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It comes down to perspective tbh. For someone who's worked hard labor throughout their life, the cushy tech job you get is actually worth doing forever. But for people who have never experienced that, I can see why retiring early makes sense, but honestly most of us get to work from home and do our jobs on the computer, which doesn't require much. It's still an amazing career to be in IMO

I've worked in food service, landscaping and factory jobs. You're right, the tech job does feel super cushy after gigs like that. But I'm about 25 years in on the tech industry now and I feel the same GP. At some point, you can't avoid the politics and corp BS and it wears you down. Everything is relative. Now that I have the means to say "I don't have to or want to do this anymore" I'll be checking out after this ye…

Do you have a plan other than “wait for the money to evaporate”?

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#449

Post by vostrocity »

HoldOnAMinute wrote: post #400
siren2026 wrote: post #237

I have been at it for 20 years now and have started to feel my time is up as well As a lot of comments here highlights, the issue is not so much the tech but the politics, constant perf reviews, re-orgs, nonsense BS that is pushed top-down. This industry is taking a toll on you. My advice for anyone reading this that is starting your career: Live simply and save a lot. When I started my career I thought I would love…

I feel the same way. I feel sad though that it's over and I never accomplished what I wanted to. But for the last 20 years my priority has been my family. Pickups and Dropoffs to school, sports, activities, and doctor appointments. At least I was able to give them a good life. Living in the United States, my retirement plan is "MAID"

MAID as in Medical Aid in Dying? Why would you do that?
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