Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

joshuahu.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 233 posts

Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#51

Post by stephengillie »

txcwpalpha wrote: post #34
dunkelheit wrote: post #17

Recently quite a few articles appeared on HN about escaping the rat race for a while and taking some time off. As someone who has a little savings and who is a bit burnt out I've been toying with the idea myself quite a bit. My biggest fear is that because I have only a vague idea of what I want to do with my time, I will fritter away my sabbatical, not accomplish much and end up pretty much at the same point (but wi…

I did this, and unfortunately your fears became reality for me. Like you said, I only had a vague idea of what I wanted to do (including traveling, starting my own company, continuing education, side projects, etc). Almost 2 years into it I ended up just barely dabbling in each. I traveled for a few months, worked on some side projects, and learned some new things, but didn't really do anything "big" or traditionally…

Because these are all the excuses people give when they were fired and couldn't find another job. Especially after 2 years, when the unemployed person has likely given up on the search.

But seriously, if you enjoyed the job so much, why leave? Why not just take a quick vacation and keep enjoying the job?

Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#54

Post by txcwpalpha »

colanderman wrote: post #49
txcwpalpha wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this, and unfortunately your fears became reality for me. Like you said, I only had a vague idea of what I wanted to do (including traveling, starting my own company, continuing education, side projects, etc). Almost 2 years into it I ended up just barely dabbling in each. I traveled for a few months, worked on some side projects, and learned some new things, but didn't really do anything "big" or traditionally…

> the other 90% hear that I'm unemployed and treat me like a pariah Are you sure it's that, or could it be because they find they have trouble relating to someone who is in such a privileged financial position to do nothing for two years, when they themselves may be financially insecure? People relate through shared struggle and experience. When you say, "I don't work and I don't need to", you've dashed any sense of…

It's funny you ask that, because I was just in the middle of writing an addendum to my comment about how people will react to observations I have about my sabbatical due to my "privilege", and "how dare you complain about being financially secure", etc. It's interesting to see just how mean/jealous some people get when they hear that I'm able to financially survive without a current source of income. Like the author did in his first paragraph, it seems that every time I talk about being unemployed I have to caveat it with some "I know I'm privileged etc etc but hear me out..." because otherwise people will summarily dismiss anything I say. You haven't explicitly done so in your comment, but others in this same post have (see bottom of the comments in particular), and I've even had people in real life maliciously accuse me of secretly being a 1%-er (I'm not even close).

To answer your question more directly: I've considered it, and that's probably the case for some of those interactions (see above), but the majority of the ones I'm specifically thinking of are interactions with people that I know for a fact are much better off financially than I and make just as much (if not more) than I do/did.

Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#55

Post by txcwpalpha »

stephengillie wrote: post #51
txcwpalpha wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this, and unfortunately your fears became reality for me. Like you said, I only had a vague idea of what I wanted to do (including traveling, starting my own company, continuing education, side projects, etc). Almost 2 years into it I ended up just barely dabbling in each. I traveled for a few months, worked on some side projects, and learned some new things, but didn't really do anything "big" or traditionally…

Because these are all the excuses people give when they were fired and couldn't find another job. Especially after 2 years, when the unemployed person has likely given up on the search. But seriously, if you enjoyed the job so much, why leave? Why not just take a quick vacation and keep enjoying the job?

>Because these are all the excuses people give when they were fired and couldn't find another job. Especially after 2 years, when the unemployed person has likely given up on the search.

Yea, I'm aware of that, and I don't necessarily blame the recruiters for that, but it does suck for me.

>But seriously, if you enjoyed the job so much, why leave? Why not just take a quick vacation and keep enjoying the job?

I didn't enjoy the job. I worked my ass off doing 60-70 hour weeks in a position I disliked with co-workers I didn't respect because I knew that sticking it out would get me early promotions and bonuses, which is what gave me the financial security to take time off. In doing so I guess I also proved that I am a good employee, which is why my company tried so hard to get me to stay (and has even tried to re-hire me a few times). But I didn't enjoy it, and would only go back as a last resort (unfortunately, because of the reasons mentioned in my original comment re: recruiting, it seems I may have to go with that last resort).

The specific company I worked for is actually known internally for being a place that people commonly work hard for 3-4 years, take the payday, and then quit to go do something else. But externally, it has a reputation of being a great place to work and I've had a lot of recruiters express surprise/disbelief that I would willingly leave it.

Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#56

Post by astura »

dorchadas wrote: post #50
watwut wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, most 18-25 years old can't. For starter, 25 years old without college tend to have kids already. Some have other relatives that they have to help to. Those without college degree have scrappy jobs if they have them and those with degrees as you said are in debt. Worst off are those with college debt but who did not finished college. Nevertheless, young people without degrees can't really reasonably abandon their…

> Nevertheless, young people without degrees can't really reasonably abandon their life. Maybe in America. But when I was in Spain this summer, I met some Aussies who do seasonal summer work then go blow it all on word trips yearly. Said it was decently common among a certain crowd of people.

Yeah, young people do seasonal work in America too then decide not to get a job when their work runs out. I knew a few people that did that, all had a fall back, most lived in the parents basement.

Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#57

Post by stephengillie »

txcwpalpha wrote: post #55
stephengillie wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because these are all the excuses people give when they were fired and couldn't find another job. Especially after 2 years, when the unemployed person has likely given up on the search. But seriously, if you enjoyed the job so much, why leave? Why not just take a quick vacation and keep enjoying the job?

>Because these are all the excuses people give when they were fired and couldn't find another job. Especially after 2 years, when the unemployed person has likely given up on the search. Yea, I'm aware of that, and I don't necessarily blame the recruiters for that, but it does suck for me. >But seriously, if you enjoyed the job so much, why leave? Why not just take a quick vacation and keep enjoying the job? I didn't…

Why did you work so hard when you hated the job and coworkers so much? Why not find a similar role at a place you enjoyed more? Have you talked to a counselor about workaholism?

Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#58

Post by rvn1045 »

Im doing pretty much the same thing since the beginning of the year. the absolute biggest thing thats helped me is meditating for 1-2 hours a day. when you don't have distractions and you have meditated for that long - you get laser like focus, super clear thinking, and ability to absorb and synthesize way more information. funny the article mentions self actualization - I did not start of with that goal in mind and starting to meditate introduced me to a lot of literature around religion - and you start looking at your life in a completely different way.

Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#59

Post by jsemrau »

dunkelheit wrote: post #17

Recently quite a few articles appeared on HN about escaping the rat race for a while and taking some time off. As someone who has a little savings and who is a bit burnt out I've been toying with the idea myself quite a bit. My biggest fear is that because I have only a vague idea of what I want to do with my time, I will fritter away my sabbatical, not accomplish much and end up pretty much at the same point (but wi…

The trick is always to go TO somewhere not FROM somewhere.

Re: Quitting my job has been the best thing I've done for my career

#60

Post by txcwpalpha »

stephengillie wrote: post #57
txcwpalpha wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Because these are all the excuses people give when they were fired and couldn't find another job. Especially after 2 years, when the unemployed person has likely given up on the search. Yea, I'm aware of that, and I don't necessarily blame the recruiters for that, but it does suck for me. >But seriously, if you enjoyed the job so much, why leave? Why not just take a quick vacation and keep enjoying the job? I didn't…

Why did you work so hard when you hated the job and coworkers so much? Why not find a similar role at a place you enjoyed more? Have you talked to a counselor about workaholism?

>Why did you work so hard when you hated the job and coworkers so much?

I think you might have good intentions with this question, but it seem a bit silly. You could ask the same question to anyone about any job. Why do you think the millions of investment bankers or consultants or lawyers or medical residents work long hours? Why do people work long hours in shitty retail or food service jobs? Why do people work in sweat shops? Not everyone has the opportunity to work somewhere they "enjoy more", but they keep working anyway because at the end of the day we all need a paycheck.

>Why not find a similar role at a place you enjoyed more?

That's precisely what I'm trying to do now. If you mean "why didn't you find a similar enjoyable role to begin with?", because those enjoyable roles don't pay nearly as much, and I wanted to build up a decent-sized savings so that I could take time off, travel, and work on side projects. My "plan" was to spend a few years working hard, build up a nest egg and a resume, and then transition into something more "enjoyable" though lower paying. The first part of that plan went swimmingly, but the transition part has been a little rocky.

Post reply on HN