
Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been? - winteriscoming
There&#x27;s currently a thread going on where people are discussing what they would do if they quit their IT career. I have been in software industry for more than a decade now and since some years now have been thinking of what I would like to do when I quit the industry and how soon I can quit. I no longer have the immense passion I used to have some years back when it comes to software problem solving.<p>It&#x27;s been a while since I have been thinking about it but haven&#x27;t yet been brave enough to quit the industry (mostly financial reasons).<p>My question to others here is, have anyone of you quit the IT industry to do something that interested you (not necessary a job) and how have things been for you after quitting the industry?
======
kickscondor
I guess I should answer this one. I quit computer programming to teach public
elementary school during the summer of 2015. I had been planning my exit for
five to maybe ten years ago. The pay is nowhere near what one can make as a
programmer - but I didn't really need all that money anyway. I teach a
technology class - every kid in the school takes it for an hour - some of it
involves programming, some of it is letting the kids explore tools like Twine,
some of it is programming my own apps for the class.

For me - I can't see myself going back to an office. To teach kids is such an
antidote to the self-loathing and looming pointlessness that I felt as a
programmer. I'm not saying those feelings apply to any of you or to the
profession as a whole - I just needed people in my life. And I guess I was
tired of feeling like other people were using me for their projects - I want
to use me for my projects.

I'm still in a bit of transition - do I continue experimenting in the
classroom and attempt to release the apps I develop there? Or do I stay
focused on teaching and improving my community? I think I'm set on the latter
- I'm happier when I'm not chasing some impossible dream. But who knows - one
still has ambitions that are impossible to repress anyway. Either way - it's
great to have this kind of choice.

~~~
iguanayou
I left the tech world to teach high school. Two years in I felt the same as
you do now. Five years in, not so much - and I returned to programming.

I still like teaching and still do it part time, but would not want to be a
full time public school teacher again.

~~~
kickscondor
I'm not sure if I would feel quite the same about high school - one time I
showed up to work and there was a green construction paper heart in my mailbox
that had YOU CAN HANDLE THIS SITUATION sloppily printed on it.

No - you're right, this is all still fresh to me - second year has been even
better than the first. Let me know if you ever write up your feelings, I would
love to hear about your full experience.

~~~
munificent
You know, sometimes I could use one of those hearts at my job.

------
voidz
I became a full time father and results have been stellar. My boy is now one
year old and turns out to be very clever... And very strong. He could crawl at
seven months and started to learn how to walk at 11 months. His first word was
'hunger' (in Dutch, it sounds virtually the same) at two months, maybe it was
imaginative but he was happy to eat after we we heard him say it, haha. Now he
can also say 'mama' and 'papa', but it appears that he is deferring the rest
of his vocal development until later because he can manage fine by using the
Dutch equivalent words for 'that' ('die', sounds like 'thee') and 'food'
('eten', sounds like 'aitan').

His mother is happy that she can focus on her career while leaving him in my
care at home, although it's harder than she imagined because she does miss us
dearly while away from home and is counting the hours at work... probably
because we're two very cool froods (wink). After the infamous initial "post-
natal bumpy ride" our relationship is back where it used to be - at 100%.

I'm the happiest man ever and wouldn't want it any other way.

~~~
HFTGuru
I've been developing in C, in the finance industry as a high frequency trader
as well as being a father. My son is home schooled and is typing elementary
level sentences at 3 years old, he can also strum the guitar playing notes C D
E F G A B on request.

The down side is I work 10-12 hour days, but I get a performance bonus between
400k and 800k every year. I'm hoping I can retire in my late 30's, but I do
miss out on a lot of time with my son and I always ask myself is it really
worth it... Who know's though, I'm going to ride out the HFT route as long as
it exists.

~~~
bfrog
How have you not retired yet with a 400-800K bonus is the better question?

~~~
otterley
It takes about $6M to retire at that standard of living at such an early age.

------
cerrelio
I took two breaks from tech. One was for grad school, which I dropped out of
after 3 semesters. Like some others in the thread I found academia to be
pretty bad. You're paid shit and treated like a peon. The work was actually
interesting, but I knew I could just go back to private industry and make
5-10x as much doing the same type of work.

I took a break from "everything" at one point and became a nightlife
photographer in a large urban area. It didn't pay much. It mostly involved
drinking and doing drugs, on someone else's dime, until the early morning. It
was a great time for the most part, and I met lots of interesting people.
After about 6 months I got tired of it and went back to tech. Note: having a
professional camera in a club is a great way to meet women.

I'm considering leaving tech again, or at least ending my engineering career.
I no longer find it personally enjoyable to build systems. Building systems
that other people want, instead of ones I'd want to build, has jaded me. I've
worked at several companies, large and small, over the years. And I've found
that as a tech shop matures, that exciting feeling of creating a product
dulls. It dulls to the point of becoming anesthetic. The longer you stay, the
worse it becomes. I wouldn't mind staying in the tech field. I just don't want
to spend all day in front of a monitor anymore.

~~~
rifung
> The work was actually interesting, but I knew I could just go back to
> private industry and make 5-10x as much doing the same type of work.

Don't you have much more freedom in academia on what you want to pursue though
since it doesn't have to make money or am I mistaken? I'm considering going
into academia because I'd like to do research more on the theory side for
which there don't seem to be (m)any industry positions.

~~~
bonniemuffin
I didn't find that to be true. As a grad student and also as a postdoc, you
work on whatever your PI can get grants for, which means you work on whatever
the big grant-funding agencies think is fashionable.

Also in academia there's less ability to pivot when a project isn't working
out -- if the results will be "novel" (i.e. you can get a paper out of it),
you're pretty much stuck continuing in a line of work until you publish it,
even if you've already concluded it won't be useful in the real world.

In industry, as soon as I determine that a piece of work won't be useful, I
can drop it and work on something more useful. Personally, I much prefer the
criteria of "usefulness" as a reason to continue a project, rather than
"novelty". Other people may differ on that preference.

~~~
kennethcwilbur
Autonomy in academia depends entirely on the field, the funding situation, and
the advisor. If you choose wisely, you can build a highly autonomous career.
But it is hard for the inexperienced to figure out how to make the right
choices.

------
grecy
I quit my Software Engineering job and am now spending two years driving my
Jeep around Africa.

I'm working while on the road, writing for magazines, selling photos and
filming a YouTube series.

I am having the time of my life, and am extremely happy I made the decision I
did. IMHO, sitting at a desk is just not worth it. Life is too short. I'm
meeting a ton of people who agree, and are living the kind of life people
spend their lives dreaming about.

If you're interested in my trip:

Facebook:
[https://facebook.com/theroadchoseme](https://facebook.com/theroadchoseme)

Instagram:
[https://www.instagram.com/theroadchoseme](https://www.instagram.com/theroadchoseme)

Twitter: [https://twitter.com/dangrec](https://twitter.com/dangrec)

YouTube
[http://youtube.com/c/theroadchoseme](http://youtube.com/c/theroadchoseme)

And my website: [http://theroadchoseme.com](http://theroadchoseme.com)

~~~
upatricck
Visit the Land of a thousand hills(Rwanda) while on the trip.

~~~
donretag
All the way up to Lake Kivu! As safe as Rwanda is, you need to be wary of the
neighboring countries: DRC and Burundi.

~~~
grecy
Yeah, I'm wary of DRC, but I have to cross it on my way South on the West
coast. I'll go fast.

My research says Burundi is pretty stable.. I was planning to go there. Do you
recommend otherwise?

~~~
jpatokal
You're planning to cross the DRC, and you're going to do it "fast"? Please
tell me that was a joke, because this is what awaits you:

[http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ride-
tales/democratic-...](http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ride-
tales/democratic-republic-congo-lubumbashi-kinshasa-53285)

Update: Ah, I take you're going to cross north to south, meaning you only have
a (comparatively) tiny slice to go through. Then you'll likely survive, good
luck getting the Angolan visa though...

~~~
grecy
Angola transit visa has not been a problem for any overlander in the last 6
months.

30 day Tourist visa seems to be issued to about 50% of people that ask.

------
iamdave
I quit and will be starting my first of a two year pre-law program in two
weeks. I'm quitting for a reason I haven't seen represented in the thread:
"It's not even what I wanted to do as a career when I finished college" I only
ended up in IT when my first job at a law firm as a file clerk nearly ended
due to workforce reductions at a mid-sized law firm-an attorney I had helped
in a big way solve a rather mundane word processor problem vouched that the
company should keep me on and assign me to the help desk.

I found that I was very good at the work, thirteen years later I woke up one
day really wanting to actually use my humanities degree (PoliSci and Public
Policy) and that my joy of doing computers for other people was gone, and I
didn't have the patience to keep up with where tech was going to stay
competitive.

That, and the current state of affairs for people in my social group (African-
Americans) compelled me to go back and do what I wanted to in college: fight
for better laws and fair access to public resources.

nb4 "The legal profession isn't what it used to be, you [probably] wont become
some rich attorney" to which I say "Good. Because that's not what I want to
be. I don't want to be _rich_ , I want to be _good_ at what I do and give my
kids something to be proud of come career day that isn't "he fixes computers
at the local call center".

tl;dr - I have a humanities degree and I got tired of not using it for almost
fifteen years.

~~~
xrd
I'm disappointed you are leaving tech. I wish there were more opportunities in
tech that fulfilled your desire to fight for better laws and access to public
resources. I suppose I'm happy you aren't leaving because of discrimination
(making the assumption your social group represents your heritage...)

~~~
omegaworks
Me too. I'm looking for ways I can apply my technology skills to further
social progress.

~~~
iamdave
Does your city have an open data initiative? That's a good start; Austin is
working on turning a lot of paper forms into webforms to make it easier to
request various city resources.

------
lylo
It's a shame we won't hear from the people who left and never came back to IT.
They're likely no longer here to answer your question! Nevertheless, it's
interesting hearing people's stories.

At 25 (4 years as an engineer, games, DTP) I felt pretty burned out so I took
a year out to travel the world. I saw incredible places, had new experiences,
met people from a wide variety of backgrounds who I'd never have encountered
in a provincial 9-5 office job. It was amazing. When I returned I moved to a
new city and got back into tech, my passion for which had been reignited
during my time out. I hadn't missed it, but I was keen to get into a new job
in a new tech area and learn new things.

Burn out it a common problem in tech. If it were possible/affordable, taking a
six month sabbatical to do something entirely different – travel, charity
work, teaching, writing, whatever! –might be the best thing anyone could do to
keep their passion and enthusiasm for tech burning. Maybe it's something you
do every 4/5 years.

If you're good at your job, valued by your employer and have saved a bit of
money, it might even be easier than you think...

~~~
joatmon-snoo
I'm a senior in uni right now, and also a member of a business frat so I know
a ton of people in finance/consulting, the classic poster child professions
for early burnout.

We had a guy come give a talk two years ago about his work, and it ended up
being sort of a life/success story and it was absolutely fascinating: he had
done a variant of exactly what you describe, on for a few years, off for one
or two to reset and explore passions, rinse and repeat.

The applause he got from our graduating seniors was very telling.

------
davimack
Well, personally, I tried to escape by going and getting a Master's and a PhD.
Unfortunately for me, I didn't bother to really LOOK at academia as a career
path, so when I finished and started looking into it ... well, it's pretty
crap, being an academic, no matter which country you're considering. Also,
academia only considers the work you've done post-PhD as being of any worth,
so I'd be competing with kids who'd gone straight through, rather than those
who'd spent 20 years in industry first.

I've considered a wide variety of things, but always come back to this: if I
keep on saving at my current rate, I can not have to make any profit
whatsoever, whereas if I start out now with something (a bakery, say), then
I'll need to keep on making a profit, so that I can retire some day. I've got
another 10-15 years in software and then I'm done and can do whatever. Check
out [http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-
sim...](http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-
behind-early-retirement/) to figure out where you land on that scale.

~~~
mleonhard
Mr Moneymustache's first assumption is not supported by historical data.

"1\. You can earn 5% investment returns after inflation during your saving
years."

In Investing, It’s When You Start And When You Finish
[http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/02/business/20110...](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/02/business/20110102-metrics-
graphic.html?_r=0)

~~~
obstinate
That chart, I believe, does not take into account dividend reinvestment. I
picked their worst datapoint on a twenty year horizon, '61-'81\. I plugged
January '61-January '81 into this calculator [1]. With CPI adjustment turned
on, the annualized return with dividend reinvestment was 2.3%. That's the
worst twenty year period in history.

Another difficulty with this analysis is that retirees do not withdraw lump
sums twenty years after they retire. They withdraw smaller amounts each year.
I have created a spreadsheet to simulate a retirement starting in 1961 [2].
You were probably feeling a bit nervous in '81, with your nest egg down to two
thirds of its original size. But even in this terrible, terrible scenario, by
following the 4% rule, you arrive at the same amount of real wealth you
started with after thirty years. If you were lucky enough to live for forty
years of retirement, you're two and a half times as wealthy as when you began.

Please let me know if you see any errors in my calculations. I've made notes
on how I arrived at each number in the comments on the columns starting in
year 1961.

The _actual_ worst year for early retirement was '65, when a pure 4% rule
portfolio would have failed after twenty five years. But, if you build some
engineering tolerances into your spending plans, then even that was survivable
[3]. Engineering tolerances in this case are meant to refer to leaving
yourself room so that you can spend less if you must.

[1]: [https://dqydj.com/sp-500-return-
calculator/](https://dqydj.com/sp-500-return-calculator/)

[2]:
[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VXYx12gBECG537mswqRM...](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VXYx12gBECG537mswqRMFz655HD6tGEQ2TF0XiwoG9Y/edit?usp=sharing)

[3]: [http://www.gocurrycracker.com/the-worst-retirement-
ever/](http://www.gocurrycracker.com/the-worst-retirement-ever/)

------
potterboy67
I would think long and hard about leaving an industry you're established into,
before doing it. I left in 2008 because, after two mergers, I had run out of
steam and felt I wasn't wanted. I lost money because the crash caused the
options I had to be worth less than I had hoped, but I attempted to make a
living making wood-fired pots. I'd been making pots for ages, but they weren't
good enough, and I didn't know how to build a business. I've been fortunate to
have had a friend who employed me twice, but I now find myself living on
dwindling savings but nine years out of date.

I would suggest that if you are running out of passion, then find an unrelated
but expensive hobby, or find something related to IT that you can get
passionate about.

And if you're certain you want to leave, start planning now.

~~~
DCoder
> _find an unrelated but expensive hobby_

Why expensive?

~~~
macca321
so you need to turn up to the job you hate!

~~~
DCoder
I thought so. What if I don't hate my job yet? Should I just give it more
time? :)

------
reverend_gonzo
The first time I quit, I was 23. Took everything I had and went to travel
across the world. When I ran out of money, I cam back and did some odd jobs,
ran a small ebay business, and played poker, while trying to figure out what I
wanted to do. Eventually, that stopped being realistic, so I moved to a bigger
city and got a job.

After about two years of that, got fed up, and quit again, and went to grad
school to get a PhD. After two years of that, I realized I was working 2-3
times as much for about a tenth of the pay I could be getting. I finished my
masters, bailed from the PhD, and got a job back in tech.

My plan now is to use this time to make as much and learn as much as possible,
and eventually pivot into something else at some point in the future, while
always having the ability to fall back into tech if need be.

~~~
krashidov
How was traveling until you ran out of money? Do you regret it? Also, what do
you mean by 'pivot into something else?' Do you intend to take your Grad
school knowledge and start a business?

~~~
reverend_gonzo
No regrets at all. I only had about 2k + another 3k off credit that I spent.
It seemed like a lot then, and it can go a long way when you're 23 and cheap.

By pivot, I mean my end goal is to open a beach bar in the Caribbean.

~~~
qaq
I'd try working in one before actually trying buying one :)

------
sdfjkl
After about 20 years of computer stuff, I've found a new interest - sailing. I
spent most of the money gained from computer stuff on a boat, learnt how to
repair it and sail it (repairing being the far more extensive subject), and am
about to set off for a long trip. While doing this I've been using my newly
gained skills and combined with my existing skills (computers, networks,
electronics) did some work in the marine sector (mostly for the odd dinner,
some of it paid) - turns out boats are full of special purpose computers and
most of the "specialists" fixing them are uhm, not the best. My skills found
quick appreciation. Might continue down that road once I run out of money.

I guess my advice is to do a bunch of things and see what you enjoy, new
opportunities will happen as you do. Having an IT background is helpful almost
anywhere, and more valued outside of core IT areas.

~~~
xd
You ever watch svseeker on youtube? He's a DBA building a boat; I've been
watching him for years now and he touches on how his job is just a means to an
end in his goals.

~~~
sdfjkl
Nope. I do watch a few sailing vlogs though: DrakeParagon, Untie the Lines, La
Vagabonde and Sail Life. Each have a very different approach to the subject,
ranging from extensive preparation and fitting redundant systems (Drake), to
buying a beat up boat and just casting off on a round the world trip, figuring
it out as they go (La Vaga).

------
kylecrum
I quit my career for 4.5 years while I did other things that I wanted to do
like teaching, writing, and traveling. It was definitely worthwhile and I'm
grateful I was able to do it, but the same things that I disliked about my
experience in the IT industry end up showing up in other jobs and things I
did. I came back to IT with a different perspective and I got a lot better at
making my job what I want it to be.

If you're going to quit, I think it's better to have clear goals and ideas of
what you are going to do next and why you want do to those things. The act of
quitting will give you immediate satisfaction, but long-term finding that
thing that gets you up every single morning is more rewarding.

~~~
hkon
What did you write?` I am genuinely curious as I never had an urge myself.

------
daxfohl
I taught English in Korea for a year. I absolutely hated it. I was teaching
mostly elementary-school. I never got the hang of creating order in the
classroom or keeping kids interested. Every second was just torture.

In retrospect though I'm glad to have done it. Glad I stuck through the
contract, though sometimes I wonder if it'd have been better for the kids if I
had bailed and let someone more qualified come in my place.

The one nice thing about it is when you're done for the day, you're done. (At
least if you're not a very good teacher). With software you're always thinking
about it even if you're not actively working on it (or at least I am), it just
invades your whole life. So it was great having nights and weekends completely
free to do whatever you want.

The one adult class I had was fun. But you've got to get lucky to get a
position teaching only adult classes, and the hours can be worse.

All that said, I'm back in software now.

------
thaumaturgy
I bailed out of the industry during the dot-com crash -- actually, almost
exactly the night before! -- and eventually became a climbing instructor and
indoor climbing center manager.

I ended up in debt but to this day it's still the best job I ever had and
despite all the work I've had to put into getting my life back on track
financially, I'm still glad I did it.

I came back to IT about 10 years ago, but now I have a whole pile of non-IT
skills and interests that I can dive into whenever I need a break, so burnout
is much less of a problem overall. Working as a climbing instructor and gym
manager also helped me learn how to talk to people and have a little bit of
fun now and again.

~~~
gtirloni
Recently picked up an interest in caving after a successful trip. I can say it
might be the way out of my periodic burn out. It's exciting planning new trips
and then coming back relaxed and ready to take on the IT challenges. I wish I
had discovered this earlier.

------
ITLife
Left the industry after 15 years, bought a garden store with existing
customers and an online site. The freedom and family time was nice but burned
through my savings and sold one of my paid off cars to pay the mortgage. Had a
second child and needed to get back into the industry after 3 years. Sold the
store, broke even, and went back to the 9-5.

This time the exit is being more thoughtfully executed. While making a good
salary, I am slowly buying rental properties. Up to 3 so far. Fingers crossed
that the second time is a charm.

Many in the industry say an IT job comes with golden handcuffs. Most other
professions don't pay as good. IT workers often times make what management
from other departments make.

------
wyclif
I quit during the first dot-com bomb. I was a UNIX sysadmin for a large
company. I had been interested in geodesy and GPS/GIS for a long time, so I
became a land surveyor and GPS/GIS technician. I also did a lot of hydrography
and even LiDAR work.

In 2008, when the subprime mortgage crisis hit, everyone thought that the
crash would only affect residential real estate, but that turned out to be
false—it also took commercial property down, since nobody was buying and
selling. The civil engineering firm I worked for laid off all 12 staff
surveyors, including me, on the same day. We all ended up down the road at a
pub, and the senior surveyors were buying the drinks and we reminisced for a
while. But that was effectively the end of two-man survey crews and
traditional total station/transit instrument tech. Now it's all robotics and
scanning which means one man operations.

I then travelled for a while. I went to Israel and a few other countries in
the Middle East, met a new girlfriend there, and got married. Before getting
married, I decided to go back into technology and become a web developer and
slowly move back into DevOps. Unlike some of the people in this thread, I
enjoy working in tech a lot more now than I did when I started. I find that
working conditions (remote, &c) and pay have improved a lot, and public
understanding of what developers do has increased dramatically.

------
silencio
Bought a restaurant with family in hopes of staving off then-impending tech
burnout - nothing fancy, so it's been a fun and mildly profitable side
project. Was just about to hop on the med school path but I got pregnant at
the worst time. Thinking I'll take a year to parent and maybe do some
contracting while thinking about what to do for the future. Tech definitely
pays well but I lost much of my interest in the past few years, so it's a bit
of a dilemma. I am partially waiting it out and doing other things in hopes
that taking a break will make me feel better about going back.

~~~
wocg
How do you run a restaurant as a side project? I'd heard that this business
requires a huge amount of time.

~~~
silencio
It does, even for a quick serve restaurant. I share the load with my mom. She
plays a day-to-day managerial role so she isn't bored while "retired" and more
than covers her needs with what she takes home. I do stuff from afar (from
ordering food to payroll) plus I go in person 1-2 times/week
(maintenance/repairs, one-off shopping trips, playing bad cop).

If my parents didn't want to work there any more then we'd have to hire a
manager type full-time and I'd have to go over there half the week at least.
It's still profitable enough to live okay in the Bay Area though, so I can't
complain!

If it wasn't a QSR I'd definitely have to sink more time into it. Most places
need a lot more labor or specialized labor (especially something like sushi or
finer dining) and the labor costs end up being so large that restaurants doing
2x my volume make the same profit for the owner while being more stressful...
silly. I'd rather run two restaurants of what I already have than to run a
bigger, fancier place. Working on paying off the last of the loans and
replacing/remodeling this one before I look for a second, though.

------
delgaudm
Quit development, became a voice actor. A lot like a freelance developer or
designer is a hustle, but damn do I love being behind a mic. If you need a
voice for your explainer I'm still pretty comfortable with tech lingo terms,
although I could not tell you what a tensor is!

~~~
minhaz23
Hey do you have any resources like books or youtube that can help someone work
on their voice?

Im not looking to get into voice acting at the moment, but I do love what some
actors are capable of doing with their voice. For example James Gandolfini,
his voice is completely different as Tony Soprano from his real life voice.
Granted, he has voice and dialect coaches, but ANY book or video that can help
me even begin to learn how to manipulate, open up, free my voice etc would be
helpful, thanks! And, good luck with your new career.

~~~
EekSnakePond
Pick up any reading material.. a magazine, newspaper, anything.. and just read
it in a different voice. Create a character in your mind with an accent and
just read it as that person. Then start having conversations with other people
you don't know, introducing yourself as that character. You'll have to invent
life details on the fly, but that's fine as long as its consistent. Do this
for about a year.

It's really the acting part that matters in the end. :D

------
rojobuffalo
I quit in Summer 2015 after working 5 years as a front-end engineer. I did a
ton of camping and reading first. Then I worked on some farms in the Pacific
Northwest for a few months. After that I moved into my family's second-home in
Utah and started a part-time job as a cook at a farm-to-table restaurant.

I started a company with the mission of improving food systems. So I'm working
on my second prototype app for this area. It's definitely a struggle to not
have a salary and not be around a company of talented people every day, but
I'm still enjoying it. I don't love writing software, but I just feel like
what I'm working on needs to exist--so that's what I do now.

------
oldmancoyote
I didn't, and I should have.

I have been programming for 49 years. I lost my government job in an agency
downsizing, worked for a university for 3 years until I could buy into a small
pension with health insurance. I bought a house in Mazatlan, Mexico for the
winters and am a camp host for the Forest Service during the summers. I'm
still hacking.

I didn't have the balls to leave the profession even though I wanted to. Now,
I'm comfortable, but I regret not having done something adventurous and feel
too old for an adventurous life now.

------
callinyouin
I feel the same way you feel. Growing up I was absolutely fascinated with
computers and knew I wanted to be a computer scientist since the age of 12 or
13. Now that I'm in the industry (and not in academia like I initially thought
I wanted) the magic is gone and I want to get out, hopefully within the next 5
years or so. It's not that I dislike programming, in fact I still love it, but
now that I'm solving other peoples' problems instead of working on my own pet
projects it's just not the same.

As far as what I'd do afterwards? I'm kind of at a loss. I've had ideas that
range from opening a bar to buying a plot of land and farming it, but they all
seem so crazy and out of reach.

~~~
toomuchtodo
I'm buying a sailboat with my wife and daughter and sailing the world in 18
months (waiting for the last of my options to vest). Think about it! It's
~$60-100k to get the boat, and you can live on ~$24-30k/year doing it. There's
a huge community out there of cruisers who do it full time.

~~~
nicholas73
I hope your daughter doesn't suffer from boredom after the initial novelty.

~~~
toomuchtodo
From the other families I've talked to who have traveled the world with their
children by boat, or countries by caravan/RV/Airstream, boredom doesn't seem
to be an issue (compared to a lackluster childhood in Suburbia).

Lots of people out there breathing who aren't living.

------
atilev
I'm not sure it it completely applies but here it is anyway. I wasn't working
software development but as a evangelist at my last job and as a software
engineer before that. 1.5 years ago I decided I wanted to change career paths
and get into energy and renewables. I had two options in front of me, either
go back to school or jump head on in. I quit my job at MSFT and moved to
Rwanda, to join a small off grid solar energy company. I woke up everyday
driving out to rural health centers and building things that actually changed
peoples lives. I had to pinch myself almost monthly to let alone believe this
was a job and I was getting paid to do it. In the end I got back into writing
code but learned so much more while doing ii. So from my experience, I would
highly recommend it. Just zero in on something you find super interesting.

------
globalgoat
I'm back in the industry at the moment, but I did quit my job a few years
back. I hired an allotment, grew a lot of vegetables, taught myself to bake
bread and did a few other projects.

How was it? It was just great and it taught me about living on much smaller
amounts of money, which is very helpful now that I have children and I work
for a charity.

So maybe that's slightly off topic, and more of a career break than quitting
the industry, but I'd still recommend it all the same.

~~~
vkat
How does one go about renting a small piece of land for hobby farming?

~~~
vram22
I'm not sure where the parent poster lives, but I've read about this system
(called allotments) in kids' fiction; it was apparently common in the UK (and
may still be). Some of the characters in the stories used to be growing
vegetables in their allotments :) It's something like small plots of land in
or near the edges of towns, so easy for the renters (town-dwellers) to reach
after/before work or on weekends.

I've done a good amount of gardening myself, and it is great fun (apart from
being a good way to get fresh vegetables etc.)

~~~
globalgoat
Yes,it's a UK tradition which, if I'm correct relates back to WW2 and growing
your own stuff in harsh times. It's still really common in the UK and one can
get a good plot of land (within London boundaries, maybe about 100 sq mt) for
less than GBP100 per year, often within 1 or 2 miles from your house. It's a
fantastic deal.

------
hoozter
I don't think they are on hacker news anymore :)

~~~
pmontra
Definitely, but they could have friends here that can report about what
they're doing now. It would be interesting to know.

------
altitudinous
I started writing some apps and then quit my tech job to do them full time. I
took a big risk in quitting my job, I was making $3 a day at that point. I was
EXTREMELY burned out with the work though (Java/Oracle dev) so was for my
mental sanity. I learned how to make money quickly from the apps, I make 3
sometimes 4 figures a day so support myself. I chose evergreen apps, they are
always popular. I delivered my first app 6 years ago, quit job 3 years ago. I
have done apps enough, I am looking at getting back into other fields, likely
that I will do tech again this year. First goal to achieve this year is a
mortgage free home, then will consider how I feel about things. Apps are now
passive, I am burned out on devving new ones, I like keeping the UI's on the
existing ones up to date if I feel like doing something. I feel I am in a good
position but indie apps has been lonely and has warped my social life -
working for others has a social advantage. Apps also now 100% passive so want
to have the advantage of earning $ while I can - make hay while the sun
shines.

~~~
kowdermeister
Congrats on your successful transition.

May I ask what do you mean by evergreen apps? How did you pick what to work
on? I'd love to read more on this subject.

------
aerovistae
I haven't quit altogether, but I have left my job every 18 months or so to
take a few months off. Spent 3 months in Europe this past time and now just
starting up a new job search. When working I save more than enough money to
cover the cost of the months without work.

So far it's provided a very relaxing pace of life giving me a nice break from
the office grind every time I start to get fed up with it.

I figure sooner or later it will get hard to find jobs with a work history
like that, but we'll see how this round goes.

------
jrnichols
I quit working in tech to become an EMT and now a Paramedic. I was completely
burnt out with the M-F 9-5 drag that IT jobs kept me in. I was not at the
developer level, more support/sysadmin roles. And all of them over the years
just burnt me out.

I make way less than what I used to. However, I'm happier. I enjoy my job so
much more. I still do tech stuff as sort of a hobby and I keep my small web
hosting company, maintain some sysadmin skills that way.

Would I go back? Yes. Mostly for financial reasons.

I'm also certified as a firefighter, but at the age of 41, the chances of me
getting on with a fire department full time are very low. I am frequently
disqualified from jobs because of age limits (legal in fire service jobs,
unfortunately) and that (like it or not) I am not a protected class that would
be exempt. On paper, younger candidates are much more preferable. I work for a
private EMS agency (not all 911 services are provided by fire based EMS)
instead, but am still at least applying for part time smaller town fire
departments.

I feel like my skills with server administration are kind of stagnant. A lot
of places aren't self hosting things anymore. The big push to outsource and
virtualize services cut into the market I was in substantially. I have been
looking at some desktop support jobs, and they are not only more rigid with
hours, but pay less than what I make now. And we don't make a ton in EMS,
that's for sure....

------
thinnerlizzy
I don't know yet, but after leaving my last job about 4 months ago, I'm
thinking about getting out. My last job was great fun, but led me straight to
Nowheresville, as the skills I was using are not in great demand. ~2 years of
doing that and my other tech skills are basically obsolete. Nobody is even
looking for Angular anymore, and the jobs I see that use a LAMP stack look
terribly boring to me. I'm going to take a React class and try to get a roster
of clients that will let me work remotely. I've been hesitating to do this,
because I really do not enjoy building systems for the web anymore. The only
saving grace would be working remotely.

~~~
eddiecalzone
Eh? I've had 3 Angular contracts in a row, the most recent started a couple
months ago. Indeed shows over 500 openings in Chicago. I get the burnout,
though. JS frameworks are just exhausting. I've been browsing Rust docs for
the past hour, wondering if a side project would make the burnout better or
worse.

------
rfzabick
I also had been in software for over a decade and was bored with most of the
problems I needed to solve. I switched to security about a year and a half ago
(largely pen testing) and I'm much happier. When I code, I care about the
problems I'm solving. I also get to break things which is a lot of fun.
Switching to security might be something to consider for you as well. It's a
change, but it doesn't require huge pay cut or lifestyle change.

~~~
asciimo
I've thought about this, as well as forensics. How did you present yourself to
your first potential security employers?

------
pieperz
I got burnt out doing JS apps development during the past 2 years. I got laid
off and knew I did not want a desk job anymore.

I took what skills I had woodworking/web development and started a business.
Its called Stump Crafters I build "stumps" to hammer nails in to its a pretty
fun game and is not as dumb as it sounds. The game is in much the same vein as
Cornhole, washers or other backyard games.

I even made a custom Node.js for a local meet-up group I go to often.
[https://stumpcrafters.com/pages/custom](https://stumpcrafters.com/pages/custom)

I have not fully bailed on IT yet. But I don't think I will be touching any
code in another few months.

Now I spend most of my time working in the shop and running the store. It's
awesome.

Check it out at:

[https://stumpcrafters.com](https://stumpcrafters.com)

[https://facebook.com/stumpcrafters](https://facebook.com/stumpcrafters)

[https://instagram.com/stumpcrafters](https://instagram.com/stumpcrafters)

[https://twitter.com/stumpcrafters](https://twitter.com/stumpcrafters)

edit: Spelling

~~~
CodeWriter23
Your stumps reminded me of a challenge of skill called "hunker hauser". Might
be a different audience/market for a similar product.

~~~
pieperz
Thats looks like a lot of fun. I'm going to have to make a set and try it out.

------
DoodleBuggy
It's an idea I have entertained, maybe some day will pursue.

Those I know who have bailed out tended to go in three directions:

\- Teaching public school

\- Diving instructors

\- Owning a bar/restaurant in some touristy location

From observation, the teachers seem most fulfilled, and the divers seem to
have the most fun.

~~~
dolzenko
We need some meta analysis done on these threads for sure )

------
anexprogrammer
To follow on from the little thread from my comment over there [0]...

I was getting far too jaded and cynical about the constant reinvention of the
wheel that was never better, just different. Along with the ever increasing
crap masquerading as the next must have with added lock-in. We have far too
much stuff and need to make less. The dissonance had me feeling part of the
problem not the solution.

I'm less wealthy, but the dot com bust taught me to be frugal (or starve). But
I'm spending a lot less too. I'm orders of magnitude happier and satisfied. I
feel like I'm doing something substantive and feel good about what I do. I
have more options and interesting choices in how the second career develops
than I expected. I feel fitter and healthier, and I get to see daylight rather
more!

The idea of side project or two to keep my tech neurons active appeals, and
after 3 years or so out, appeals rather more. If it makes some extra £ so much
the better.

Overall probably the best thing I've ever done.

[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13334774](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13334774)

------
pragone
Went to medical school. It's about as much fun as going to medical school can
be, but I'm much happier than I was in software (I think?).

~~~
nugget
How would you compare the two fields? What do you look forward to in medicine?

~~~
pragone
You know, this is a question I frequently ponder. I don't know if I have a
good answer.

Interestingly, I think coming from a software background, where things are
(generally) predictable and orderly, can help establish some of the most
important foundations of practicing medicine. In writing software, we
generally have a good idea about what's going to happen when we run our code.
In medicine, we follow the same blueprint when approaching every patient. This
ensures that we're both better able to recognize patterns when they are
present, as well as making sure we are consistently thorough in collecting all
the information necessary for a diagnosis.

There are also tremendous differences - probably the biggest is what could
generally be called variability. In software, we generally want the product to
run identically for every user - it is quite frustrating when it works
differently on every computer. In medicine, we don't end up with much choice
on the matter - everyone is different. And so we need to take those
differences into account when we are formulating our diagnoses and are when we
decide to prescribe (or not prescribe) a medication for a patient. I enjoy the
challenge that this variability brings to the practice of medicine.

As a paramedic for many years now, I've had the pleasure of practicing (albeit
in a very limited manner) medicine. I think what I most look forward to in
becoming a physician is being at the top, directing patient care on a larger
level. I also look forward to seeing more of a patient, rather than just the
hour or so that it takes me to treat them and transport them to the hospital
(unfortunately, paramedics in the USA are not yet look upon as definitive
care). I hope to stay involved in prehospital medicine as a physician and help
it grow to be considered a true career and as a source of definitive medicine.

------
analog31
I'm not sure if this counts, because I quit before my career started. I
learned programming in high school, ca. 1981, and I had a summer internship at
a large data processing shop with an IBM 370 and several timesharing
minicomputers. Also, my older brother was in the programming business, and I
was able to look ahead to the typical CompSci coursework at the colleges in my
area.

I loved programming, but it seemed like both the coursework and what
programmers actually did for a living was pretty dull. Of course I wasn't
exposed to the full range of possibilities, and it was just before the
computer industry exploded, which nobody in my circle (parents, advisors etc.)
predicted.

I went to college and majored in math. It seemed like the things that
attracted me to programming were going on in the math and physics departments,
so I was happy, and ended up with a physics degree. Today, I use programming
as a problem solving tool, but have never held an actual IT job.

------
mindways
My life since age 30 has been a slow odyssey away from a tech career.

After many years of software engineering, I switched to part-time in order to
dabble in board game design on the side. It was fantastic - enough money to
live comfortably, lots more free time - but also a little bit like golden
handcuffs: in order to switch tech jobs, I'd have had to find another place OK
with me working 3 days/week.

After doing that for 6-7 years, I talked it over with my wife and quit my tech
job to do househusbanding instead. It got her more time (fewer chores) and me
even more time (household work didn't take nearly the 30 hours/week that 3
days work + commute had), which let me ramp up the board game design. My wife
works in tech, so one income was more than enough for us, even socking away
plenty for retirement. It took some psychological adjustment on my part, but
she was really good about vocally appreciating the work I did, which helped a
lot with the transition. (Plus, I got to give a big middle finger to gender
stereotypes, which was a source of satisfaction. :)

Then we decided to have kids, and I became a stay-at-home dad. Help from
family and babysitters means I'm still able to spend some time pursuing game
design (note: this is not cost-efficient - either "I parent full-time" or
"daycare" would be cheaper - but it works for us, for now), and parenting is
fantastic. Also frequently exhausting and frustrating - there's a heavy
tradeoff of immediate-gratification happiness for life-arc happiness - but
very rewarding, and the sound of my kids laughing together is pretty much the
best thing in the world.

I still love programming, I just don't do it much. (Little side projects for
fun every once in a while, or simple tools supporting my game design.) And I
think I enjoy it more when I do, because I'm doing it intermittently of my own
volition. Once both kids are in school and I have a little more time, I'll
probably start messing around with mobile development - I find it slightly
disconcerting to look at a computing device and not have the bone-deep
certainty that if I chose to invest the time, I could make it do just about
anything I dreamed up.

With financial reasons as your main barrier to quitting the industry, much of
my experience won't apply to you - my wife's salary is the only reason things
work as they currently do. But if you can fix your budget so that you can live
(and save!) on 40-80% of your current income, you can try to find/make
opportunities to switch to part-time work. I found that when I did, the
benefits of the extra free time made me more focused during my working hours,
and happiness with my life situation made me more excited about my job in
general.

------
mathattack
I took a 5 year journey into grad school and finance. Came back to tech on the
services side. I found my programming skills got dated very quickly, but it's
been fun learning new things on the side of my day job.

One suggestion - look into new domains to apply your tech skills.

------
querulous
i quit the industry for nearly a decade in my mid 20s. i went to work in the
film industry in various on set roles (carpenter, painter, setdec, grip). i
got to the point where i was mostly middle management and the hours were long
and the money good-but-inconsistent so i got back into programming and
returned to dev full time 2.5 years ago

i don't regret leaving dev but i'm also glad i returned

------
mreider
I quit high tech in 2001 and got my masters in education. I taught science in
the East Bay - across from San Francisco.

I ended up going back to high tech. Teaching took too much out of me -
emotionally. In no way do I regret the move to teach - it was a vital piece of
my growth as a person. Plus, I am still in touch with some of my former
students, including a young woman that my wife and I helped get through
nursing school.

As I get older I tend to approach things differently - I dare say better? The
passion I felt towards technology in my 20s has changed. What I bring to my
career in my 40's is more personal and meaningful now. It's about doing good
work that I can be proud of with people who treat one another with kindness
and respect. It's still important for me to love the products I am are
building, but my reasons for loving them are broader than they used to be.

------
khedoros1
A friend worked in software dev for a city in the area, for a few years. He
left that job to become a professional photographer. I think he's been doing
that on and off for at least the last 5 years. He's doing that, but also some
software work.

He seems happy. He bought a house for his wife and son. At least from the
outside, he seems to be doing well.

~~~
DoodleBuggy
I've never understood how photography is still a viable career. Everyone is a
photographer nowadays, and everyone takes good pictures, just look at
Instagram!

Maybe if they niche, wedding or something?

~~~
khedoros1
Phones take "good enough" pictures, but not great pictures. Instagram filters
are fun, but kind of crap (this applies to algorithmic image enhancement in
general, IMO, at least to the extent that every algorithm has inputs that
it'll do badly with). There's a jump in quality from most of the pictures that
non-professionals take, to the quality of images produced by people who know
what they're doing.

------
late2part
Point of order - most of us don't work in IT. We work in "tech."

I love my IT brethren but not all of us do desktop installs and tech support
for a living.

~~~
eplanit
Hear, hear! I left "Enterprise IT" and went into embedded systems. The first
2-3 years were exciting and exhausting because it felt like I needed to recall
everything I ever learned from my Comp. Sci. education and from my early
career -- I had to became a real software engineer again. Rather than some
application on a framework on a virtual instance....it's now board bringup,
bootloaders, and kernels. I now love my career again, and the work I do is far
more challenging and interesting than any IT assignment. More power to those
who do it, but no more Hibernate mappings or soupe-du-jour frameworks for me!

~~~
lotyrin
I spent some time in embedded space after high school and really miss it in
these days of drawing pretty pictures on whiteboards to attempt to explain
exactly why management can't have what they want when they want it, political
negotiations with people that hold the keys to the kingdom (e.g. salesforce
admins) to try to be allowed to do my job, etc.

Do you have any recommendations for someone trying to get into tech
engineering and out of Enterprise IT in regards to credentials they should
seek out, groups in their city they should look into?

~~~
eplanit
Yup, you're in that world. Sympathies!

It's good you have the background -- that's what you can leverage. Maybe start
playing around with a Raspberry Pi for a refresher on the HW and basic
software, and go from there. I jumped into it by learning Android from the
inside out (via AOSP), and was then fortunate to then be forced to learn it
more deeply via client who needed a customized version for their new hardware.
This was not according to a grand plan of mine though -- I was just so done
with IT that it felt worth the risk. I lowered my hourly rates by 50% for one
year in order to get a gig in that space. I looked at the loss as an
investment in education. If I didn't make it happen within one year then I'd
consider going back to what I had been doing. Paying for food+shelter is a
great motivator (the carrot), but the horrible thought of "going back" to IT
was even more motivating (the stick).

As for the above, YMMV of course. Good luck!

~~~
antoniuschan99
My current contract as a web developer is up at the end of the month and I
want to go into more freelancing and have embedded projects in the future. I
usually use side projects to learn initially. In this case I'm working on a
Weather Sensor.

[http://kokonautweathersensors.com/](http://kokonautweathersensors.com/)
[https://www.instagram.com/kokonautweathersensors/](https://www.instagram.com/kokonautweathersensors/)

I think it's pretty successful so far, but it's all new territory in finding
work in embedded systems and even harder representing myself (Been doing full-
time and contracts for the last 6 years. Would like to fully represent myself
as a development shop as soon as possible). Any advice?

------
jshupe
osteopathic medicine, high problem solving to meeting ratio - must like
people, financially a lifetime wash due to cost of education

------
chrislipa
Travel the world. Read Hacker News.

------
elf25
purchased a c-store. loosing money, working my ass off. weather is a problem,
landlord isn't fixing equipment fast enough (latest is our UPC scanner has
been down since Christmas, every day I hear, 'it's been ordered' Well, yea?
what's the tracking #) I'm rather stuck and short on capitol. It's tied up in
Real Estate which, listing agent hasn't shown the property once in 4+ months.
It's going to hell. :-( I fucked up. Nobody will hire an old geek. Not sure
what's next.

------
0xdeadbeefbabe
I quit the industry, but IT doesn't know yet or maybe IT just can't tell the
difference. Pretty much my karma goes up and down as I correct strangers on
HN.

