
Do any of you tech folk ever think about just quitting tech altogether? - bsg75
https://twitter.com/sonniesedge/status/1158373106257453056
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sabizmil
I often reminisce about working in a warehouse and going home without any
looming thoughts about work. I mean, you can't really take the sweeping and
forklifts home with you.

These days it takes serious effort to put the work aside and not think about
either current or future problems that I am being paid to solve. Sometimes
this industry feels like a field of rabbit holes and it requires almost
perfect balance not to fall into them.

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malandrew
The ability to turnoff is a huge reason I think about other careers. The other
reason is wanting to find a job where I can work 7-9 months and have the rest
of the time to travel and get outdoors.

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Nextgrid
I think about it very often. Most of big tech nowadays seems to be more about
treating customers like shit, stalking them, bombarding them with ads, dark
patterns, lies & fraud, intentionally misleading terms & conditions, etc. It's
becoming very hard to find a gig where my work will actually make people happy
instead of just being a necessary evil they have to put up with.

~~~
streetcat1
Right, which make the opportunity that much bigger.

For new startups, it would be much worse if companies respect customers, did
not lie, did not mislead.

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Nextgrid
Most of this I’ve noticed with startups. I guess it’s the “move fast and break
things” they all talk about (even when “things” include the law).

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awillen
I quit tech last year. Moved to San Diego. Currently in the process of opening
a dog boarding business.

So far the first big lesson is that landlords don't want to rent to someone
who's going to put 100 dogs in their building, but I'm still excited about it!

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mieseratte
Very nearly did!

Failed startup, batshit insane startup (6 bosses, 12 months), went Wall St.
only to narrowly escape a layoff and a psycho manager (harassing me for
leaving), thought I found the perfect job. Turned into the worst job I’ve had.
Ended after 4 months.

Ended up taking a 33% pay cut to join a local municipal, 8-5 with an hours
lunch, business casual dress, etc. Never been happier.

If you’re stuck in a rut, look for jobs you would normally turn your nose up
at. You might be pleasantly surprised why you find.

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bsg75
> If you’re stuck in a rut, look for jobs you would normally turn your nose up
> at. You might be pleasantly surprised why you find.

This is a simple and for some (like me) maybe a non-obvious approach. An
excellent idea.

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thanatos519
Absosmurfly, yes!

I would love to participate in the broader discussion, but then I would have
to join Twitter.

If I could muster the penchant for finishing things, perhaps I could join
academia.

If I can hold my breath long enough to cash in my stock grants, I will take
time off to launch my art career.

In the end, though, it seems like it would be safest to leverage my Canadian
citizenship to move to the arctic coast and build a fortress to endure the
coming zombie apocalypse.

~~~
Buttons840
I've wanted to quit tech, and recently resumed drawing, so I want to ask:

Do you want to quit tech because you don't enjoy the tech, or because of the
people and culture in tech? If it's because of the people and culture, then do
you believe the people and culture in an art career would be any better?

While investigating drawing recently, I learned that it can be approached in a
very technical way, and that there are many different areas of study. I found
it to be more similar to programming, in this way, than I would have expected.

I love programming and the tech, but I don't like the culture very often. I've
been frustrated with the CEO at my company, who sells our amazing software and
AI. What we really have is a basic CRUD app (which we've managed to make very
buggy and unreliable) and our AI is humans who manually review things. Yet I
believe the CEO is sincere in his delusions. I've been appreciating drawing
because there can be no such delusions. What you see is what's there, and our
brains are very good at detecting oddities and making them very apparent. It
seems to leave much less room for self-deception.

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scohesc
Almost 2-3 times per week. Stuck in a rut because I stupidly spent all the
available, waking hours of my youth on computers playing video games and
figured I'd go into a career with computers, because.

Not too sure what I should do at this point - whether I should stick it out or
just keep pushing and hopefully I'll find another "area" of IT interesting
enough to keep my attention.

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mtnGoat
all the time. if only the pay were half as good doing any of the things i
would like to switch to.

moving to the bottom and retraining, working my way back up doesnt bother me,
but not being able to provide for my family to the best of my ability does.
Tech doesnt bother me too much, but it would be nice to try other things.

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eikenberry
> There's a huge number of replies from devs who would be doing anything else
> if it paid half as well. That says a lot about our industry...

What does it say about our industry? I can't think of anything that isn't true
of any profession, particularly ones that pay well.

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amalow
All the time, current plan is to cash out in a few years and open a Brewery or
Brewpub. Making beer makes me happy and is way less stress.

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hoompoogrill
Quit IT a few months back. Now work at a startup serving lattes for the
barista

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streetcat1
No.

