
Ask HN: I want to quit my job. What am I doing? - indecisivecoder
Hey HN. Using a throwaway because I don&#x27;t want to upset anybody.<p>I&#x27;m a developer (generalist), living in London, UK and working for a reasonably successful software company, in a reasonably successful position. I&#x27;ve been there for over 2yrs and it was my second job out of Uni, and where I&#x27;ve learned the majority of my skills. I&#x27;m 25, male.<p>For a few months now I&#x27;ve been considering quitting - I even tried once - because my heart isn&#x27;t in it anymore. I&#x27;d planned to hand in my notice tomorrow. I&#x27;ve been fortunate and careful, and can afford to live off of savings for 2 or 3 months and still have left overs.<p>The trouble is, people are going to ask me, &quot;So what&#x27;s your plan next?&quot; and the best answer I can think of is, &quot;I&#x27;m not sure. I have a few ideas in the backlog.&quot;<p>I want to improve my skills, I want to work on some ideas I&#x27;ve had floating around, and I think if I&#x27;m &quot;free&quot; from employment I might be able to see a clearer path of what I want to do with my time. Ultimately, I&#x27;d like to be self-employed, but for now the most important thing to me is that I&#x27;m working on something where I&#x27;m learning a lot, being challenged, earning a modest salary and most of all, enjoying what I&#x27;m working on.<p>Given how indecisive I am about what I want to do, I&#x27;m afraid I&#x27;ll just end up seeming like an entitled, waste-of-time person. That&#x27;s not what I want.<p>I know there are many different paths to take in life, and I know I&#x27;m young so the world is my oyster. I&#x27;m kinda scared of what the future will hold if I do this, but I think if I stay at my job I&#x27;ll be miserable.<p>I know there are folks out there who&#x27;ve been through similar things. I can&#x27;t shake this feeling, it&#x27;s been going on for months. Any advice?
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staunch
Find a new job, while you have your current job, but negotiate with the new
company to start after N weeks.

The difference between a good job and a bad job is night and day. It's quite
possible you can find somewhere that's very enjoyable. At the very least you
can find something better.

~~~
wikwocket
+1 for a good job making all the difference. Everyone should do something they
love, that challenges and vitalizes them. And if you are a young developer,
coming out of a good position at a good company, with no dependents, you are
in a position uniquely capable of achieving this. Shop around now, and pull
the trigger when you have a signed offer letter.

Don't waste years at a place you don't love. Three weeks after finding a
better place, you will wonder why you waited so long to make the leap.

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ceekay
Since your current job is "not painful" and you don't have a clear plan yet,
don't quit. Try the following:

1\. See if you can change anything in the current job to make yourself happy -
new project ? new team ? Most people quit because they don't like their boss
or their peers. If that's not the case, work with them to make it more
challenging.

2\. Use your spare time wisely for soul searching - network, talk to people
and find something that will give you the kick. This may even help you become
self employed.

Not having a job / not going to work / living off of savings are all
unnecessary pressures.

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neurostimulant
> I'd planned to hand in my notice tomorrow. I've been fortunate and careful,
> and can afford to live off of savings for 2 or 3 months and still have left
> overs.

Hmmm, Isn't 2-3 months worth of saving too low? For comparison, freelancers I
know would feel nervous if they don't have cash that can cover living expense
for at least 6 months.

I think you should take long vacation and think it over before quitting.

Or, try to secure some freelancing contracts on your area of interests before
quitting your old job.

~~~
indecisivecoder
Thanks for your reply!

To be honest, by my calculations I'd have roughly 10 months's worth of cash to
live off, but I don't want to use it all. I want some of it eventually to go
toward a big investment, and some to keep for when I end up in hot water not
by my own choosing :)

As for a long vacation... I could possibly take a sabbatical, but I know that
I wouldn't want to come back. I can't take any more days off as I've already
used most of them, so it'd have to be a sabbatical.

The freelancing idea though, that's a goodun. I dunno where to start, to be
honest, but it would be an interesting new experience.

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6d0debc071
If you're bored where you are, perhaps you should try a smaller company. One
of the advantages of small companies is you often end up wearing a fair number
of hats.

#

I'd also urge you in the strongest possible terms _not_ to live off your
savings if you can help it. I've had to do it in the past (the company I was
working for folded unexpectedly.) It was one of the most stressful and soul-
crushing times of my life: sending job applications off and getting nothing
back for sometimes weeks at a time, looking at my balance dwindling and
wondering whether I'd be able to pay the rent next month....

Just feels like there's this crushing horizon of doom and no-one wants you,
despite the fact you know you could do all those jobs.

I keep about two years wages in various degrees of fluidity (I think that's
the word for it, how easily you can get to it) these days, and I still
wouldn't want to do it. It's not a happy place to live for any length of time
- and in the end you may, as I did, take something you don't _really_ want
anyway just to have money coming in while you look for something better.

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saluki
Leaning toward becoming Self Employed . . .

Start listening to these . . .
[http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/](http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/)

My advice . . .

Stick with your day job for a while . . . save money and fund your side
projects, recurring revenue ideas.

Learn and make connections with like minded developers who are creating SaaS
Apps and Recurring revenue.

Your day job is a big asset and can fund your own business especially in the
beginning until you have spun up a few recurring revenue ideas.

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Raphmedia
I hate to answer with a quote, but this one has been quite important for me
lately:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be
trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s
thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner
voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and
intuition.” - Steve Jobs

~~~
indecisivecoder
Raph, the fact that it is important to you is enough to suggest that it is
your personal advice to me, so thanks :)

...I sure hope you're not using it as a cautionary tale ;)

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vldx
In my opinion, there's high possibility that you're burned out at the moment.

The desire to quit is one of the things, which I observe when I run out of
steam.

Don't rush doing something, which can cost you 6-12 months of your life.

You seem that you're making decisions under emotions, rather execute
rationally planned scenario.

Take some break and after that think what you want to do and how to do it.

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eposts
Like others have said quitting without a plan is a bad idea. Start working on
finding a job that's more in line with your personality.

You don't know if your ideas have a market. Get users if you think your ideas
are worth pursuing. Sell first, build later. In the mean time build up cash to
extend your runway. 2-3 months is too short.

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bnejad
You might want to set up another revenue source before you quit whether is be
freelancing, another job, etc. Personally I'd never leave a job before I did
that, regardless of how disillusioned I was.

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BhavdeepSethi
I swear this post feels like I've typed it word for word. I'm pretty much in
the same situation except I'm planning for a Masters next year. Hoping to see
good advice here.

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arjn
Take a week or two of vacation, think things over. Sometimes just taking a
break and relaxing can give you ideas and put things in perspective. It has
worked for me in the past.

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qwerta
Find a side project and work on it 2-3 hours every evening.

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jacobquick
The thing is if you quit before you have something else you have no leverage
with your new employer, they can get you for whatever salary they offer?

