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I quit so I could finish grad school full-time, learn more about ML, and just relax a bit from burnout induced by 2020.

I don't have a recommendation either way, on the one hand I really needed the time away and I felt much much better after not working full-time for a few months. It has been a major relief to not have to stick to someone else's schedule, do scrum, pick up jira tickets, etc.

On the other hand, it is super stressful looking for a job when you don't have a fallback. Even with lots of experience, demand, ease of getting interviews, it is still hard. Interviews have gotten crazy hard and luck is such a huge factor as to passing an interview (talking about big tech, leetcode style ones), the pressure is immense when you know you _need_ to pass because you don't have a fallback plan.

I had a ton of cash runway saved up, but still it has been scary at times. Got pretty sick once and so did one of my parents. US society is structured such that you really need the safety net provided by an employer to feel capable of handling these kind of emergencies.

Personally, I can't say I regret quitting, but I'm never going to do it again without something lined up. Just not worth it for me.




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