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Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier
97 points by pcloadletter_ 5 months ago | hide | past | favorite | 106 comments
I'm on the cusp of going back to a job I really enjoyed that paid pretty well, but I was lured away by my current, high-paying job (for the money, prestige, etc.).

I'm getting cold feet because of the money, but I'm fairly sure I'd like the day-to-day much better than my current job.

So tell me -- what are your stories?




I left the electronic warfare industry even though I'd helped build a program from nothing to a product bringing in $100M (probably billions since I left) because I didn't want to be in the war industry any longer where the entire legacy of my lifes work could be measured in destruction. Worked as a software engineer in industry for a while, gradually moving up in salary, then went into contracting. Contracting seemed too uncertain in the rural area I lived in, so though it was bringing in a lot of money I took a job as a software engineer in a college CS department, supporting various research projects. The college job was dead end, there were almost no other people doing anything similar to me, and there was no path to advance (unless I wanted to get a PhD, no thanks, didn't want to be a slave for 4+ years at even lower pay), but the work was very interesting. So I stayed with it for 20 years. Maybe I worked on some things that will change the world, maybe it was all futile. I wasn't happy about the pay, but some of the benefits were great, I have some minor hopes of getting some future income from patents, some of the profs were not great to work with, but some were and the work in general held my interest. I learned a lot, though it was difficult, every single project was very different from the last project and often required learning new skills. I built a Beowulf cluster, electronically herded cows, did a lot of work in wireless sensor systems, help design and build a smart watch for medical applications, and much more.


Ironically, I'm thinking about perhaps moving to the electronic warfare industry, as with the continuing war nearby and the major impact that EW and drones have on the lives and deaths of infantry defending me and my family, I feel some sense duty that this could the most valuable practical contribution I can make, bringing more impact than going to the trenches myself (which is also an option, me being in the reserves).


At the time I joined, 35 years ago, they were very willing to teach new people. Schools don't teach electronic warfare so they were used to doing training and people taking a year or more to get up to speed. A background in physics helped a lot, as well as knowing electronics. There are a variety of kinds of jobs in the industry though, from marketing to R&D to computer simulations to management to handling secret documents, and more. Having a tolerance for strong language helps also, I worked at times with some Marines doing microwave systems. EW systems are some of the most closely held secrets so expect a very thorough background check.


rapjr9 - I commend you for using your talents to help the world instead of hurting it. From one human to another, thank you.


I commend them for following their conscience, but I would also commend someone for going to work for the defense industry because they thought it was the best way to protect people. I don't think there are any easy moral answers when it comes to defense.


Why? He was building tools. Tools can be used to defend or to attack.


The tools I built were used to defend aircraft. So they were protective. But the aircraft have missions, which are often destructive, but not always. The company I worked for got bought by Lockheed Martin, which very definitely makes weapons of destruction. So that was a factor in my leaving.


'In accepting an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame a few years ago, General David Sarnoff made this statement: "We are too prone to make technological instruments the scapegoats for the sins of those who wield them. The products of modern science are not in themselves good or bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value."

That is the voice of the current somnambulism.

Suppose we were to say, "Apple pie is in itself neither good nor bad; it is the way it is used that determines its value." Or, "The smallpox virus is in itself neither good nor bad; it is the way it is used that determines its value." Again, "Firearms are in themselves neither good nor bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value." That is, if the slugs reach the right people firearms are good. If the TV tube fires the right ammunition at the right people it is good.

I am not being perverse. There is simply nothing in the Sarnoff statement that will bear scrutiny, for it ignores the nature of the medium.'


Since you didn't provide the author, it's Marshall McLuhan, from Understanding Media. Here's a link: http://topologicalmedialab.net/xinwei/classes/readings/McLuh...

For the record, I disagree with McLuhan, but perhaps I don't fully understand his argument.


If you disagree with the statement, "guns don't kill people, people do," then you agree with McLuhan's maxim of the medium being the message and that there is no such thing as an unbiased tool.

You can use a hammer to screw and a screw to hammer, but the biases for their respective uses are embedded in their affordances. McLuhan argues that the same can be said for any tool, whether it's a binky or a bomb.


The next day, raging hordes of enemy troops breach the walls, we are all killed, the end.

(There is always another point of view.)


I was mostly OK working in defense. Good money. Until Reagan took office. His nonsense spooked me. The politics of the day drove me away. No more gravy train. Trading peace of mind for money and job security.


After decades in the software industry, I decided to just get a factory job within bicycling distance of my house and only do programming as a hobby.

I can't take the hype cycle anymore. First it was big data this and big data that, now it's all AI. It's always about something other than crafting sensible solutions to real problems.

A breaking point for me was getting scolded to figure out how to apply LLM technology for a sewage utility contractor. Like, WTF.

I'm not too moral to take money for stuff people want but don't actually need. But it gets old. I'm tired. Now I can do little projects that I enjoy after work.

Maybe they'll go somewhere. Maybe they won't. They're not my real job anymore so it doesn't matter.


> I can't take the hype cycle anymore. First it was big data this and big data that, now it's all AI. It's always about something other than crafting sensible solutions to real problems.

I've thought the same thing. So many people in software just pretend to chase after some meme and being around them makes me really cynical

It's just buzzword this buzzword that to some people. Who gives a shit about solving problems when you can just shuffle a couple buzzwords around and pretend to do shit?

After 2020, it feels like more and more people are full of shit and only care about money


Yes! And so many of the products sound so _dull_ to me. They're so excited to talk about how this technology will revolutionize some niche sector... As I got older, my response more frequently became, "Who cares?"

When I think of what would bring me back to dev, I always think of jobs supporting some kind of science work, like weather or GIS.


> After 2020, it feels like more and more people are full of shit and only care about money

Something had definitely changed. But I am not sure how much of that is me.


I can understand software work can be tiring. But I can't imagine it being so tiring I'd rather do a factory job (maaaybe if it was a bread factory or lego factory or some such). How is it?


I'm not trying to sell anybody on it, but it was certainly the right choice for me. Maybe it's just that I'm, burned out, in my forties, and I would rather make widgets all day than learn another framework.


35 and feeling the same.

This contract working as an linux engineer bank only allows me to work 24 months without having to take three months off.

Working 15 years none stop since the age of 17, time to rest for a bit.

I hope to work in a old persons retirement home next year. So much wisdom and knowledge that year by year goes and is forgotten, I would love to hear past time stories.


Good for you!

Majority of people choose to maximise money/prestige. I'm pretty sure you end up happier than them.


From experience, counting small stock (10s of pieces) in a warehouse allowed me to zone out into a high fidelity mental landscape.

At one point I was doing my job and vividly hallucinating what I was going to do in dwarf fortress later that evening.

Honestly one of the trippiest experiences I’ve had and a sign that I should probably be applying my mental abilities to something else, which I did eventually.


There is a comedian who would tell a story, years ago, about how they knew they needed to move on from their job after they earned 'employee of the month' for three months in a row, without even trying.


> From experience, counting small stock (10s of pieces) in a warehouse allowed me to zone out into a high fidelity mental landscape.

I wonder if this is what writing code for the feds feels like


Have a similar story.

Was a front-end developer, then tried to go full-stack and it was just too much to deal with. I worked at a huge corporation and the team I was on was full of the "rock star" types - like you said, always chasing the latest thing. I finally had to get out when someone said, "Bruh, you still use Angular? Pfffft, SVELTE is where its now, you're practically a dinosaur!" Same thing, it became so consuming trying to know the coolest thing instead of just being able to build something robust, accessible and easy to use. I look back now and just think how bizarre that mindset is.

I moved into accessibility and love it. I'm further up the chain and work closely with business owners and designers which is really fun to work with and I get to indulge the UI/UX side of my brain now.

I'm doing the same thing. I do some fun dev stuff on the side and have a few freelance clients I work with to keep a nice side income coming in. I have a lot less gray hair now and actually enjoy having free time to decide what I want to work on and when I want to work on it. My wife says I hardly ever complain about my job now so I got that going for me, which is nice.


I love your username -- it's a terrific reference, and ties into what you do for work as well!


How did you get into that? What's the job title?

If you don't mind sharing I'd love to know more.


>> How did you get into that?

It was from networking and timing. I was on a team that was being dissolved because of some internal politics and at the time I had been talking with some people in the UI/UX department about some openings they had for designers or UX researchers. By chance a director heard I was poking around and wanting to move over and reached out and said they were going to need to fill some backfill roles and asked if I ever considered accessibility.

After meeting several people on the team, I thought it would be a good fit and a role I could use a lot of my development background as well, so the learning curve wouldn't be so steep. The final weeks of my team being dissolved was basically spent being onboarded onto the accessibility team so when I moved over, it was a really smooth transition.

>> What's the job title?

I'm an accessibility engineer. We do mainly two things - consulting and assessments. Its a great place for me as a developer because I get to work with designers and developers so I'm in the middle of all the action and interface with everybody on the team. Its been a great move and its an area that is becoming super important so demand is only going to increase in the future.


When I started my career I worked in an intense role for two years. So intense that I quickly realized such intensity was not sustainable, and I immediately pivoted into a role that I knew I could do with my eyes closed.

It's felt like I don't have a job for the past decade. In those ten years I've barely felt any stress, have read hundreds of books, mastered several hobbies, and started a family. Would I trade that for more money? I'll let you guess.


I took job that I thought it was going to be more fulfilling (for about 30% less than my current), and ended up regretting it massively... In fact I'm still here, but my work team is an absolutely hellish group of individuals, and my boss is the most crooked individual I've worked with so far.... so In retrospective, I've should picked the other job, the problem was that it was incredible specialized and involved working in radar stations on top of remote mountains, who the hell wants to do that??? Anyway, I guess I'll get something better at some point... Work climate is just so weird right now for devs....


> the problem was that it was incredible specialized and involved working in radar stations on top of remote mountains, who the hell wants to do that???

would be pretty cool if i didn't have kids


> working in radar stations on top of remote mountain.

Interesting story.

I worked in a bike shop a number of years ago. Guy came in and I helped him find some stuff for a long distance ride he was going to do. I noticed he had a black baseball hat with the initials "NJTTTF" sewn into the front of it and I had no idea wtf it meant so as he was checking out I asked him. He said, "You don't want to know." and I said, "I really do." and he said, "Its boring, seriously." and after some more bantering he said, "It stands for National Joint Terrorist Tracking Task Force." I just stood there confused, then asked him, "So you're CIA or NSA and track terrorists? That's pretty cool." He then said, "Not exactly NSA or CIA, but I do work for the government and yes, we do track terrorists. You ever hear about Weather Mountain? I was stationed there. Conspiracy nuts love it, but its not as cool as they say. I was in a windowless room with a sealed door listening to radio chatter and analyzing radar signals. Since the room was sealed, we had to open the door every 30 mins because we would run out of oxygen otherwise. It was hot, it was miserable, and the work was pretty boring when you get right down to it."

I asked him if he was still working for the gov and he said he was, in a different capacity. I asked him what he was working on and he said a few different things, but his favorite was cryptography. I told him I was fascinated with cryptography so he gave me a few books to read and then we parted ways.

Of course after he left, I went right to google and couldn't find a single thing on the task force but did find a bunch of conspiracy stuff on Weather Mountain, just like he said. Very interesting meeting and a very interesting guy for sure.


As former military intelligence, I have a hard time believing someone in that line of work would wear a hat advertising which task force they worked on. Or that such a task force would even allow such hats to be made.


As a regular civilian, I concur.


it was govt disinformation to undermine the conspiracy theories about Weather Mountain, which theories were too close to the truth.


I left a well-paying job that was toxic, but I got to build interesting and challenging things with a lot of freedom. I took a 30% pay cut to join a smaller company that was known for its great culture and owner. One of the best decisions of my life.

8 years later, just last month, I closed on buying that second company from the founder.

Obviously, no one knows the future or could plan this stuff out, but in my experience, prioritizing your overall life over purely your financial life is worth it. We have a weird obsession with "more money, more good", and I haven't found that to be inherently true. It's true to a point, but like a bell-curve, there's a downturn and diminishing returns at some point. And that point is different for everyone.


I used to work for a SV company you've heard of. They treated me very nicely (and I them too I hope!) but it was too big an organisation which brought all the usual problems.

Now I work part time for a small local Eastern European company started by my high school friends. We're around ten, I learn a lot, and I have potential for a lot of impact.

My real hourly take-home pay is 20% of what I used to make and I work less than half the hours, so I make less than 10% of what I used to make. And I'm happy with this trade-off! I get to work with very smart people on things that matter in a relaxed environment. Couldn't be happier!


Sounds like the plot for one of the characters from "Jutro ce promeniti sve".


I have 15 YOE and today I make what I did when I was in Year 2. I have the same employer as Year 2, but I relocated from US, PNW to Canada, Ontario. This resulted in a drastic reduction in pay. After taxes, I make 42% less than what I made before. I make a little more than what I earned as a fresh-out-of-college new hire.

While I'm annoyed about the money, I have an improved quality of life in Toronto. My wife and I were raising kids alone in Seattle whereas we have a village here to co-parent with. I also found much more cultural identity and roots here in Toronto compared to Seattle. I also prefer the climate and politics of Toronto more than PNW. I certainly miss the hikes, but we make that up with non-stop beach trips.

If I can achieve the same financial security here in Toronto that I had in Seattle, I would never move. Unfortunately, this has been difficult to achieve, but I'm confident I can get there.


> we have a village here to co-parent with

As a parent with small kids, this really piques my interest. Could you share more details about this? Are you referring to a tighter community; neighbors that you actually know and interact with?

We're moving to the Midwest soon and hope to experience more of that compared to the where we are now.


I quit a high pay/low cost of living job to move to a high pay high cost of living job when I was young. The skills, connections, experience I got were great but eventually it was clear I wasn't on a path for long term happiness in that city. I then quit that high pay/high cost of living job to move to a low cost of living area. I bought a house, which was unattainable in hcol area. I ended up getting promoted to comparable pay after a few years. I am now planning to go from leader to individual contributor role soon. I have saved enough in retirement accounts to still retire early, but I'm not in a hurry because my partner wants to work another decade or so and generally be stable while we raise kids.

you might Google and read up on the concept of "coast fire", which is essentially front loading retirement savings then working lower paying jobs while you let your savings compound.


Assuming the mythical black swan doesn't come in, drop returns 20% and stays that way for years, but yet, I'm too following this path. It's the best that can be done, black swans or not.


Spent basically 19 years doing enterprise software dev for your typical slew of companies: logistics, banking, fintech, retail, etc. After a particularly unpleasant startup experience, decided that 1) recruiters are BS and 2) I wanted to work on research related problems, because they were probably the most technically and intellectually challenging. Spent 2-3 months really looking for a job, and found a hidden gem. I earn basically 80% of what I earned 6 years ago and probably something like 70% of what I could be be earning elsewhere. My salary will grow very slowly compared to elsewhere.

The work and people are amazing. I learned more in 1 year then the last 10 and just really like my work. The pace and culture is levels orders nicer than the corporate or startup world.


Making a pivot to working on research-adjacent software instead of corporate software has been in the back of my mind over the past couple of years. Do you mind sharing a bit on how you went about your search and found your current job?


Most gigs are fine as long as you refuse the responsibilities of leadership. The compensation bump rarely compensates for the weight of catching the crap that's falling down the org chart. Don't let your ego drive you up the org chart either, it will never be satisfied.


second this. if you stay out of leadership I think it's a lot easier to have a healthy relationship with work. you set your boundaries and stick to them. highly improbable anyone will know any different.


third this. I've gotten to sample these positions because "hey, I'll do this until you find a replacement". Sucked every single time and now I just outright refuse it.


So I have a sample size of 5 people that I know who did this. Still talk to 3 of them. It seems like the lower stress life is temporary. As they grow older they face new challenges that seem to be just as stressful as their work.

My personal belief is that happiness in life comes from being able to deal with adversity rather than away from it - the biggest advantage that it gives you is that you often find there are "have your cake and eat it too" choices you can make where there only seems a binary choice. For example, it may be possible for you to secure a job offer at a start date a year from now, ride out the high paying job, save/invest money, then you go back to a lower paying job while having a nice reserve of money to play with.


> I'm getting cold feet because of the money

Try this thought experiment:

Think of the best memories you have in the last 1-2 years.

Think of the best memories you had between 5-10 years ago.

I’m willing to bet that the “core” of all the memories/episodes you thought of was people and experiences. Family and great friends. Travel, parties, hobbies, whatever is your thing.

You did not think of money or things you bought. You did not think of a nice pay check.

Now, I’m not going full hippie here. Money is important, but only up to a point. If you have just enough money to do the things you like with friends and family, that’s all you need.

The job you really liked vs the high paying one is fun experiences vs pay checks/things. Pick the good experience b/c in 1 year, 2 years, 5 years you won’t remember the money.

Caveats: If you are very young 20-something and no kids or serious relationship, you should consider gunning hard for the money for a few years to build some investments that will help you, enable you, to take the pay cut when you get older and esp. when you have kids. If it turns out that you like the little suckers, future you may be eternally greatful to now you for laying down the foundation for future you to not worry that much about money and instead focus on kids, family, experiences.


> Travel, parties, hobbies

These things generally require a "nice pay check" though.


It can, but it certainly doesnt need to.

For travel there are probably many destinations in your own country, that people actually visit your country to see. Those a typically cheaper to do. Then there is asia - I’ve traveled tree months in asia for the same budget as 10 days visiting the States. Also in general very much depends on how/where you say. Hotel in Auckland vs pet sitting gig for a week 15 mins outside of the city (housing for free).

Same for hobbies. Depends so much on what you pick for a hobby.


Once you have kids, this calculus becomes way more complicated.


Oh yes. I have two. What I dont get is how having 2 more persons somehow makes everything travel related at least 4x more expensive?! Anyway, there is no “roughing it through asia” with two little ones. Thats why I wrote the caveat with grinding cash while early 20s, to build a little extra to draw on when the this happens


Yeah, it's some about cost, but it's also about logistics, education, wanting kids to have stability, relationships with extended family, special needs, physical safety, etc, etc. In my case also add custody to the mix, which makes extended travel a non-starter.


I got out of dev (20 YOE) and now teach CS full time at a state university. I make about half of what I could reasonably make in industry, but I only work 7.5 months a year. I'm an instructor, not a research professor.

And I LOVE the work. It's so challenging and so rewarding. Not only do I get to just have fun exploring CS all day and sharpening my own skills, but I have the meta-challenge of learning how to be a better teacher. I'm passionate about that, and I'm likely never going back to industry.

I'm not really proud of a lot of the programming I did in the marketing sector. But this is something laudable; I feel like I'm genuinely helping people and leveraging my skills in a way that makes the world a better place.


Switched from a startup job to an academic research job last year. The stress and pressure are just gone entirely. There is no slack/chat, meetings are rare and ad-hoc. People just talk irl or email if it's really necessary, but most of the time there's nothing that important. No idiot clients that really need some dumb feature added by Monday, and there's almost complete freedom on what to work on and how.

Probably one of the healthiest changes I've made recently tbh.


Anonymity for reasons.

I did this just a few months ago. Worked in the Blockchain industry, earned around 240k in my local currency, which is a lot for what I did. The company got bought, would have gotten an additional 300k (more or less) after 2 years in bonus.

Instead, I joined a company more aligned with what I want to do and become, and the people I want to surround myself with. I now get paid just 140k in my local currency, so I take around 100k a year pay cut.

My wife will start working soon, so we will top up our household income again.

But, I realized, I don't have money problems. My needs are met, and what makes a difference now is my emotional and physical health, and my friends and people I see every day. Filling up my account doesn't help anymore, and the opposite, it made me more stressed every day.


Some years back I went from full-time (5 day work week) to part-time (3 day work week). For me it was absolutely worth it. My mindset and lifestyle are that of an artist: I spend all my free time writing, coding, drawing, composing music, cooking, and just generally building stuff. Money is not an issue because I don't buy anything other than what I need to survive. I'm aware I'm not the norm.


I went from 5 day to 4 day about a year ago. Absolutely worth it, even with the drop in pay. I don't have the artist lifestyle, but I'm able to support my family on my income even so. That said, note that it's not a panacea for burnout. My current company is currently thrashing after layoffs and reorgs and general leadership incompetence, and I feel the siren call of quitting. Even in this market.


For the past 20 years, I’ve worked in health information technology at two companies, although the first (a horrifically dysfunctional startup) was acquired by the second. Likewise, all the damage from the first just rolled over into the second, and all my issues (college drop out with poor self esteem and terrible imposter syndrome) just festered and grew. While there were a couple of good years post-acquisition, it too became a comically dysfunctional shitshow that was destroying me physically, mentally, and emotionally. However, I just kept making excuses. I made a good living, I had insane seniority which came with 7 weeks of PTO (although I essentially could never use it), and who’s gonna hire a college dropout with two shitty, nobody companies dominating their CV? I was constantly rationalizing that next year might be better if I just grind out today’s soul crushing bullshit, and anyway this was as good as I deserved.

There was a high profile breach resulting in legal actions. In December they laid off all but a handful of devs and planned to nearshore everything. Many close coworkers, including a good friend I’ve worked with for 17 years who was probably half the reason I stayed, all unceremoniously dumped. All projects cancelled except what was necessary to shore up a few things, clearly we’re headed to the boneyard. The company is sinking and on fire, and has been for some time. My job was going to get worse and there was a very real danger that this job would kill me one way or another if I stayed. The heavens gave me hundreds of signs to move on over the years and I ignored them. This was one last chance.

Five months ago, a former coworker offered me a way out. He couldn’t meet me at my current salary so I lost a pretty painful 12%, the total benefits aren’t as great, but the total opportunity is better, there is almost no stress, and I love the team and their vision and focus. I’m thankful to him and the company for making a spot for me. The worst that could happen, being out of a job, is a wash. The most alarming thing is coming to terms with how bad off I really was, and how much it was bringing down my partner, family, and friends. It’s going to take me some time to get myself sorted and be back to a whole person again, but for the first time in a while I have a bit of hope and when I think about what tomorrow looks like I don’t see blackness. So far, the only regret is I didn’t do it sooner. That was worth the 12%.


I left a well paid gig in the finance industry, where I'd been supporting a team of ~15 through a large restructure. I was getting fed up with the pointlessness of it all - there was more distraction than value creation going on and it was the kind of place that succeeded despite itself. I was stressed-by-proxy for my team who had all been told they needed to reapply for their jobs, and I needed a change. I left, and went to work for a small government agency, I think it was around 1/2 the pay. The work was ultimately much more meaningful and fulfilling, and I could make a bigger difference in the smaller team, but believe it or not the small-office politics and personalities there ended up getting to me, and I decided that if I was going to have to deal with that kind of BS anyway, I might as well do it for more money. I'm back in a large org now, but with a different perspective, which has made it easier mentally to deal with things. I pick my battles, try to help improve things as much as I can for my team, and let a lot more things wash over me. I'm still not completely fulfilled, but I'll be able to retire earlier here than I could otherwise and that thought keeps me going.


I did 7 years in a small shop (websites), then 7 at a mid-sized digital/ad agency (websites, mobile apps) that got acquired by IBM. For many reasons, I had no interest in IBM, and despite completing the 2 year vesting period to receive the acquihire retention bonus, I refused to sign the paperwork before the official transition into IBM iX, left the bonus on the table, and resigned.. walked out with nothing but a thrilling sense of possibilities for the future.

That was 2017, been 100% freelance since then literally flying by the seat of my pants (no insurance, no benefits, no PTO, no guaranteed income, nothing) and never been happier. Some years I've made more money, some years way less, and that's 100% on me. It's very freeing to take responsibility for your perceived success or failure, rather than be a cog inside of a machine that you truly can't control.

FWIW, I'm in my early 40's with a wife and kid, single-income household, eating what I kill. It's the only lifestyle that makes sense for me, and I would NOT even begin to recommend it to anyone else; I have a suspicion that people who are cut out for the risk are living like this already.

Anyways, I don't tell this story to brag or posture, or to invite dark karmic retribution upon myself -- I just think it's worth articulating that there are so many different paths in life, some you choose, some you're forced into, and it might help paint a fuller picture of options for somebody who is curious about how other people are getting by in the world. Not everybody can/should "be bold", but I do advocate for people to try to find what brings them joy and contentment and inspiration and motivation, and be brave enough to pursue that if it's even a remote possibility.


It's very freeing to take responsibility for your perceived success or failure, rather than be a cog inside of a machine that you truly can't control.

Also early 40s with a kid and I spent many years working for myself before getting a job about five years ago. The security and lower stress has been nice, but I miss being self-employed. Fortunately I'm remote and my WLB is great, so I try to think of my employer as just another client, and I work on projects of my own. Golden handcuffs and a VHCOL city mean that there's little realistic chance one of those projects enables me to quit, but I fantasize about it daily.


I quit a relatively high paying job at Yahoo doing system administration to follow a passion in audio

Now I design synthesizers for a living. Way happier!


I had a great relatively chill job at a FAANG-adjacent company, making 300ish in a LCOL city. I went and chased some money at a very large company. It ended up being the worst possible time. The company was soul-sucking, they froze hiring as soon as I got there when I supposed to be building out a new team, I sat around and did nothing for like six months before I was laid off.

I took a few months off and got connected to a co founder of a local seed stage startup through a friend. I convinced one of my best friends to join me there as well.

While we are making less money, the work has been really fulfilling. No more big company bullshit, I help determine direction with a handful of other leaders, and I feel like I make an impact. We have product market fit, we’re growing, and the hardest part is scaling to keep up with the growth.

It’s been fun, I’ve learned a ton. I probably haven’t worked this hard in a long time but I really do feel fulfilled in my work which I haven’t been able to say in a long time.

YMMV


Did paid OSS for 3 years, best years of my career. Great team mates, great code, everything done for a good reason, no managers, no politics, nothing.

Only problem was I made only barely enough to cover my expenses so wasn't getting ahead in life but it was still worth it.


i left a high paying tech job in san francisco, mostly because san francisco is a terrible place to live and i hated the constant tech culture. i took a 60% pay cut (even more when factoring in equity) and moved to a smaller city in canada. quality of life is significantly improved, and with the raises i’ve gotten over the years i’m living a very very comfortable life


After nearly a decade working in architecture (buildings, not software!), and having reached quite a comfortable position and salary within my company, I decided I wanted more flexibility in my life.

I threw ideas for 80% work time, or 1-day work-from-home (pre-pandemic), to my boss at the time, but was always met with resistance (“architects cannot work from home!” or “you are too important and need to be around all times!”).

I quickly realized my future there was “either accept it or leave it”. So I left and after some months trying to figure out my next move, I decided to take my chances in tech on a remote job (had extensive experience coding throughout my life as a hobby).

My first job in tech, 4 years ago, paid me half of what I was making in architecture. I never looked back. Got a dog, went traveling around while working, made my own schedule, never felt more free or happier.

Today, I am making more than my last salary in architecture and can never imagine working 9-5 in an office again in my life.


I switched to a lower paying job because the high-paying one was toxic and I had already squirreled away a good chunk of money. I don't regret it. I think of my lower TC as a no-a*hole tax that I happily pay.


My last role was Director of Ventures at a rising org out of Seattle. The work was rewarding and impactful, but as a non-profit I found myself spending less time working with founders and more time fundraising. It was very stressful as fundraising for a non-profit is neverending work.

I left for a manager role that saw me with a lower title, but never having to worry about fundraising ever again. I have less responsibility, a lower title, and more red tape, but my stress level and work/life balance made the move 100% worth it.


I left a large corporate job to start my own business: I ended up going 18 months without income, and then working for a startup.

In my case, I really needed to be "in control" of my day-to-day work for awhile. A part of me regrets the lost income, because my investments that I used to live on would have gone bonkers; but I was in a situation at my old job that was quickly getting unhealthy.

So what I'll say is:

1: There's a lot to be said for making gobs of money when you're young. If you can tough it out for XX more months and invest gobs of money, those investments might help you retire much younger than you think. (And at that point, you don't need to show up for work.) (To put it in perspective: I missed out on a rather lucrative investment because I lived on my savings for 18 months and didn't have the spare cash to invest.)

2: There's a lot to be said for work satisfaction. You might need to "scale back" a bit: Drive a Toyota instead of a Lexus, have a more modest home, ect.

In my case, I don't regret quitting my job to start a business. I regret certain mistakes I made with the business, but those are critical lessons that I'll use if/when I ever work in a "low income" stage of a startup again.


It's been a while, but I quit the aerospace industry in 1992 for a lower paying Unix (SunOS) job. Aerospace was hidebound, people refused to do anything new. Not because the new methods were risky, but rather because in 1965 they'd sworn to the Air Force they'd done the best job possible. Anything new put lie to that.

The security requirements were also anxiety inducing to me.

I've missed some me things, but mostly it's been nothing but up since then.


with computers and drone tech, you can get back to "aerospace" for a fraction of the penny as a hobby.


https://github.com/bediger4000/circumlunar


Not yet, but I'm trying to leave retail marketing web development to work at a local water utility. It's difficult to find a position I'm qualified for, though. If it pans out, it'll be a 25-30% drop in income, but with the benefit of a short commute, good long-term job security, and the peace of mind that my work helps keep the community alive and in clean water.

My best to all those out there pursuing peace of mind and happiness.


Joined Amazon as an SDM and left in 3 months. Took a 30% pay cut, looking back after 3 years, couldn't be happier. At Amazon, felt like I was in a Squid Games like environment, with the Leadership Principles thrown in your face to justify any and all actions. Switched to a healthcare related company, where people seem genuinely driven to build products and care about your colleagues.


I've done this a number of times -- leaving a job in order to take a lower-paying job somewhere else. Almost every time, it's been because the "somewhere else" was doing something I specifically had a great interest in, or that involved a skill I wanted to learn.

However, I have engineered my living situation in order to make doing that pain-free and easy. The main rule is: don't get used to having a high income. If you actually incorporate a high income into your life, then taking a lower wage can be very painful. If you avoid that, it's pain-free.

So what I have done is to determine what the lowest amount of income I can really take without it bothering me, then live on that amount of money. Extra pay above and beyond that gets invested/saved/etc. and I pretend that it simply doesn't exist.

Doing this gives me a large amount of mobility and freedom to choose great jobs that may not pay as much as others.


I was working for a fintech startup and hating it. It was boring and the upcoming work was about 6 months of incorporating a credit card system into the code.

I quit that so I could open a music school with two of my friends and bandmates, with the idea that I could go back to part-time dev work to pay the bills while the school gets going.

And that's what happened. I got a part-time front-end job at an online game, which I had already been playing for about 3 years. They had a "come join the team" posting in the news ticker of the game. I'm making about the same hourly, but only working 20 hours a week, which is the perfect amount. The rest of the team is on a different continent so I basically just pump out my code as I see fit. No morning status calls, no scrums, etc. And I'm pretty sure I can work more hours once if needed, depending on what happens with the school.


I have done this twice in the last 12 months.

1. I left Microsoft to join a startup and took a >100k pay cut.

2. The startup was acquired, and I quit the parent company to go teach. Again, taking a sizable pay cut.

I’m happy with all the decisions (to join and to leave). After having a high salary for a few years, the happiness piece becomes far more important.


I was an internal Tech Recruiter for almost 10 years focused on pre-IPO tech companies. Hit the lotto a couple of times but after the most recent company (which was an awesome place to work) IPO'd, COVID, and just general career trends in that role, I burned out.

Then I spent 6 months doing nothing and decided to learn to code. It currently pays nothing because after a year, I'm only just on the cusp of starting to apply. I enjoy coding a lot more than recruiting, but my educated guess is that I'd enjoy entrepreneurship more than working at a company. Either way, it's exciting and challenging in a way that recruiting never was.


I have a small software company, under 10 employees. We make B2B applications and focus 100% of our efforts on understanding our customers' needs and the quality of our product. No marketing, no "incentives", nothing. Just honest work and creativity.

I've done consulting here and there and going full time could easily clear half a mil a year. I make a LOT less than that.

Our customers are happy. They are warm and praise us. They are forgiving when we make mistakes because the trust is high. They tell us about all the trickery they face from most other companies all the time.

It is a true win win. I do not sleep on a pile of cash but I sleep very well nonetheless.


My employer is part of StartUp New York, a program that (among other things, for a time) refunds employees their state income taxes if they work in an office located in an "economically developing" area of the state. I'd been working in the office pre-COVID, but found I rather liked full remote work during the lockdowns. So I chose to forego the tax refunds and stay remote, though still living in the same area & working from the office occasionally to interact more with coworkers. It's a good balance for me.


I left a decently paid managed service 3rd line linux/foss admin position in 2019 to do projects with a friend. The pandemic happened, and things changed and got weird. I did a stint as a contractor again for nearly a year, doing deskside and infrastructure support (general IT dogsbody) part time, for a small startup; after they got bought out I ended up doing part time digital service delivery (laptops and mobile device support with a bit of MS stack admin). Much lower stress levels and more predictable hours. Not looking back.


My last two job changes I took a paycut, which speaks to the inverse relationship between my job performance and interviewing skills. I don't mind starting low as I know I'll move up quickly.

However in both cases during the first 1.5 to 2 years there were one or more 'senior-level' people quite aloof, disrespectful, and unprofessional in some of their remarks toward me. Not sure if it was my biased perception, or more likely they just treat everyone like that.

Point being, when you take a pay cut your more exposed to that sort of treatment.


Not really a story but this is what I've learned having made this move more than once:

- There's an important difference between being earning less and being paid unfairly. It's easy to work for less as long as it's enough to fund your lifestyle and save something for retirement. It's very difficult to be happy if you believe you're paid unfairly (which is subjective, of course).

- There's generally no correlation between job satisfaction and pay. I've left to work at more interesting roles and about half the time ended up earning more for the privilege.

- On average, toxic companies pay more. There seems to be a certain class of company that believes it's okay to treat employees poorly as long as they pay well enough. This includes everything from overwork to overt bullying and worse. These opportunities tend to be evergreen due to their high turnover and so are overrepresented on job listings, etc. (Your network is less likely to refer you into this sort of role.) Focusing on salary alone is a sure-fire way to end up somewhere toxic, or stay somewhere longer than is wise.


Wouldn't you say that the second and third statements slightly contradict each other?


As written, yes. I suppose I meant there’s no correlation in one direction.

Perhaps I should have avoided a technically-specific term such as “correlation”. It seems inappropriate for an anecdotal observation.


Definitely a good move but out of the blue (after ten years) our old startup group is getting back together and the CIO is creating a role for me. Seems they won't take no for an answer.

However, I hired into my current job for stability and learned there is no stability despite repeatedly being assured that it was. The startup will yield about five-plus years of work until we sell (options). The pay bump will be nice.


A few years ago, I was offered a job in fintech, a company whose whole business model was basically to sit on a pile of money and make it bigger. The company had a good reputation among developers and used interesting tech. Plus, I knew someone who worked there, and he had nothing but good things to say about the experience. During the final interview with the hiring manager, however, I asked a question about how they made their money. It was intended to be a mechanical question, getting a better understanding of exactly how the business functioned, where I would stand, and how I'd be contributing to the core business model. He seemed to take it as a philosophical question, however, and an answer that made me think either he deeply drank the Kool-aid or was justifying it to himself. It made me stop and think about the business's impact on the world and if I wanted to be a part of it.

I ended up taking a job developing software for medical clinics instead, which paid around $30k less. It was the worst, most demoralizing job I've ever had, and I'm counting Wendy's. A year later, they cut 50% of their development staff, including me, and I was let loose into the 2023 developer job market (0/10 do not recommend). At the time I really, really wished I took the fintech job.

Just when I was starting to feel desperate and cornered, literally the same day I got offered a job working on some legacy .NET software for an airline, where the manager gave me really bad vides, and was feeling cornered like I didn't have room to say no, I got offered a job in public transit, working with interesting technology. I'm a contractor, making around $100k less than what the fintech job offered. People are frequently mad at our agency, and it gets a lot of bad press. In other words, they care. They rely on it to get where they need to go and live their day-to-day lives, and our mistakes are visible and painful. My first production issue (a dumb mistake where I failed to account for a null value) was discovered in 15 minutes due to rider complaints. It may sound weird, but I love that. Sure, they were mad about it, and not necessarily very nice, but the fact they were upset? It meant they gave a shit about what I was doing.

Am I happier than if I had just followed the money and taken the fintech job? I can't see down that path. But this is the first software development job I've had in my 15-year career where I'm confident my work is a net positive for the world.


Out of curiosity, how did you find the opportunity in public transit?


I have worked for non profits and social good companies for the last 5 or 6 years. I make about 75% of what I did as a manager and 50% of what I could be making now.

Economically, my space is not in a good space right now. I have been considering going back to a "normal" job for a bit more income security.


I would do that if Idid not have real life responsibilities, mortgage, kids.

I could live even on basic income, my family not.


This. I would have been happy to stay in academia forever as a DINK person. Once there was a kid, that option evaporated.


For my current job I negotiated that I would work four days (32 hours) per week, in exchange for less compensation. It's still plenty of money, just less than I could be making elsewhere. I'm not saying it couldn't be better, but it's hard to beat.


Choosing happiness over a higher paycheck is a significant decision that not many are able to make..


Friend of mine had 150k job working for system's integrator, was stressed out because of the frequent travels & certification requirements. Quit and went to work for hospital as sysAdmin for about 75k/y.


I can’t share from experience, but I can commiserate. I was a high school educator for about a decade before being recruited to join a tech consultancy. The consultancy is growing, and I’ve worked my way to #4 in the org as a Head of Practice. This puts me in line for profit sharing, but it’s high pressure and transactional work. I like my team, but I’ve started doing occasional interviews for product roles (Associate Product Manager, Product Enablement, etc) when I see an interesting opening/company.

Tough time to jump lanes as the post-Covid layoffs have flooded the market with junior/mid-career product talent, but I would be happy to reduce my comp to get my foot in the door at a product focused company rather than keep chasing the consulting incentives.


I was working flooring making 12/hour, left it to work 25k/year salary in software with plenty unpaid overtime. Very good move long term


Was this with the goal of making more in the long term, and was it a drop in annual income at the time?


The goal was that I didn't want to be lugging carpet in the snow & enjoy programming. Annual income was comparable, being average height & under 120 pounds made it difficult to work 40/week


Worked at Facebook from 2016 - 2020. I couldn't handle how flippant the leadership was about profiting off of genocides, Trump, and the degradation of everyone's mental health.

Now I work for my county government as a computer programmer. I make 20% of what I would've been making at Facebook if I hadn't left (60k vs 300k) but I don't regret it at all. My work helps real people in my community instead of siphoning off bits of attention here and there from strangers all over the world.


In what way was the leadership profiting off of Trump?


I imagine both Trump mania and Trump-induced rage were massive drivers of traffic for Facebook.


Andrew Bosworth (FB's blathering sociopath-in-residence) said Trump ran “the best digital ad campaign I’ve ever seen” and they even had marketing people embedded with the campaign to help them run more effective ads.

The final straw for me was in October of 2019 when Zuck had a closed door meeting with Trump and then "randomly" the next week announced that politicians are now allowed to lie in ads on facebook. Hmmm, I wonder who would disproportionately benefit from that policy change??


Probably my every job in life was "lower paid" and no it didn't mean it was easier and chilled.


some answers mention impact, that isn't important for me, I have a life and the job isn't part of my identity

but I did have a bad commute once to a boring office park from San Francisco to San Mateo

the people in that region said my commute length was lucky, which felt like collective cope and brainwashing because of the shared compromises they made

I unsubscribed and took at 20% paycut to have a job in the Mission, which was a 10 minute walking and subway commute, and in the middle of trendy cafes and shops all day. Most of my friends could only go to the Mission at night or on weekends, and many of those same cafes were not open then, or were packed for a different crowd's rush. I felt really lucky, and in these salary ranges there wasn't a compromise in paying for things and saving.


Just ask any investment banker ever.




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