[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Take time off on these uncertain times
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Ask HN: Take time off on these uncertain times
Economy and everything seems to be in a place that no-one knows the
future. Everyday I am feeling more and more like I don't fit in at
work (I'm a cynic, I work for money and nothing else) and my
current company assigned me to a new project where I don't really
believe the direction. I have around 3 years of expenses saved up
(assuming 0 income and no change of lifestyle, 4/5 years if we
reduce some things like gym/sport classes/streaming/etc (flat is
paid for, we are very frugal and live minimally except those sport
things). My gf makes enough for us to continue with our lifestyle
if I stop working 100%. I want to take 1-2 years off and just
focus on writing some software I enjoy, that may or not make money,
but something that actually makes me enjoy looking at a screen vs
wanting to punch it. I have 20+ years experience and until now I
never had a problem finding a job (even after the 2008 situation),
but now with a kid, older, afraid that this economic situation will
be multi year long and that if none of my projects I want to make
takes off, there may not be a decent job market to come back to in
a few years. Long post (sorry), but if HN users had 2/3 years of
savings, would you take this time to recharge and work on your own
projects, or keep it safe and keep a stable job with decent pay (4x
your monthly expenses)
Author : odshoifsdhfs
Score : 7 points
Date : 2022-09-23 21:53 UTC (1 hours ago)
| pookeh wrote:
| You can ask for an extended unpaid sabbatical of 6-12 months.
| Your employer will love it during this time, and not have to
| worry about hiring when things are better next year.
| lowercased wrote:
| In similar situation, and am thinking of taking similar steps in
| next 6 months. I have a couple of projects that are coming to a
| close, and am planning to dig in to some previous projects/ideas
| and pursue them with more vigor. I'll keep myself open to
| consulting work and possible f/t job, but won't be pursuing it
| for a while. I'm very... "burned out" and need to stop - or at
| least slow down a lot.
|
| I've been fearful for years of taking my foot off the gas, unsure
| I could step back in to things. Ageism has seemed to be a thing
| among some of my colleagues/friends, so the older I get, the more
| nervous I get. But yeah... savings... similar - probably 2-3
| years of cash on hand, but we're in the middle of some house
| remodeling. That may take it closer to 1.5-2 years when it's
| done. But I'm just so.. tired of the rat race and need some time
| off. A day at the beach doesn't really cut it. 3-4 days won't cut
| it, I don't think. I need some extended time on 'no work' or
| possibly at least 'reduced' work.
| lowercased wrote:
| > there may not be a decent job market to come back to in a few
| years.
|
| Also... if things get that bad, there's no guarantee you'd have
| stayed employed anyway.
| thenerdhead wrote:
| You shouldn't have to look to economic conditions to do these
| things. If it's the right time, do it.
|
| The other option is to do your minimum job and put your real
| energy into your own projects.
|
| I think you just need to rebalance your WLB. I wrote a book about
| this recently(in bio). You have lost your meaning and you have to
| work on that before making this decision in my opinion.
| thesuperbigfrog wrote:
| It is entirely up to you on what you want to do with your life.
|
| It might be good for your mental health to spend some time
| working on things you enjoy. Rich Hickey did that and now we have
| Clojure: https://download.clojure.org/papers/clojure-hopl-iv-
| final.pd...
|
| I would make sure your family fully supports the idea before
| starting.
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(page generated 2022-09-23 23:02 UTC)