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Ask HN: I want to leave tech: what do I do?

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136 points todsacerdoti | 8 comments | 04 Jul 25 13:58 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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mathiaspoint ◴[04 Jul 25 14:26 UTC] No.44464854[source]▶
Buy rural land and live on investments while you start a small business. That's what I'm doing.

I think we need a monthly "who wants to be fired" thread where we share our progress on this.

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atemerev ◴[04 Jul 25 14:35 UTC] No.44464939[source]▶
If you already have enough investments to not work, why would anyone even work in tech?

Leaving the grind when you already kind or rich is easy mode. Leaving it when your net worth is negative is another story.

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1. AnimalMuppet ◴[04 Jul 25 14:38 UTC] No.44464968[source]▶
Why would anyone work in tech? Because making something that didn't exist before is kind of a thrill. (No, that is not the same as cranking through Jira tickets...)
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2. thih9 ◴[04 Jul 25 14:53 UTC] No.44465094[source]▶
Note that this joy is not unique to tech. Carpenters, farmers, painters, etc, all make things that didn’t exist before. Some of them haven’t heard about Jira.
3. tekla ◴[04 Jul 25 14:56 UTC] No.44465106[source]▶
May I introduce you to all of blue collar work.
4. codingdave ◴[04 Jul 25 15:02 UTC] No.44465150[source]▶
That thrill is present in any creative endeavor. If you like tech and enjoy that thrill, yeah, work in tech. At the same time, if you are tired of tech and want that thrill, go make something else. I'm a collector of hobbies at this point, having at least dabbled (if not more) in woodworking, stone carving, jewelry making, furniture upholstery, fused glass, painting, drawing, sculpture, clothing design, and creating nature trails in our forest. They all give that thrill.

Tech pays better, though - so I work in tech to pay the bills, then spend the money on tools to get that creative thrill somewhere else.

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5. TeMPOraL ◴[04 Jul 25 15:11 UTC] No.44465235[source]▶
Right. That's what got me into tech, too. Turned out to be mostly a lie - most jobs aren't making anything exciting or new (except maybe for the wealthy in the financial sense), and those that do tend to limit your autonomy.

Now I stay in tech for the same reason most people stay in their careers - it's comfortable and pays well, but because that's mostly a function of "time served"[0], it also means that I'm trapped now. I can't just switch fields anymore - at this stage of life, switching is a major multi-year project!

(Also I question whether it would help. Working in some field never looks much like you imagine while being outside of it.)

--

[0] - Tech has an unusually large multiplier here, but the trend is the same as with any other job.

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6. AnimalMuppet ◴[04 Jul 25 15:48 UTC] No.44465554[source]▶
Thank you. I needed to hear that. As someone getting close to retirement (and with a job that's getting more boring), that was very helpful.
7. kgwxd ◴[04 Jul 25 16:07 UTC] No.44465714[source]▶
Exciting and new doesn't necessarily mean novel. I get quite excited when I build a new bit of code that solves a frequent pain point for someone. It's likely built on a boring framework, in a boring language, wouldn't work at scale, and solves a boring problem only a few people have, but the drug makes for a nice little high, and the small business world has a huge supply.
8. atemerev ◴[04 Jul 25 17:26 UTC] No.44466355[source]▶
Sure, that's what Github is for. Working in corporate environments is another story.