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

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136 points todsacerdoti | 2 comments | 04 Jul 25 13:58 UTC | HN request time: 0.541s | source
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Jcampuzano2 ◴[04 Jul 25 14:26 UTC] No.44464856[source]▶
This article is not a "I want to leave tech" article. It is an "I want to have more ownership of the nature of my work" article.

Practically every recommendation is also a tech job, its just not "big tech" where you have very little real decision making power.

Tech itself is not the issue here - tech being filled with high paying jobs where you effectively work on issues that directly damage humanity is the issue. And after you have a high paying job its hard to justify leaving it, and every other similarly paying job is basically the same thing in a different package.

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1. pseudocomposer ◴[04 Jul 25 18:19 UTC] No.44466758[source]▶
How “high paying” a job do you need though? My last three companies, I’ve worked on products that don’t involve marketing or data mining of any sort that I’d consider unethical. While they have certainly involved automating away jobs (car sales/bank loan people, pathologists, and now accountants, respectively), they were all software designed to benefit humanity.

And they all paid $180k+, the last two $200k+, in salary alone, plus benefits and equity. I only work over 40 hours if I’m working on something I’m passionate about. I realize FAANGs can go into the $400k+ range, but… do you really need that? Is it worth it? For the stress, the rat race, the pressure and all that?

Granted, they’ve been remote roles, and I live in North Carolina, not one of the HCOL metros (I don’t see how anyone can justify living in NYC, SF, or LA, honestly).

But like… this just seems untrue. There are plenty of good-paying, ethical roles to be had. Moreover, I’d say if you spend some time actively seeking out ethical, fairly (not excessively) compensated roles… they’ll find you, without you having to search for them.

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2. michaelbarton ◴[05 Jul 25 11:34 UTC] No.44472001[source]▶
I agree, in the same boat as you. There are a lot of tech jobs that are a net positive for society. I think you nailed it - once you have that salary giving up 400k, 600k, 800k TC is a really big decision.