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Comment by bradly | Hacker News Reader

I left tech in July and I'm building furniture and woodworking now. I had been doing Rails since 2007, ending my career with a great 4.5 year stretch at Apple and was ready for a break. Two to four weeks off a year just isn't enough for me and my family and simply getting paid 10-20% more wasn't going to change our life.

I'm loving it. I don't sit or stand in place for eight hours a day. I'm learning a ton. I'm engaging with both local builders and master craftspeople. I get to share my work with family, friends, and neighbors. There's a lot of volunteer opportunities that don't require anything but showing up and willingness to help.

If anyone is interested in leaving tech for woodworking, feel free to reach out. My contact info is in my profile.

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How did you start and how long did it take to start making a sustainable income? I would prefer to switch to something that puts me on my feet but I can’t imagine how I could make it work financially.

TBH at this point in my career I think I’d rather just deliver mail even if it paid 75% of my current salary (unfortunately it’s more like 33%).

You want to be an MTA?

> sustainable income

TBD :) I've been doing more learning than earnings, but we did plan for this. We paid off our mortgage, got solar, drew down six months of expenses into cash, and bought $5,000 2011 Leaf this year.

Worst case scenario is I get another job in tech and I'm right back were I started from, so we saw it as little downside.

ah thanks for this, something worth thinking about

How did you get connected with the the volunteer opportunities?

Do you live somewhere that you can afford to have enough space for a home workshop? I want to woodwork, but the Seattle area is prohibitively expensive to have the woodworking space.

In San Diego there is the San Diego Fine Woodworking Association that is completely volunteer ran, from teaching classes to cleaning bathrooms. We also have a non-profit mill in the area that mills local trees that have fallen or been cleared. Both of these orgs love volunteers.

I do not have a home shop. I pay $200 / month for access to a maker space with all the big tools along with a 10’x5’ CNC and lasers. Check out Is Good Woodworks for an example of a community shop in Seattle.

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