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Comment by germinalphrase | Hacker News Reader

I ended my career in June, and I am attempting to entirely reinvent my professional life at 36. It's interesting going through this sort of open ocean search having a little bit of savings and stability, but the stakes feel higher (emotionally) even though, rationally, I am in a better position to take on risk than when I was young and completely broke.

The hardest part of it is actually deciding what do I want from the time I spend working. Many of the folks I know who do interesting work are either woefully underpaid or chronically overworked.

I'm hoping I can thread the needle on that one.

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I can so relate :). I left my position as a principal engineer at a FAANG/MAAMA/etc. company in 2020 with a general direction to try to make a difference in the education space. It has been maddening trying to live up to my own expectations.

Good luck!

p.s. In the off chance that you are interested in the education space, you might find my post in this thread of interest: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32870101

Thank you for the comment, and I commend your mission. Do you have a website or more detailed information about your intended approach? My email is in profile if you would prefer to share privately.

I have built a proof of concept that demonstrates the core mechanics of the approach. The challenge is that my background is in backend development, and so the UX doesn't make a good first impression. I am building a more polished demo, but it is slow going given my lack of frontend expertise.

Hey, I'm in similar shoes, left Microsoft to focus broadly on EdTech, my skillset is in realtime graphics (WebGL and friends) and frontend

Could be fun to connect sometime, even just to make a community of devs in this space!

I would be happy to share notes if you want to connect.

Just jumping on this thread to say that I'm an elementary school teacher by profession and geek by nature. I would love to connect with folks who are starting projects in this space and could use teacher input.

Just yesterday I listened to a podcast about the Hacker School in Hamburg. Essentially introducing hacking to school kids to scho what it is all about. https://hacker-school.de/kurse/international/

Hey germinalphrase, I'm doing something similar after leaving my job earlier this year.

I took a bit of time off, then started exploring how people use their time on sabbatical to learn new skills, work on personal projects, raise kids, travel, etc.

After talking with a bunch of people about their experiences, the high-stakes feeling you observed is pretty common - I think people tend to underestimate the emotional aspects of taking a break from work.

My current transition plan is to spend a bit more time studying sabbaticals and turn that into something concrete (a book/guide and coaching) before doing some part-time consulting with my professional skills (marketing analytics) to cover my living expenses ala CoastFIRE.

I think there's a gap in part-time professional work - it's really hard to find long-term, part-time positions that take advantage of professional skills and offer benefits.

If you want to bounce ideas off someone who is also trying to thread the needle I'd love to chat more.

Shoot me an email. I’ll throw a few questions at you.

I'm looking for some help with marketing if you're looking for something to do. Email in my profile.

I wish you great luck on your journey! I did this when I was 42 - studied for a degree part-time, wrote some books, ran out of money and did some minimum wage jobs, etc - and it was a scary-yet-exhilarating adventure which, thankfully, ended well when I finally landed a full-time job developing websites.

Hope sustains me, but if it all falls apart I might just have to commit to punching out that solarpunk AR novel I've been taking notes about for ten years.

I hope that goes well for you. Have you considered taking a part time job or maybe in apprenticeship or internship in something you are interested in?

I imagine that if I was doing what you are describing, I'd enjoy keeping busy while still having most of my day to pursue something new. And having my side job (that pays or not, who cares?) help push me forward into learning something I couldn't easily do on my own.

Since I've only been unemployed since June, I've largely been plowing my time into house projects and taking care of my young son.

I would be very open to an apprenticeship/internship if it allowed me a more direct entry into an exciting position (I have the freedom to do so, certainly); however, the internship pipeline seems almost exclusively focused on undergraduate age young people.

Care to share more details? I'm in a similar situation. Thanks.

Of course. I grew up the son of two professional artists. While they are beautiful people, they are not particularly career minded/knowledgeable - so my direction in life has been dependent on my own designs and devotions.

I spent about five years working on feature films, commercials, music videos, etc. as a Local 600 Loader and Second Assistant Cameraman. I loved the work, but the travel and lifestyle wasn't a sustainable fit for a healthy life (for me).

Before film work, I studied comparative literature in a strong undergraduate program and made a shift into teaching high school English. I taught in rural, urban, and suburban school districts in the upper midwest until June of this year. The work was Good, and I was good at it. I didn't burn bridges or burn out; I just had a belly full and want to open a new door.

I know a handful of people that work in tech sales, PM, infrastructure that have been willing to talk about their work and employers (for which I am very grateful). An important part of these conversations has been noting which paths are inaccessible/poor fit/rough culture.

I'm in talks to accept a position at a small local tech consultancy in a role that is a mix between Customer Success/Training/Project Management - but it's more of an entry point and stepping stone than final target.

All that said - if anyone works in product management, experience strategy, or simply would be open for a chat, please send me an email. I would love to schedule a short phone call.

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