Ask HN: How did you escape from corporate America? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How did you escape from corporate America?

11 points659 comments

I work as a software engineer at a large corporation.

I have entrepreneurial impulses and would like to do anything other than work for someone.

So... how did you do escape from corporate hell? What is your story?

It’s not possible not to work for someone in most situations. You will always have customers, and have to basically work for them. Also, there aren’t many one person businesses, or CEO roles. You often have to work with others.

I actually think corporate puts the work in a meaningful format.

When I got laid off for the third time, I decided not to go back. We sold everything (house, rental property, cars, business) to have more freedom.

I took a bunch of courses, tried a bunch of things, joined a community of people wanting to create streams of income (Portfolio of Small Bets), did some freelance work, created info products, and conducted workshops.

I’m now a co-founder for hire where I take on 12 week contracts to help founders with their go-to-market and get early customers. I’m planning on holding a cohort based course for people who can’t afford my contract rate. In addition I have a few side projects with others (create courses and newsletters).

What might help is thinking through the worst case scenario and putting guards in place. Come up with as many ways as possible to earn income quickly and see what’s the fastest way to test those ideas. Pick a few and commit a few weeks to a month to execute. Then examine the experience and see how you can iterate to improve the outcome. You’ll want a mix of things to improve your odds of surviving and not having to go back to corporate.

There’s no better incentive to succeed than the desire to avoid your time being owned by a corporation. It seems to me your drive is there. I wish you all the best on your journey.

Put your money where your mouth is and do it then. Our lives are series of choices. If the choice you value is not the one you jave made, then make the right choice. Often we don't get what we want, no matter wjat we choose, but it sounds like you deeply want or need this since ypu are making the desparate act of asking strangers on the internet.

> you jave made

I enjoy this typo. It made me read the comment with a latino accent

I'm a half a step ahead of you. I've been out of corp from FAANGM since mind 2019. Mainly due to becoming a full-time dad. However since, I've been pondering how to gen income. I'm kinda not within their "desirable" age/ethnicity/wage. So no option but to be entrepreneural like yourself.

Mainly been listing all of my abilities, resources and ideas then match up with barrier to entry by cost/competition etc..

Coming very close to a few ideas to implement. One wish I have is to be with someone motivated like myself to inspire each other. I don't seem to have the itchin to start and need a kick in the pants. Also miss the camaraderie of being in the workplace....

Are you asking permission to start your own business or start freelancing? Because that's the clearest way of not having a boss (by being your own one).

If you're scared, don't let it stop you. Everybody who has, was.

Good luck.

Instead of working for a large corporation. Try working for small to mid size companies where you get to wear many hats and interact with many departments. This can be exciting and may open to other opportunities.

Other option is to go self-employed contract roles where you can set hours and bill rates. You can opt to work part-time and full-time based on your work-life balance and simultaneously fulfil your entrepreneurial impulses.

You can find some inspiration here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founders_at_Work

Best of luck!

It was easy: I took some time off to interview elsewhere, accepted the new job, and submitted my notice. I've done that a few times, and they never followed me.

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