Hacker News Reader

Comment by engineer_22 | Hacker News Reader

I'm 13 years into my career and I haven't taken more than 5 days off in a row. That's usually a family reunion.

I think 4-8 weeks to recharge and reset would be helpful. What's the research say?

Minimum vacation days here in Germany are 20 with many companies offering 30 so the idea that you can't take of at least a couple of weeks for a vacation is just crazy to me.

How do you travel and see the world like that?

> How do you travel and see the world like that?

Wait until we're old enough to retire and then can maybe afford it.

I'm almost 17 years in and there's been a few times where I had more than 10 days off in a row, and I recently had a four week sabbatical. Anecdotally, it was great and reminded me that retirement has always been the goal.

A sabbatical is half a year or a year in germany. NO one would ever say this nonsense of 'four week sabbatical'.

To me, “work 40+ years and retire when you’re already physically and mentally slow” is the real nonsense. A sabbatical thrown in here and there doesn’t make up for it. I’m grateful that I live somewhere with high enough paying jobs that I can simply quit after just 20 years.

Sabbaticals, paid or not, seem to only be somewhat common in western Europe. I'm glad that you're able to able to experience this but recognize it's quite a privilege globally. It's not just the USA that has this "nonsense"

I would agree if the person would live in a 3th world country but not in the country with the highest GDP and comments on a it focused community

I take 3 weeks in a row every summer, couldn't live without it.

Wow. Are you in the US? If so, is this the norm in the US? Pretty depressing... why do you want a SV wage then?

Wish I could do that too. But sabbatical is usually reserved for the elite engineers in elite firms.

"After five years at Shopify, employees get a paid month off to do whatever the hell they want. I took mine in April 2026. Thanks Tobi!"

Work culture is so weird. What do you mean, it's reserved for the elites?

In my country you get to build your holiday days, so I could totally take a month off if I don't take any other days off this year. Hell, we even have a website to perfectly time it here so you get the most bang-for-your-days. lmao.

I will never comprehend this Silicon Valley mindset. You can also be a 10x engineer while drinking a martini in the balkans.

Lives don't exist in vacuums. If I could uproot my close friends and family and we all moved to the same place then I would, but that's not possible. I'm sure it's the same for a lot of people

What does uprooting your friends and family have to do with taking a month off once in your life?

This was mostly in response to "You can also be a 10x engineer while drinking a martini in the balkans." and is likely a bit of an overreaction to the amount of "just move if you don't like it!" things I've seen. Mobility is a luxury

Uprooting family and friends has little to do with taking a month off, but if things don't fall right then one runs the risk of spending their month off mostly by themselves which may or may not be attractive. I've known single teachers complain about this that they have June-August off but no one to spend it with because most of their friends are not teachers

You are right. I was mostly thinking about a sabbatical of about 3 months.

Or Europeans (:

Wow thats depressing.

I went to japan and took 14 days. I went to Iran and took 14 days. I went to canada and took 4 weeks. I went to Mexico and took 3 weeks.

Don't you want to do things with your life? Experience them properly?

I, I, I, I...

More to L-I-F-E than "I".

MY examples are MINE not YOURs and not LIFE.

And I brought it up to show the stark difference.

Did i heart your feelings? Are you also only working and calling that a living?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com