Why I am leaving the best job I ever had
maxschireson.com
maxschireson.com
It takes courage to say "no" and make a clean cut. Kudos to this gentleman for doing what his family needs him to do.
I've always been of the opinion that once you have X dollars (for some definition of X, which fluctuates), time is worth far more than money. This opinion has only been reinforced by the arrival of my children.
(I do recognize how lucky I am that I have a choice.)
Right now, with my savings, I could expend 2 or 3 years without working, but there is an implicit blackmail (companies don't hire you if you have been unemployed for too long) that prevents me from taking a long sabbatical.
However, like you, I still recognize that I'm lucky. Some people don't have the option of having even a month without a job.
I'm not sure what your career is, but that's a real bummer that the 40 hour a week grind is your only choice. Maybe a different career would be a better fit?
Sometimes certain people just need a real break. I think 2 weeks of vacation is complete bullshit and the main reason why so many Americans are miserable, and misery loves company. So many people live day-to-day, week-to-week that they just can't even imagine those of us that are responsible with our money and savings. In the end, I honestly believe they were just jealous they would never be in a position where they could just walk away from everything. It sucks, but I found a job after it and I was 100% honest with everyone when asked why I took the time off. I had nothing to hide. It took a week and a day of full time searching/interviewing to find a position with a decent company on the way up even during the recent recession. I'm glad those interviewers "cut" me from their list of potential hires because I wouldn't want to work with people like that anyway. I still want to be my own boss, but I'm not there yet.
Some do, but even the ones that do not have no way of knowing if your reasons are "good". "I traveled the world to discover myself" can mean "I actually traveled the world" or "I'm unhireable and trying to plug gaps in my resume in hard-to-verify ways".
Really? You are just brainwashed into the 'cult of family' .
I don't want to take away from the validity of spending more time with your family or what have you; I prefer working part-time myself, when I can make it happen.
This looks way more sincere and well-written than most such notes; The notes we got at this company usually looked like they were written by an HR person. this reads like the man wrote it himself rather than handing it off to some HR flack, and it certainly feels true. It's well written, and after reading it, I think better of him, and really, even if he is being pushed out, there's no shame in leaving gracefully.
They tend to be small startups that haven't had to "grow up" yet.
If you want to make it easier for my wife to pursue a career, you have to make it easier for me to take care of our daughter (without me quitting and becoming a stay-at-home dad). The sort of thing I am talking about is allowing a shorter work week, giving more vacation time, giving family leave that doesn't involve using my sick leave allowance, and so on. Above all, people need to understand that children (usually) have two parents. These things need to become normal.
We all work remotely, and sometimes at rather odd hours, to make this balance possible. It's not always easy, of course, but we figure it out.
If you're trying to actually have a presence in your kids' lives but no one else at work seems to have that facet in their lives, you're on your own, and your work (and peace of mind!) are going to suffer as you try to pass for a non-parent. But if you're working for people who know what you're dealing with, they can offer flexibility that non-parenting employees wouldn't need, share strategies and options, and trade stories.
This week, I've interviewed two candidates for senior developer roles who both have small children at home; I'm actually not sure if they were specifically interviewing with us because we're getting a rep for being parent-supportive, but that'd be interesting.
I can remember the other side of this; long before I ever thought about having kids, I remember when a fellow developer had his first child. He only took off for a week or so (we had 10 days vacation a year, and he stuck to that!), but then he would stumble into the office looking pale and his work went to hell. And of course his wife was home with the baby by herself all day, while he was at the office being mostly useless.
It didn't occur to me at the time that there might be a better way to handle it; though of course at the time it wasn't up to me anyway.
You're probably right that they are coming to you because you may have a reputation of being parent friendly.
It is frustrating that no one talks about men balancing work and family.
At some point - after your work has paid off and you find yourself in a relatively stable place - it is worth asking that question. Success [in terms of finances, accomplishments, etc.] means nothing if you have no one to share it with[1]. I'm glad you made the difficult decision to invest in the people you love and care about. Kudos.
[1] By that, I'm not saying we should overlook the impact one's 'success' [ a loosely defined term] has on others. It is always hard to decide between solving a problem - especially one which you are passionate about - and investing in the people you love.
TL;DR: Wealthy man chooses to be less wealthy to be with his family.
Which is not something you hear often. I'm sure the guy could have moved his family across the country. However, the kids would have lost their friends, his wife her family. Instead, he stepped down to step up for his family.
Would YOU give up a CEO salary? I'm not sure I would.
But yes, I agree (and I think he would too) that he is lucky to be in a position in life where he can actually choose.
"Max Schireson, the company’s current CEO, will become Vice Chairman and remain with the company full time after transitioning the CEO role."
He's not leaving, just taking a different (less time-intensive) role.
With that said I would like to add that as an early adopter of the technology (read; most of our company's software is built with MongoDB as the storage tier) I'm less than impressed with the technical leadership shown there. In other words, I'm not overly familiar with Dev Ittycheria and I'm sure he's a capable replacement for Max Schireson but what they really need is a new technical leadership. There are some properly questionable technical decisions being made or postponed that damage the reputation, maturity and usability of their tech.
I recently changed my working hours from 7-3 so I can pickup my kids from school. This way I get to spend more time with with and not put them in after hours care.
What are others doing to get more work/life balance?
I'm curious if this guy is a professional manager or grew into this role as a founder. Because this sort of communication doesn't strike me as the sort of thing that would come out of the keyboard of an MBA or career manager.
Both women and men can have it all, but not everything at the same time. Best of luck in your new roles at MongoDB and with your family.
I actually believe max here.
I really doubt 60 or 70 year old women will gestate their babies [2].
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorkosigan_Saga#Technology [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnancy_over_age_50
It's like that pop-psi tale about the guy who never knew what chicken breast tasted like. When being a child, his mother reserved the breast for the father because "he's the one who keeps us fed and clothed". Later when he was a grown up, his wife reserved the breast for the children because "they deserve the very best".