4 ms·
After 20 years of working and a sense of genuine burnout, I landed a "Dream Job" a few months ago where I'm doing tech leadership at a mid-size non-profit. We h
by tootie 6y ago
After 20 years of working and a sense of genuine burnout, I landed a "Dream Job" a few months ago where I'm doing tech leadership at a mid-size non-profit. We have a small familial team, a set of worthwhile and genuinely beloved public services and mission of doing good. There's still politics and revenue issues and all the sorts of stuff that a go along with any company, but it's a lot less aggressive. Work-life balance and diversity are genuinely respected. I'm busy, but it's not crazy. In my past I worked on so many gigs for companies I didn't care about or downright disliked. Building tools to grab eyes or sell crap no one needed. Working somewhere with a positive mission is so much more valuable to me than working on a cool tech stack (our stack isn't too bad, but we're not cutting edge either). I feel better about work than I have in a long, long time.
And before anyone asks, no we're not hiring. One tradeoff is that it's a very slow growth environment. We don't have VC funds to burn and our business model is very mature.
- louwrentius 6y agoCongratulations, sounds indeed like a good working environment.
- devilduck 6y agoThat's great for you but what does it have to do with the OP?
- 3minus1 6y agoMan I'm so cynical. As soon as I see "I landed a great job a few months ago," my thought is just wait a few more months. I hope the job stays great for you.
- tootie 6y agoI think I've already seen the ugly side and decided it's not ugly enough to discourage me.
- mto 6y agoYeah that's cynical ;). I for example am with my current startup for 5 years now and can hardly find anything to complain about. Previous job was 4 years and was also ok although there it was a bit too much management for me me ;). Before that I've been freelancing for 10 years where most of the time was also with the same company and also fine (there it was more that I got bored of software dev itself and did my PhD afterwards to get to more special topics than the generic embedded/network development I did back then)
- somishere 6y agoNice one! Very close to my own experience and I feel much the same way.
- datavirtue 6y agoMy first job in tech was at the American Red Cross. Easily one of the best cultures I have ever seen. Better than a dysfunctional family.
- jonah-archive 6y agoCongratulations -- I left VC-funded tech for a nonprofit a few years back and it's the best thing that's ever happened to me (or I guess, that I did). It's certainly not perfect but working in an environment with people who believe in what they're doing and genuinely want to support each other has made a massive difference for my attitude as regards work in a general sense.