5 ms·

I'm taking a 1-year sabbatical / gap year as a 30-something

26 points by kaycebasques 5y ago

kaycebasques 5y ago
Author of the post here. When I submitted my resignation last month quite a few Googlers told me they were considering doing something similar. I heard through the grapevine that Facebook is also experiencing somewhat of a mass exodus. And there seems to be quite a bit of zeitgeist around the idea of taking some time off to enjoy life more. I figured I would share my motivations, fears, and plans to help others decide whether or not to go for a sabbatical also. Regardless of the current zeitgeist this sabbatical is also a bet that taking work breaks will actually improve my long-term work success.
- yboris 5y ago
  Thank you for sharing! I requested my job give me 2 months off (unpaid) so I can move into a new house and get everything set up, but was told "just use your vacation days". Really frustrating (I need vacation days to go to weddings and see family). I intend to take many months off when I eventually switch companies (however many years from now that is).
  - kaycebasques 5y ago
    > I requested my job give me 2 months off (unpaid) so I can move into a new house and get everything set up (Sharing how things worked at Google for your reference and in case anyone else is in a similar position) I believe Google has decent support for unpaid leave. I never used it so I don't know for sure. But I think you could request unpaid leave as needed. They also had a sabbatical program up to 3 months. I believe it was essentially the same thing as unpaid leave, but it perhaps sent the message that you were working on a specific project. You're still considered a Google employee though so if you went off and built the next big thing, Google could assert ownership over it. The key thing with any of the unpaid leave is that you have to be on good terms with your team because you're essentially still occupying 1 of their headcount while you're gone. I also learned that Australia has a countrywide (?) sabbatical policy for long-term workers. I believe it was 10 years. I.e. after 10 years, you are entitled to a long paid leave (3 months?). > I intend to take many months off when I eventually switch companies (however many years from now that is). When I joined Google in 2015 I told them I needed a few months to wrap up my current job and then a month to travel around Europe. They weren't thrilled about it but they let me do it.
- sakopov 5y ago
  It's now or never. When you have family and kids sabbaticals are pretty hard to come by. 7 years ago I quit my job and went hiking across Spain. I went back did the same hike 4 years ago after taking 2 months off from my job. Both times have been very healing experiences and have completely changed my outlook on life and made mess less anxious about life changes.
  - kaycebasques 5y ago
    > Both times have been very healing experiences and have completely changed my outlook on life and made [me] less anxious about life changes. That's definitely what I'm aiming for :D How about the career aspect? You were able to get a new job easily after the sabbatical? What type of work do you do?
    - BrandoElFollito 5y ago
      In France a sabbatical is part of the Labour Law, you get back to your position or an equivalent one. This helps to make the step.
H8crilA 5y ago
I did that, and came back. Now working is increasingly pissing me off, and I don't understand why it didn't feel that annoying before I left. The amount of things you have to comply with, constantly sell ideas to stakeholders, deal with some very rigid people, wake up on time and nearly every day, engage in long, repetitive discussions, make sure to collect good peer feedback. Ehhh. Coding is still good, though it also feels too easy now. Perhaps I'm simply getting older.
- fileeditview 5y ago
  > and I don't understand why it didn't feel that annoying before I left. Because now you have the taste of real freedom? =)
- kaycebasques 5y ago
  Definitely worried that I am essentially spoiling my ability to tolerate the BS that goes along with most work by taking a year away from it. Anything specifically pissing you off?
lazyjeff 5y ago
I've just started a 15 month sabbatical myself. Fortunately mine is paid, but I like the author's focus on enjoying the mundane. I'm focused on the opposite: overanalyzing the mundane. I've collected complete data about my sleep, productivity, location, spending, work tasks, etc. for almost ten years and plan to analyze them with multivariate correlation and forecasting techniques. I started my first self-reflection about the papers I've written and will be doing more over the coming months: https://jeffhuang.com/struggle_for_each_paper/ https://jeffhuang.com/struggle_for_each_paper/
- jjj123 5y ago
  That sounds great! Who’s paying you to take a 15 month sabbatical?
  - lazyjeff 5y ago
    The university I work at, though about half of it I'm covering from various funds I control.
  - xnx 5y ago
    Looks like Brown University: https://jeffhuang.com/ https://jeffhuang.com/
- dTal 5y ago
  Nice username for it :) Is this your first sabbatical?
ggggtez 5y ago
> I'm struggling to publish this post because there's a high risk I come off as a privileged asshole (here I am voluntarily leaving a cushy job when there are so many people who can't find any work Honestly there needs to be a word for this. It's very difficult to describe the estrangement of that. As a result, I find myself more and more unable to communicate with people outside of tech about basic things like complaining about work. Everyone complains about work, but why do I get the feeling that even when I complain, I'm humble bragging?
- kaycebasques 5y ago
  For me (author of the post) it's because software industry is ridiculous when compared to other industries. Rank-and-file US software employees making more than US congress members, one of the highest political offices in the nation. Of course the congress members probably have lots of stuff on the side that only comes to fruition after office so their total long-term earnings probably dwarf the rank-and-file compensation but nonetheless it's a useful comparison.
mprime1 5y ago
I’m also 30-something and 6 months into a sabbatical after 10 years working in ‘big tech’. It’s been a lot more stressful and busy than I had anticipated but ultimately a great learning experience. I may go back to a paid position at the end of the year but it won’t be the same as before, I feel the year has significantly shifted my perspective on different aspects of my life
- kaycebasques 5y ago
  More busy and stressful? Significantly shifted perspective? Would love to hear more.
beej71 5y ago
Took a year and a half off 15 years ago and never regretted it. And I'm starting another chunk of time of right now. Highly recommend as a way to recharge and get to those projects you've had backburnered. Also, as I age, I'm finding my self-structured time becomes more and more valuable to me. I shudder to think of working 9-5 for the next decade just to die unexpectedly young. Before social security kicks in, I gotta get some stuff done. :-)
- kaycebasques 5y ago
  Did you do anything specific to help you recharge?

26 points by kaycebasques 5y ago

Author of the post here. When I submitted my resignation last month quite a few Googlers told me they were considering doing something similar. I heard through the grapevine that Facebook is also experiencing somewhat of a mass exodus. And there seems to be quite a bit of zeitgeist around the idea of taking some time off to enjoy life more. I figured I would share my motivations, fears, and plans to help others decide whether or not to go for a sabbatical also. Regardless of the current zeitgeist this sabbatical is also a bet that taking work breaks will actually improve my long-term work success.

yboris 5y ago
Thank you for sharing! I requested my job give me 2 months off (unpaid) so I can move into a new house and get everything set up, but was told "just use your vacation days". Really frustrating (I need vacation days to go to weddings and see family). I intend to take many months off when I eventually switch companies (however many years from now that is).
- kaycebasques 5y ago
  > I requested my job give me 2 months off (unpaid) so I can move into a new house and get everything set up (Sharing how things worked at Google for your reference and in case anyone else is in a similar position) I believe Google has decent support for unpaid leave. I never used it so I don't know for sure. But I think you could request unpaid leave as needed. They also had a sabbatical program up to 3 months. I believe it was essentially the same thing as unpaid leave, but it perhaps sent the message that you were working on a specific project. You're still considered a Google employee though so if you went off and built the next big thing, Google could assert ownership over it. The key thing with any of the unpaid leave is that you have to be on good terms with your team because you're essentially still occupying 1 of their headcount while you're gone. I also learned that Australia has a countrywide (?) sabbatical policy for long-term workers. I believe it was 10 years. I.e. after 10 years, you are entitled to a long paid leave (3 months?). > I intend to take many months off when I eventually switch companies (however many years from now that is). When I joined Google in 2015 I told them I needed a few months to wrap up my current job and then a month to travel around Europe. They weren't thrilled about it but they let me do it.
sakopov 5y ago
It's now or never. When you have family and kids sabbaticals are pretty hard to come by. 7 years ago I quit my job and went hiking across Spain. I went back did the same hike 4 years ago after taking 2 months off from my job. Both times have been very healing experiences and have completely changed my outlook on life and made mess less anxious about life changes.
- kaycebasques 5y ago
  > Both times have been very healing experiences and have completely changed my outlook on life and made [me] less anxious about life changes. That's definitely what I'm aiming for :D How about the career aspect? You were able to get a new job easily after the sabbatical? What type of work do you do?
  - BrandoElFollito 5y ago
    In France a sabbatical is part of the Labour Law, you get back to your position or an equivalent one. This helps to make the step.

H8crilA 5y ago

I did that, and came back. Now working is increasingly pissing me off, and I don't understand why it didn't feel that annoying before I left. The amount of things you have to comply with, constantly sell ideas to stakeholders, deal with some very rigid people, wake up on time and nearly every day, engage in long, repetitive discussions, make sure to collect good peer feedback. Ehhh. Coding is still good, though it also feels too easy now. Perhaps I'm simply getting older.

fileeditview 5y ago
> and I don't understand why it didn't feel that annoying before I left. Because now you have the taste of real freedom? =)
kaycebasques 5y ago
Definitely worried that I am essentially spoiling my ability to tolerate the BS that goes along with most work by taking a year away from it. Anything specifically pissing you off?

lazyjeff 5y ago

I've just started a 15 month sabbatical myself. Fortunately mine is paid, but I like the author's focus on enjoying the mundane. I'm focused on the opposite: overanalyzing the mundane. I've collected complete data about my sleep, productivity, location, spending, work tasks, etc. for almost ten years and plan to analyze them with multivariate correlation and forecasting techniques. I started my first self-reflection about the papers I've written and will be doing more over the coming months: https://jeffhuang.com/struggle_for_each_paper/ https://jeffhuang.com/struggle_for_each_paper/

jjj123 5y ago
That sounds great! Who’s paying you to take a 15 month sabbatical?
- lazyjeff 5y ago
  The university I work at, though about half of it I'm covering from various funds I control.
- xnx 5y ago
  Looks like Brown University: https://jeffhuang.com/ https://jeffhuang.com/
dTal 5y ago
Nice username for it :) Is this your first sabbatical?

ggggtez 5y ago

> I'm struggling to publish this post because there's a high risk I come off as a privileged asshole (here I am voluntarily leaving a cushy job when there are so many people who can't find any work Honestly there needs to be a word for this. It's very difficult to describe the estrangement of that. As a result, I find myself more and more unable to communicate with people outside of tech about basic things like complaining about work. Everyone complains about work, but why do I get the feeling that even when I complain, I'm humble bragging?

kaycebasques 5y ago
For me (author of the post) it's because software industry is ridiculous when compared to other industries. Rank-and-file US software employees making more than US congress members, one of the highest political offices in the nation. Of course the congress members probably have lots of stuff on the side that only comes to fruition after office so their total long-term earnings probably dwarf the rank-and-file compensation but nonetheless it's a useful comparison.

mprime1 5y ago

I’m also 30-something and 6 months into a sabbatical after 10 years working in ‘big tech’. It’s been a lot more stressful and busy than I had anticipated but ultimately a great learning experience. I may go back to a paid position at the end of the year but it won’t be the same as before, I feel the year has significantly shifted my perspective on different aspects of my life

kaycebasques 5y ago
More busy and stressful? Significantly shifted perspective? Would love to hear more.

beej71 5y ago

Took a year and a half off 15 years ago and never regretted it. And I'm starting another chunk of time of right now. Highly recommend as a way to recharge and get to those projects you've had backburnered. Also, as I age, I'm finding my self-structured time becomes more and more valuable to me. I shudder to think of working 9-5 for the next decade just to die unexpectedly young. Before social security kicks in, I gotta get some stuff done. :-)

kaycebasques 5y ago
Did you do anything specific to help you recharge?