5 ms·
The answer to your situation is the one you choose, and not choosing anything is a choice. I’m in my late 30s and basically unemployable in any traditional sen
by semireg 5y ago
The answer to your situation is the one you choose, and not choosing anything is a choice.
I’m in my late 30s and basically unemployable in any traditional sense. I’ve never held a professional developer role, but I have played one as “consultant” and now I play it again as an “independent developer.”
With two years of savings you have almost no excuse. Just don’t burn a bridge. Don’t be too honest. Ask for a 6 month leave of absence (quit if they won’t give it), create an account on Upwork and set your rate a bit north of your regional average. Pick a project that’ll take a week and SAY NO to projects that smell funny. If you say yes to everything you won’t know what you like until you say no.
And don’t work too hard. Save some brain cycles for cooking, for exercise. And don’t be afraid to work a weekend or evening because hey, each day is the “same” and it’s now up to you when a day is “special.”
p.s. For context, once you have kids there will be weekends where you look forward to Monday morning because … they go to daycare. Really, daycare lets me be a great parent. It concentrates your patience and love - and you should treat “work” the same way, with patience and love.
- idontwantthis 5y agoCan you find projects on Upwork at regional rates if all of your experience so far is private work for corporations?
- semireg 5y agoSure. Why not? If you can write a resume and interview for a full-time job then why not do the same for something short-term that ends/finishes with less risk for both parties…
- idontwantthis 5y agoYou have done that yourself?
- Nextgrid 5y agoMy experience with Upwork is that the market is flooded with low quality providers from the third-world such that it's impossible to earn a living EU or US wage.
- marcelnita 5y agoYup, the same experience for me as well at least in what concerns the flood, not so sure about quality. This drags the prices down and I see many clients offering $5-$15/h for short-medium term jobs.
- cpach 5y ago“Ask for a 6 month leave of absence (quit if they won’t give it)” IMO this is good advice, given that OP has 2 years of living expenses covered. I tendered my resignation from a steady job on 2020-03-05 – without having signed on for a new one. It worked out. But having a decent pile of FU money does definitely not hurt. (Living in a place with decent CoL helps a lot, too.)