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I took a 6 month sabbatical and am just now interviewing for work again. It's been one of the best decisions of my career and I would highly recommend everyone

I took a 6 month sabbatical and am just now interviewing for work again. It's been one of the best decisions of my career and I would highly recommend everyone who can to save up and make it happen for themselves. I worked for over a decade before feeling burnt out and realizing I needed to make a change. Fortunately I'd been saving for this for quite a while, knowing I'd want to do it eventually. It's been amazing to have time to myself to ponder what I want out of the rest of my work life, enjoy hikes in the middle of the week, work on a side project, level up my cooking game, and spend time with friends and family without regard for having to return to work at the end of several week long vacations. I'm eager to get back to work and am already looking forward to my next sabbatical and how it will affect my future self. Live a little leaner, save up, and take some time for yourself. We don't have much of it. Here's a relevant TED talk I found to be inspiring: https://www.ted.com/talks/stefan_sagmeister_the_power_of_time_off?language=en https://www.ted.com/talks/stefan_sagmeister_the_power_of_tim...

alisonatwork 4y ago
I am just returning from a 10 month sabbatical, my second deliberate one in the past 5 years, and one of several career breaks I have taken since I started working in tech in the late 90s. I also highly recommend it. For me weekends and even annual leave doesn't reach the same level of relaxation that I can hit when I know that there is no job hanging over my head, and no countdown to when I need to return. (Running out of cash would be a fairly hard limit, of course, but in our industry it's easy to put enough money away to live without work for a year every few years.) One thing I don't feel is that these sabbaticals have necessarily been some kind of radical life-altering experience. I pretty much just did the same stuff that I enjoyed doing anyway, but I did it entirely at my own pace, with zero pressure or stress. I'm not really seeking enlightment, I'm just seeking peacefulness. As I am getting older, I am thinking that perhaps instead of doing my usual 1-2 years at a couple of different companies and then breaking, it might be nicer to have a consistent job that would allow me to break and come back. I have returned to two companies in my employment history - one after spending a year overseas, and another that I returned to part-time as a remote freelancer during COVID. Unfortunately I don't think many companies are inclined to offer this as a formal benefit, especially in countries where months-long parental leave isn't a thing. I suppose people who enjoy these kinds of sabbaticals and come back refreshed and hopefully more productive are still enough of a minority that it isn't seen as something that would be in a company's interest to promote.
xirdstl 4y ago
I took two sabbaticals last decade, the first 6 months and the second about a year. After the last, I started a new job full time for about a year, after which I transitioned to working just Monday - Wednesday (8 hour days). I'm in year 4 of this schedule. For me, I think this works better than full time and occasional sabbaticals. I have not approached anything near burn out.
- haswell 4y ago
  If you don’t mind me asking, how did that transition come about? Same employer, or did you seek out work that offered this? As someone who just started a sabbatical last month, one thing that’s on my mind is future sustainability. I don’t want to be back in a position where I have to do this for sake of sanity. A mon-wed schedule sounds promising, but it definitely seems like the employer is #1 key. Even if my now-former employer offered me that option, it would have never actually worked due to the culture there.
  - kingnothing 4y ago
    One possibility is https://4dayweek.io/ https://4dayweek.io/. I'm not affiliated with them at all.

alisonatwork 4y ago

I am just returning from a 10 month sabbatical, my second deliberate one in the past 5 years, and one of several career breaks I have taken since I started working in tech in the late 90s. I also highly recommend it. For me weekends and even annual leave doesn't reach the same level of relaxation that I can hit when I know that there is no job hanging over my head, and no countdown to when I need to return. (Running out of cash would be a fairly hard limit, of course, but in our industry it's easy to put enough money away to live without work for a year every few years.) One thing I don't feel is that these sabbaticals have necessarily been some kind of radical life-altering experience. I pretty much just did the same stuff that I enjoyed doing anyway, but I did it entirely at my own pace, with zero pressure or stress. I'm not really seeking enlightment, I'm just seeking peacefulness. As I am getting older, I am thinking that perhaps instead of doing my usual 1-2 years at a couple of different companies and then breaking, it might be nicer to have a consistent job that would allow me to break and come back. I have returned to two companies in my employment history - one after spending a year overseas, and another that I returned to part-time as a remote freelancer during COVID. Unfortunately I don't think many companies are inclined to offer this as a formal benefit, especially in countries where months-long parental leave isn't a thing. I suppose people who enjoy these kinds of sabbaticals and come back refreshed and hopefully more productive are still enough of a minority that it isn't seen as something that would be in a company's interest to promote.

xirdstl 4y ago

I took two sabbaticals last decade, the first 6 months and the second about a year. After the last, I started a new job full time for about a year, after which I transitioned to working just Monday - Wednesday (8 hour days). I'm in year 4 of this schedule. For me, I think this works better than full time and occasional sabbaticals. I have not approached anything near burn out.

haswell 4y ago
If you don’t mind me asking, how did that transition come about? Same employer, or did you seek out work that offered this? As someone who just started a sabbatical last month, one thing that’s on my mind is future sustainability. I don’t want to be back in a position where I have to do this for sake of sanity. A mon-wed schedule sounds promising, but it definitely seems like the employer is #1 key. Even if my now-former employer offered me that option, it would have never actually worked due to the culture there.
- kingnothing 4y ago
  One possibility is https://4dayweek.io/ https://4dayweek.io/. I'm not affiliated with them at all.