3 ms·

What is "taking a step back" exactly? Leaving a job that you don't like for one that you do like but pays less?

by jt2190 2y ago

fy20 2y ago
That's the position I'm in. My current employer has not grown as they sold to me when I joined (they've actually got smaller) and has gone through a big cultural shift that doesn't jibe with me. I've received an offer from a company that seems to have a lot better alignment... But it pays 10% less. Meanwhile my current salary has not kept up with inflation over the past couple of years.
mcsniff 2y ago
IMO, it can also be a philosophical thing. "What do I want out of my one short life? To spend it toiling away unhappy 90% of the time and spend money trying to be happy the remaining 10% or find something I enjoy doing the majority of the time that can also pay some bills?" A lot of people are asking themselves these questions, and if you're not -- why not?
- Loughla 2y ago
  I think there has also been a massive shift in the game though. More young people are seeing work as a means to an end instead of a calling. Jobs don't define people like they used to. So, trading your week days for money to do everything you want in the weekends is pretty okay now. Being a company (wo)man is sort of seen as being a class traitor? Maybe that's just because I work with low income college students, though.
  - marcuskane2 2y ago
    There was a period of time (80s-90s) that the American middle class was booming and thriving. Boomers with stable but unfulfilling jobs regretted not following their dreams, and the future looked bright, so they told their millenial kids to chase their passions and the money would follow. Then a generation of millenials collectively got millions of degrees in liberal arts and humanities, but the degrees didn't have any class-signaling power or economic value the way a college degree in 1970 did, so instead of getting cushy careers they ended up in low-paid, low-status unfulfilling jobs, with debt from a useless degree. Gen Z saw that happen and took a more practical view towards college, careers, etc.
    - razakel 2y ago
      And the stable unfulfilling jobs all went to China.
johnnyanmac 2y ago
It could be "pay cut for different domain" or "pay cut for better location but lower CoL". In a more extreme case you can re-spec to another industry altogether. You may not make anywhere close to what you made in tech, but you have 7 figures in stocks and 6 figures in savings anyway. Money is no longer a worry, why not follow a passion? In addition, it can be non-job motivations. e.g. you take a year off to travel for a bit, or engage in some hobby that you know won't make any income. I wouldn't mind doing some art classes if I ever got to that kind of money to live off of for years.
- thr0w 2y ago
  > better location but lower CoL How does that work?
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    "better" is very subjective and doing a lot of heavy lifting, my apologies. The easy snarky response is "move from US to EU". But it can be a personal choice to simply get out of the metropolitan areas in favor of a quieter area, or one with better transportation or less crime or friendlier communities.
- Copernicron 2y ago
  > you have 7 figures in stocks and 6 figures in savings anyway I honestly can’t tell if you’re serious here. I’ve been in tech for almost twenty years and the only way I could have 7 figures in stocks is if I still lived at home and didn’t contribute anything to the budget. There is a whole world of people working in tech outside of Silicon Valley’s ridiculous compensation. Money is still a concern for the vast majority of us. No one in my company has equity except the founder. On the off chance we actually get far enough for me to get equity I’ll be lucky to get $100k out of it.
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    I'm a game dev so no worries, I'm about as far from the minmax total comp bubble as you can get. But yes, it was a purposeful use of extremes. Unless you rush to young retirement or are in that SV scene and move out, most people won't have the means to metaphorically move out to the pastures and become a farm hand. But that is in fact an option for a few in tech. I recall some 20+ year googling choosing to leave and pick up comedy as a career.

What is "taking a step back" exactly? Leaving a job that you don't like for one that you do like but pays less?

by jt2190 2y ago

What is "taking a step back" exactly? Leaving a job that you don't like for one that you do like but pays less?

fy20 2y ago

That's the position I'm in. My current employer has not grown as they sold to me when I joined (they've actually got smaller) and has gone through a big cultural shift that doesn't jibe with me. I've received an offer from a company that seems to have a lot better alignment... But it pays 10% less. Meanwhile my current salary has not kept up with inflation over the past couple of years.

mcsniff 2y ago

IMO, it can also be a philosophical thing. "What do I want out of my one short life? To spend it toiling away unhappy 90% of the time and spend money trying to be happy the remaining 10% or find something I enjoy doing the majority of the time that can also pay some bills?" A lot of people are asking themselves these questions, and if you're not -- why not?

Loughla 2y ago
I think there has also been a massive shift in the game though. More young people are seeing work as a means to an end instead of a calling. Jobs don't define people like they used to. So, trading your week days for money to do everything you want in the weekends is pretty okay now. Being a company (wo)man is sort of seen as being a class traitor? Maybe that's just because I work with low income college students, though.
- marcuskane2 2y ago
  There was a period of time (80s-90s) that the American middle class was booming and thriving. Boomers with stable but unfulfilling jobs regretted not following their dreams, and the future looked bright, so they told their millenial kids to chase their passions and the money would follow. Then a generation of millenials collectively got millions of degrees in liberal arts and humanities, but the degrees didn't have any class-signaling power or economic value the way a college degree in 1970 did, so instead of getting cushy careers they ended up in low-paid, low-status unfulfilling jobs, with debt from a useless degree. Gen Z saw that happen and took a more practical view towards college, careers, etc.
  - razakel 2y ago
    And the stable unfulfilling jobs all went to China.

johnnyanmac 2y ago

It could be "pay cut for different domain" or "pay cut for better location but lower CoL". In a more extreme case you can re-spec to another industry altogether. You may not make anywhere close to what you made in tech, but you have 7 figures in stocks and 6 figures in savings anyway. Money is no longer a worry, why not follow a passion? In addition, it can be non-job motivations. e.g. you take a year off to travel for a bit, or engage in some hobby that you know won't make any income. I wouldn't mind doing some art classes if I ever got to that kind of money to live off of for years.

thr0w 2y ago
> better location but lower CoL How does that work?
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  "better" is very subjective and doing a lot of heavy lifting, my apologies. The easy snarky response is "move from US to EU". But it can be a personal choice to simply get out of the metropolitan areas in favor of a quieter area, or one with better transportation or less crime or friendlier communities.
Copernicron 2y ago
> you have 7 figures in stocks and 6 figures in savings anyway I honestly can’t tell if you’re serious here. I’ve been in tech for almost twenty years and the only way I could have 7 figures in stocks is if I still lived at home and didn’t contribute anything to the budget. There is a whole world of people working in tech outside of Silicon Valley’s ridiculous compensation. Money is still a concern for the vast majority of us. No one in my company has equity except the founder. On the off chance we actually get far enough for me to get equity I’ll be lucky to get $100k out of it.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  I'm a game dev so no worries, I'm about as far from the minmax total comp bubble as you can get. But yes, it was a purposeful use of extremes. Unless you rush to young retirement or are in that SV scene and move out, most people won't have the means to metaphorically move out to the pastures and become a farm hand. But that is in fact an option for a few in tech. I recall some 20+ year googling choosing to leave and pick up comedy as a career.