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Glad this was the top comment. It is extremely easy to "leave tech" (or, as you point out, leave "big tech") - you just have to accept that you will most likely
by hn_throwaway_99 1y ago
Glad this was the top comment. It is extremely easy to "leave tech" (or, as you point out, leave "big tech") - you just have to accept that you will most likely make substantially less money and that your "standard of living" will have to adjust accordingly.
I put "standard of living" in scare quotes because I strongly believe that, after a certain point in the US, people are conditioned by society and marketing to spend gobs of money on shit that doesn't make them happier and often actively makes them feel worse. I'm going through the process of moving and downsizing, and I can't even begin to go through the gobs of crap in my house that I'm throwing or giving away. Even home ownership itself is something that I feel is a bad lie - you're signing up to spend huge amounts of money to live in a box where you'll also need to spend huge amounts of money to slow its inevitable decay.
But I digress. The main point is that leaving (or changing) tech is easy, but you just have to have an honest conversation with yourself about how much you, your family and your self image requires a lot of money.
- deadbabe 1y agoWhat do you do with kids when you want to downsize? Give them away?
- hn_throwaway_99 1y agoOf course, because that's obviously the only option.
- deadbabe 1y agoFinally! No more $2k/month/per kid for daycare expenses!
- hn_throwaway_99 1y agoIt always astounds me of how relatively well-off people simply cannot even fathom how the vast, vast majority of Americans with kids manage to get by without paying $2k/month/kid in childcare expenses.
- deadbabe 1y agoSounds very illegal, just leaving kids at home alone all day
- hn_throwaway_99 1y agoOK, I'll bite. Are you a single parent? If so, I agree, but I think most single parents aren't worried about downsizing - they're worried about how to both work and raise their kids at the same time. If you are in a situation with two parents making a professional level salary, which I suspect is the case given you stated paying $2k/kid/month for child care, well frankly you should STFU. In those cases, that is simply a choice you are making. There are certainly other options (which millions of people do because they don't have a choice), so you're not garnering much sympathy pleading poverty because you have to pay for your children's daycare.
- archagon 1y agoPamper them less?