I have 15 years of experience working as software engineer, lead and manager in financial technology. I am thinking of quitting and taking a break for 4-5 months. I am planning to dedicate most of this time in updating and learning new skills like AI, ML and software development in general. I am planning to start applying to tech companies after this. I look at this as investing in myself so I am more productive to my next employer. My friends/colleagues don’t think it’s a good idea to quit without a job offer. People in financial companies tend to be conservative about things like these so I am curious what you guys think? I am assuming most of the people here work in tech companies.
Investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. As you learn, create projects you can show to new potential employers.
I did a major career switch and took 5 months off to reset and learn some new skills. Best decision I ever made.
People in tech dont typically care about money as much as people in finance. At least the ones who are truly into their craft. Also, I tend to notice that people around me tend to care about their time. That is, they don’t mind taking time off to follow their passion. I’d recommend it.
There’s a surprising number of people in tech that don’t just see their job as a job. A lot of people do their “job” as a hobby in their free time.
can't you take a sabbatical?? or an unpaid leave of absence?
I second that, take Sabbatical or long leave of absence, ur firm should be supportive, it will be hybrid of paid n unpaid leaves
I am absolutely sure I don’t want to continue or come back to my current job so I don’t want to give them a false sense of hope that I am coming back
I second that you should take a sabbatical and use that time. False sense of hope, sure.. But it will be good for you.
I did this a couple years ago. Best decision I ever made. I was a material scientist in semiconductor industry, now I'm a machine learning scientist at AWS. The former job might sound interesting, but it was a dead end job and the company has since gone bankrupt. But the point is, you can accelerate a career transition and really refuel your passion by doing something like this. Far more effective than trying to take it on in evenings and weekends. That would probably lead to burn out or giving up.
How was the job hunt?
I am doing research on blind about taking a career break and came across this post. How long was your break for? I am aiming at ML Scientist at AWS or MS Azure as well post my break.
I took a 4 month break without anything lined up, just got fed up with work and wanted to have a breathing room. BEST DECISION I’VE EVER MADE!
Mine was shorter, but same.
Thanks everyone for your input! I resigned today and we will see how this goes...
Best of luck brother
Holla!
People would die to have the amount of savings you probably have? Do you think you'll not be able to find a job in the highest demand job with 15 years experience? Come on. I'm sorry but software engineers like the ones you were talking to are too common.They could be making over a million a year and if there was another company paying more they'd be unsatisfied
How many software engineers make 1 mil with 15 years of experience?
He's making stuff up...