Thinking to quit and work full time on some entrepreneurial ideas I have lined up. I haven't worked on them much so far due to long work hours. Thinking to devote 1 year to get at least one of them off the ground, but taking this much time off work in this job market might be a bad decision in case my pursuits do not pan out. I have 5 YOE, with 2 at AWS. But job market is competitive and I'm not sure I'll be able to find something once I'm back. Have tried interviewing at better WLB companies and can't seem to get an offer. I barely have time to even prep given my work hours. Is quitting + 1 year gap a bad idea? TC 180k
Yes. I just quit without lining up next job. I will take 2-3 months to recharge, 6-12 months preparing and interviewing. I am sure I will find more suitable role within 12-15 months
My hats off to you! Wishing you the best of luck. How many YOE do you have, if you don't mind me asking?
Find a chill job, probably at lower pay, that you can get with no prep. Low pay is better than no pay The job should be remote as well, to maximize time you can work on your business. The job should be in your current field, to minimize impact on your resume
Maybe, even with chill jobs it can be hard to context switch at the end of a day of commuting and work and then put more hours towards your project too
except when you take lower pay for a SWE that is the same amount of work and stress, for lower pay.
Based on your TC it looks like you've been L4 at amazon for 2 years without L5 promo. If I saw that on a resume plus a 1yr gap I'd question if you were pipped and unable to get a job for a long time in the bad market. Personally wouldn't be an automatic no from me but if the market is still bad in a year there's probably going to be a candidate going against you without that red flag.
I wouldn’t listen tot his person OP. No body is going to try to connect non existent dots to determine if you should be getting an interview or not. If you’re confident in your abilities, take some time off and jump back into the workforce when you’re read. I’m saying this from experience.
@ChatGPT 4 thanks for the input, yes I am still L4 unfortunately. However I don't really list level on my resume and I've found most companies don't ask either (some do). So I'm banking on HMs not focusing on it. But you have a point that it could be a concern in a tough market
Having backup is good but don’t think you’ll give 100% to entrepreneurship or to your idea if that’s the case. Sometimes idea takes months and sometimes years. You’ll learn so much from trying to start something of your own! Wish you luck and best!
that's what I've been thinking. I want to minimize alternative distractions so I can go all in on 1-2 things
I quit my automotive job in 2021 due to burn out. I then started a job as a barista for a year which was just physically exhausting but not mentally exhausting like corporate. After that I thought it was time to come back; started applying for jobs and landed an offer in tech in May 2022, which is my current job. It is doable, just make sure you have enough funds to sustain yourself w/o a regular paycheck.
Thinking about it… I’m in a similar boat where I don’t have much time to prep due to long hours and other personal obligations of mine
a common problem nowadays. Amazon is tough but I imagine TikTok would be even tougher
Most companies won’t care about a one year gap. The companies that do are tryhard nerd companies that you don’t want to work for
fair enough lol
What are tryhard nerd companies? Fang? Do they not like candidates with one year gap?
For tax purposes, start your 1-year break from mid-year, not the beginning or end of a calendar year.
interesting, what difference would this make?
Why
I've quit my job 2 times in my career (12 YOE) to build a startup and failed. I just quit my job again for another startup pursuit, hoping it hits this time. I personally wouldn't quit without at least 2 years of expenses in the bank.
Thankfully I should have enough for 2 years
I quit and travelled the world for a year. Just got back to corporate recently and had 4 offers lined up
What role is it?
Senior SWE, I have 5.5 yoe