It’s tiring. In school it’s grinding just a few years for college. In college it’s for a good GPA/internship/job. At work it’s for career growth/rewards/promo. So when can you actually take a break? When you retire? I want a long break where I can do absolutely nothing productive. But seems like even breaks have to be explained nowadays... A big gap in your career has to have a good explanation like a productive side project or some grand, exciting trip around the world... sigh. is it #burnout or laziness I don’t know.
Feeling the same, I just don’t have a goal that feels right to me
Same here. I wonder if it's because of the long work hours and competitive job market in the U.S., I never hear such rants from my friends in Europe or middle east or Australia. The fear of "becoming poor when you get old", which is caused by the horrible social benefits for retirement, insurance, etc., pushes people to anxiety and/or endless work.
I used to live in Europe and compared to the US it was way stressful. I feel like in the US people work less and more relaxed than in other places (so much time wasted on BS), but at the same time everyone has this pressure of not stopping ever. I left one company in Europe after the first two months because of anxiety and took 6+ months without working before moving country and starting in a new place. No one has ever asked me anywhere why that six months gap...
@usppp: What did you do for that company that was so stressful?
Same. At 29 years of age I hate the fact that I need to keep producing something for at least next 20 years in order to survive in this rat race!
I am 27 and graduate next Spring. I hate feeling behind.
Yeah I'm 30, at a principal engineer level, and feel like I need to constantly keep pushing to learn new things to stay ahead of the market or I'm fucked.
This is America
dont catch you slippin up
Yeah hahaha the greatest country in the world LOL
I know adults who have taken sabbaticals from work ... its not impossible lol
Take a sabbatical or long unpaid leave if your employer allows it, like 6 months. This way you stay on payroll and you have zero gap.
Welcome to the rat race aka pretty much indentured servitude; either you work or be homeless.
FAANG employee worrying about being homeless. That’s rich.
As someone who was at FAANG before, it's usually the people who have seen poverty up close who are going to grind and do whatever they need to do so that they don't ever get back to that spot again.
Is this a joke? Most SWEs can easily do this. The question is when can you FIRE and then work a job you love instead of selling out Unless you have kids. Then you're stuck in the rat race. Find a cushy gig and ride it out until they goto uni
I'd do 1 year abroad and 3 months leetcode. Final month is applying to jobs.
There is no escaping from life. We have to toil endlessly for the government.
I've taken 10 months off without need to explain it. No one really cares beyond your answer of ' I wanted to travel/ build a boat/ garden'
Curious to know what you did in those 10 months.
Video games, surfed, cooked.