<story><title>Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What&apos;s next?</title><text>Over 10 years at FAANGs (mostly working in ML) I&amp;#x27;ve lost the joy of software engineering, and I&amp;#x27;ve been at some level of burnout for a few years. I&amp;#x27;m considering leaving tech, but I wonder if a change of focus could reignite my motivation. Can you suggest some options, or share any relevant advice?&lt;p&gt;I figure I could take a sabbatical and explore some new areas, try to transition to contracting, or look for jobs outside of the big tech&amp;#x2F;web startup scene. Ideally I&amp;#x27;d like something that requires rigor, with a focus on software architecture or algorithms&amp;#x2F;optimization. I&amp;#x27;d also like to minimize the type of workplace politics I&amp;#x27;ve experienced at FAANG. I&amp;#x27;m open to suggestions that don&amp;#x27;t exclusively have to do with software. Part of me is tired of spending so much of my life in front of a computer.&lt;p&gt;Here are some disorganized ideas that might give a sense of my interests:&lt;p&gt;- Cryptography and security (not cryptocurrency&amp;#x2F;blockchain): I have a math background and I was always an algebra&amp;#x2F;discrete math person, so this seems a potential fit.&lt;p&gt;- Formal verification &amp;#x2F; theorem proving&lt;p&gt;- Open messaging standards (e.g., Matrix): I find the current state with siloed proprietary messengers a travesty&lt;p&gt;- Open repositories of knowledge (e.g., Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap)&lt;p&gt;- &amp;quot;User-empowering&amp;quot; software (e.g., Emacs, Ableton Live)&lt;p&gt;- Distributed systems&lt;p&gt;- Programming language development (compilers, libraries)&lt;p&gt;- Graphics (though the gaming industry isn&amp;#x27;t exactly the place to recover from burnout)&lt;p&gt;- Research in cognitive science, psychedelics (lots of hype here though), complex systems, physics&lt;p&gt;- Studying music composition or audio engineering&lt;p&gt;- Helping out with homelessness, loneliness, the elderly or disabled</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>janussunaj</author><text>(OP here)
I wanted to avoid a wall of text, so I&amp;#x27;ll elaborate here on where I&amp;#x27;m coming from.&lt;p&gt;My complaints with FAANG have to do with perverse incentives that reward nonsensical decisions, poorly thought-out and over-engineered projects, grandiose documents, duplication of work, selective reporting of metrics, etc.&lt;p&gt;The few times I had a really good manager, a sane environment, and fulfilling work only lasted until the next reorg. It seems like most organizations are either stressful with a lot of adversarial behavior, or have almost nothing to do but depressing busywork. I also find the social aspect lackluster if not downright alienating. I feel at a dead end both in career growth and opportunities to learn on the technical side. I could roll the dice with another team change, but I&amp;#x27;m not eager at the prospects.&lt;p&gt;Most of my work experience is in ML, but I don&amp;#x27;t want to box myself into that. I find the current hype around generative models insufferable, and the typical ML project today consists of somewhat sloppy Python and a lack of good engineering practices. I&amp;#x27;m also tired of the increasingly long and opaque feedback loops (come up with an idea, wait for your giant model to retrain, hope that some metric goes up). I&amp;#x27;m still passionate about some aspects (e.g., learning representations, knowledge grounding, sane ML workflows).&lt;p&gt;I hear that academia has similar issues (though again I mostly know about ML), and I imagine lots of industries have worse conditions than tech. I realize that sloppiness and politics are a fact of life, so I&amp;#x27;m wary of falling into the &amp;quot;grass is greener&amp;quot; trap.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jaggederest</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m about to turn 40, was in something of the same situation if you squint a little. As with anything YMMV, but here&amp;#x27;s my advice.&lt;p&gt;Take your sabbatical, do something crafty but not-at-all-software-related*. I chose ceramics.&lt;p&gt;When you reach the point where you start programming tools to help with your new avocation, it&amp;#x27;s time to go back to the job market.&lt;p&gt;Took me about 5 months. I made some beautiful (and ugly!) things, learned maybe the equivalent of an accelerated BFA with a minor in chemistry, have a new hobby ongoing, and am excited and enthusiastic about joining a new company shortly, doing something new and different, where my skills matter.&lt;p&gt;* Woodworking, machining, welding, weaving, sewing, painting, bricklaying, stone carving, raising livestock, growing bonsai or orchids, meditation, long distance running. Whatever it is, pick something physical, grounded, and  engrossing, where you can put a bunch of time and effort in, to achieve a real change of pace.&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;    If they think you&amp;#x27;re crude, go technical; if they think you&amp;#x27;re technical, go crude. I&amp;#x27;m a very technical boy. So I decided to get as crude as possible. These days, though, you have to be pretty technical before you can even aspire to crudeness.
    
    -- William Gibson, Johnny Mnemonic&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Ask HN: Burnt out from big tech. What&apos;s next?</title><text>Over 10 years at FAANGs (mostly working in ML) I&amp;#x27;ve lost the joy of software engineering, and I&amp;#x27;ve been at some level of burnout for a few years. I&amp;#x27;m considering leaving tech, but I wonder if a change of focus could reignite my motivation. Can you suggest some options, or share any relevant advice?&lt;p&gt;I figure I could take a sabbatical and explore some new areas, try to transition to contracting, or look for jobs outside of the big tech&amp;#x2F;web startup scene. Ideally I&amp;#x27;d like something that requires rigor, with a focus on software architecture or algorithms&amp;#x2F;optimization. I&amp;#x27;d also like to minimize the type of workplace politics I&amp;#x27;ve experienced at FAANG. I&amp;#x27;m open to suggestions that don&amp;#x27;t exclusively have to do with software. Part of me is tired of spending so much of my life in front of a computer.&lt;p&gt;Here are some disorganized ideas that might give a sense of my interests:&lt;p&gt;- Cryptography and security (not cryptocurrency&amp;#x2F;blockchain): I have a math background and I was always an algebra&amp;#x2F;discrete math person, so this seems a potential fit.&lt;p&gt;- Formal verification &amp;#x2F; theorem proving&lt;p&gt;- Open messaging standards (e.g., Matrix): I find the current state with siloed proprietary messengers a travesty&lt;p&gt;- Open repositories of knowledge (e.g., Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap)&lt;p&gt;- &amp;quot;User-empowering&amp;quot; software (e.g., Emacs, Ableton Live)&lt;p&gt;- Distributed systems&lt;p&gt;- Programming language development (compilers, libraries)&lt;p&gt;- Graphics (though the gaming industry isn&amp;#x27;t exactly the place to recover from burnout)&lt;p&gt;- Research in cognitive science, psychedelics (lots of hype here though), complex systems, physics&lt;p&gt;- Studying music composition or audio engineering&lt;p&gt;- Helping out with homelessness, loneliness, the elderly or disabled</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>janussunaj</author><text>(OP here)
I wanted to avoid a wall of text, so I&amp;#x27;ll elaborate here on where I&amp;#x27;m coming from.&lt;p&gt;My complaints with FAANG have to do with perverse incentives that reward nonsensical decisions, poorly thought-out and over-engineered projects, grandiose documents, duplication of work, selective reporting of metrics, etc.&lt;p&gt;The few times I had a really good manager, a sane environment, and fulfilling work only lasted until the next reorg. It seems like most organizations are either stressful with a lot of adversarial behavior, or have almost nothing to do but depressing busywork. I also find the social aspect lackluster if not downright alienating. I feel at a dead end both in career growth and opportunities to learn on the technical side. I could roll the dice with another team change, but I&amp;#x27;m not eager at the prospects.&lt;p&gt;Most of my work experience is in ML, but I don&amp;#x27;t want to box myself into that. I find the current hype around generative models insufferable, and the typical ML project today consists of somewhat sloppy Python and a lack of good engineering practices. I&amp;#x27;m also tired of the increasingly long and opaque feedback loops (come up with an idea, wait for your giant model to retrain, hope that some metric goes up). I&amp;#x27;m still passionate about some aspects (e.g., learning representations, knowledge grounding, sane ML workflows).&lt;p&gt;I hear that academia has similar issues (though again I mostly know about ML), and I imagine lots of industries have worse conditions than tech. I realize that sloppiness and politics are a fact of life, so I&amp;#x27;m wary of falling into the &amp;quot;grass is greener&amp;quot; trap.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rapnie</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t know if your lifestyle allows you some &amp;#x27;runway&amp;#x27;, but you may consider rekindling your passions by dedicating time to FOSS projects, where you don&amp;#x27;t have crazy management structure and can find a project where innovation is possible and aligns with your interests.</text></comment>