I just posed something completely opposite of you. I don't think I make nearly as much as you did. I am from Vancouver B.C, and we don't pay nth like SF... That said I quit my job almost 3 years ago anyways. Took a whole year travelling. Came back and tried to do my 'iOS project'. The first one took a whole year, launched, marketed, etc. and unfortunately was no financial success. Then embarked on another long shot building a Lightning Network wallet. Like most projects in the Bitcoin world, there are no real business model to be had on a technology designed to disinter-mediate. Most Bitcoin companies (aside from exchanges) are really just burning VC money.

Sick of dipping so much into retirement funds, I finally got back on the job market... And found that nobody cares about these little pet projects. Nobody cares about what you have 'learned', or how much you have 'grown'. If you have no brand-name on your back, all they care are algorithm puzzles. Real world experience, entrepreneur spirit, ownership... Unfortunately they only work in the odd blog articles. I guess just being in SF gives enough brand power to shine thru. Not so much here where we live in igloos.

It's building a working business or bust. I guess that's what entrepreneurship originally was before these million dollars seed round got overhyped by social media. The risk is real.

Thanks for sharing your experience biscottigelato. For me, I've been careful to set realistic expectations for myself and am wary of trying to replace my salary with a side project. In this sabbatical, working on these projects have been a fun way for me to keep my coding skills from deteriorating while exploring new technologies, but I don't expect any of them to be a business and do anticipate reentering the job market soon.

I wasn't going to post, until I saw how negative the other comments were. I just want to say I appreciated this article. Thank you. I'm sure there are others who did too.

I'd also like to point out what Joshua is choosing to do with his free time: reading, learning, and growing. That's rarely peoples choice when given free time. I'd argue those are some of the symptoms of success, and because he makes decisions like that is probably why he's able to get to a point to where he can quit his job. I fail to see the point in trying to belittle him for being successful and doing what most people wish for thinking it's out of their grasp... but really it's only out of their grasp because they choose to use their time differently than he does.

Your support is much appreciated, camhart!

Good on you for chasing your dreams, and thank you for posting your thoughts. I'm 10 months into a sabbatical myself and can relate to most of it. Wouldn't take any of my time off for anything.

Surprised at how juvenile/toxic a lot of the comments here are.

Thanks for the feedback Jeremy Bernier, and glad that you found it to be relatable.

Great article, Joshua. Congratulations on having the courage of taking the leap towards a better version of you. Best of luck with your projects.

Thanks for the feedback, Jacqueline Audrey Morgan!

Most welcome :)

Awesome post Joshua. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks, Tommy!

What was your motivation to work on your side projects during this time? Sometimes at work, our incentives to build out features for a product are varied from having to work collaboratively in a team, having strict deadlines, and being in a corporate environment. How did you prevent yourself from being distracted?

It's been difficult, but holding myself accountable for the goals I've set has provided me the best motivation. Knowing that this break won't last forever forces me to try and not waste any valuable time.

Hey Joshua, Thanks for sharing your experience. I've been on sabbatical since mid 2016. Worked on side projects, went back to school to do a small course I was interested in for a year and, been supporting myself as a freelance data analyst. But, like you I have been fortunate to have good family and pets that help me through it everyday and I am grateful for them. There used to be days that were down but its mostly up. I don't live in a city like SF where there a lot of tech jobs so I have to remotely freelance. But, I've found solace in the moment and I enjoy it because I know how stressful it can be working in VC funded companies and I look at my friends who work there and do feel sorry for them. I also see friends who don't work in those kinds of companies who seem to have a more balanced life. In the end, gratitude, compassion, humility and empathy have helped me get through it and putting my energy full time to the things I can control and own - if all this makes sense.

It absolutely does. Thanks for sharing witwiki . I certainly enjoy the learnings from working at a VC funded company but finding the balance is difficult.

Thanks for sharing. Since two years, I am on a similar journey and have made very similar observations (living in Europe). I tried to build a company from the beginning but on my own pace. So I didn't spend 100% of my time on the features I wanted, but also some time on features like 'Terms of service', etc. Didn't work out yet ;-)

You have to understand that many people are not as fortunate as you (or me). While I am sure you did not want to harm anyone, the comments here clearly show that there is a lot of envy around. That envy should show you how valuable that time was and how much others would like to have the same experience.

Appreciate you sharing too, commenter, and your insight on the comments.

How was incorporating 500 pages a day? How did you prevent it from feeling like a chore with a set benchmark per day?

I eventually did this in spurts. When I first quit I read prolifically for about a week, then got restless and started working on other things. If either reading or coding felt too much like a chore, I would switch to the other thing. I treated 500 pages more as a shining example than a strict benchmark, otherwise I would've read a lot more than I have up to this point.

All these haters are just jealous they can’t do the same. I lived below my means, saved a nice chunk of cash and about to do the same. Thanks for the inspiration.

There is a big difference between using funds you earned and funds given to you by your parents. This little bit of info would color the article very differently if included. In the case of the latter, a better title for this blog would be "Why being a trust fund baby is awesome", it comes off as bragging regardless of the author's acknowledgement of privilege.

I've responded to your earlier comment. I didn't feel like it was necessary to include this information as it's hard enough to write this post without coming off as an entitled, overpaid SV engineer. I'm lucky to be in the situation that I'm in, but thankfully I haven't had the curse of the trust fund.

Thanks for the info, I do think this information is probably necessary though because it's omission leads people to think about the "trust fund" situation which definitely contributes the scornfulness you are seeing in the comments. I don't see anything wrong with using your savings to take time off regardless of how much your salary is, you are essentially delaying your ability to put a down payment on a house to take some time off from the grind, which makes this take a more relatable and insightful perspective to me than if written by someone who will never need to work a day in their life preaching about self growth.

Wow that is some new level of millennial flavoured narcissism. Anyone else got 3000 words on why they want a holiday? Fuckin fascinating shit

Thanks for the feedback, Uninterested.

You never actually mention why this was good for your "career" either. Is this supposed to give you new perspective on your motivation to work? Help you scratch the itch on your future subordinates that want to quit and travel?

To be honest @Andrew :disqus, coming up with the title was the hardest part about writing this post. The point of it is that the personal growth will only help me down the line professionally. Some related insightful discussions can be found here: https://news.ycombinator.co....

Another rich programmer telling us the burdens of earning six figures at year on an stressful environment. Or also know as how to to find your better self being a 1%.

Hi ardepauto , I'm sorry that's your takeaway from the article.

Rich programmer? Jealous of hard work you complete dick. Grow up, this is a great article.

What does salary have do do with it. You can overwork yourself as a specialist knocking back 300k a year or as a broke college student writing a thesis on medieval poetry or something. The lessons are valuable regardless. Try not to sound so bitter

Yikes. You know it's still possible to be empathetic to someone in a different income class, right? They're just a person.

How was this sabbatical funded? Savings or mommy and daddy?

Ignoring your scornfulness here, this sabbatical was funded by myself.

I worked full-time for 5 years as a software engineer in the Bay Area and as I pointed out have had the fortune of no burdensome debts or dependencies. Even in expensive places like Japan there are decent hostels to stay in for less than $50/night.

@Joshua, congrats on the HN feature (I'm catching up on old editions). I'm currently at a point of burnout, heading into a brief sabbatical. I think that two of the most important beliefs I hold onto are that our time in life is brief and —crucially— that it is our own. After a few years as a professional, it's easy to feel like you belong to everyone but yourself. It's encouraging and inspiring to see the example of someone facing some of the same challenges lucidly and with self-honesty. So thanks!

I have a question. Like your sabbatical, mine will likely be followed by an earnest hunt for a job that is meaningful. But, in a way, I can't shake the feeling that I'd be touching the stove again. Hearing that you're re-entering the job market, do you have any particular approach you're taking? How much are you looking to align your interests with your next position (versus, for instance, your most marketable skills)? Can an ambitious person work without burning out?

Hi Corey , thanks for your feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed the article.

I absolutely believe that an ambitious person can work without burning out. Putting full-time work in my personal projects has taught me that. One of my underlying motivations is that I have a passion for software engineering (especially data engineering, and I've been fortunate that my interests align with my skills) and it's something that I want to continuously get better at.

At a high level, I'm looking for a place that can provide the right balance of interesting and challenging technical problems where I can continue learning while having a culture that stresses the importance of a healthy work/life balance. My sabbatical has given me a clearer picture of what to look for in my next company, and what to avoid --- and I hope yours will too.

Something I learned the hard way is that saying "No" was very important. I had to learn what my limits were, and how to say "No" when there were pressures, internal or external, to go past those limits. It actually helped my career a lot, opening up a couple of promotions for me and letting me find more interesting work in the same company.

You never actually say WHAT you learned about yourself and WHAT the "fresh perspective" is. You did a little bit of introspection about your motivations but was that it? I might be biased because I am similar and realized all the things about myself that you realized
already.

Why did you actually procrastinate at home? Was it "not believing in what I was working towards, not being challenged, and not learning."? I procrastinate going to work and programming because it's just an infinite cesspool of frustrating compiler errors and my own misunderstanding of the code. And then I come home and procrastinate on marketing because I don't know how to make good ads yet. Yes I can keep trying and when I succeed, the result is great, but the process is so damn difficult.

Hi Andrew , the "what's" you refer to are in my reflection section that summarize the earlier topics I talk about on organizing my life, productivity, accountability, etc---things that I never thought critically about before.

I initially procrastinated at home just like how I did at work. Whenever there was a lull I would open HN or reddit, and only until I caught myself doing this did I seriously try to analyze the root cause. Once I had a better understanding of these reasons I found that it was easier to stay productive.