I quit my job

As of today, by my own choice, I'm no longer employed. I carry a lot of mixed feelings on my way out the door; there's a long story behind the making and timing of this decision. That story doesn't belong on this blog, though - not only because there are NDAs involved. Instead, I want to briefly talk about what happens next, as I enter my temporary (but extended) jobless era.

For some broad context, I've been writing software for a living for the last 10-odd years. The grind has left me exhausted in just about every sense of the word, except perhaps physically. I've known for years that this was going to be my next move. I need a break from the day job cycle, and I have the resources to do so, at least for a little while.

With that in mind, I should acknowledge that this opportunity is neither owed to my character, nor my convictions, and certainly not to my merits. I might as well have won the lottery. I picked the right industry and graduated college in the right year. Classmates who pursued a different career got shafted by their respective industries, nearly universally. Friends with CS degrees who graduated in the twenties are still struggling to find interviews, let alone a job. Do I need to say anything about those without a degree? It's fucking dire out there; the fact that I can do what I'm about to do is nothing short of a miracle. It shouldn't require a miracle to get to take a break. Everyone should have this affordance.

Trying to navigate this injustice taught me a few lessons along the way. The first lesson turned out to be the same one I learned over the course of my job, namely: it's not about me. It's about being a part of something bigger, amplifying the efforts & voices of those around you, making whatever your world needs to be made. Finding purpose outside of myself has thus far exclusively improved my life; I trust that the happiness will follow if I devote myself to the right things.

I know what that means for me, with my skillset & my communities. If you know me well, you could probably throw out a few guesses and get one right. However, I'm sorry to say that per the second lesson I learned: I cannot post about it. Posting about it is the doing it killer. The biggest things I'll be working on won't land on this blog until they are done. I refuse to waste this rare opportunity to dedicate myself to the betterment of my world, the same way I've melted down so many long-term opportunities into instant dopamine packets, by sharing it with the world prematurely.

So, in summary:

• I won't have a job for awhile.
• I'll be doing cool things, hopefully improving the world around me.
• I can't tell you exactly what I'll be doing, nor for how long, or I risk losing the spark to actually do it.

That's about all I have to say in this post. I wish I could gush about all the things I'm going to do, but we'll both have to be patient for now. I hope you'll understand.

Wish me luck as I enter this new era; 2025 is going to be our year, whether the powers that be agree or not.