Why I decided to quit a Director's job

What I tell my father-in-law who thinks I'm crazy

4 weeks ago I made the hardest decision of my career - I quit a dream job, in a company I love, to take a 6-8 months break.

I wasn’t burned out, or super-stressed. There is no family emergency requiring me to be at home.

Everything was truly ok. I enjoyed my work, liked the people around me, and got a nice paycheck (by non-US standards..).

There were many good reasons not to make that decision:

• Market - The market is shit, It'll be difficult to find a job

• Role - Director of Engineering jobs are even harder to find

• Money - I have a family to take care of, and this decision will cost us ~$60K (there are many variables in that calculation, not just the salary, like lower tax returns and government payments).

So why did I do it

For the last 12 years, I have been following the classic path, doing what everyone expected from me.

I went through a coding bootcamp, and stayed for 6.5 months at my first company. During that time, I also completed a Computer Science degree (evening lessons) because it was important to my parents.

Then I moved to my latest company. After a year, I was promoted to Engineeirng Manager, and after another two, to Director of Engineering.

I’m on the sure path to becoming a VP R&D/CTO in 5-10 years.

But I never once took some time to really stop and consider: “Is it what I truly want?”.

I know I enjoy programming, and the tech world in general. I feel it’s a truly good fit for what I’m good at, what I enjoy, and what the world needs.

But even inside the tech world, there are many different paths I haven’t tried:

• Becoming a CEO - if I want to lead a company someday, I need to get some experience outside of engineering, maybe in Product or Sales.

• Founding a startup - a dream of many engineers. Why not try it out? What better time than at 30, when I have experience and energy?

• Becoming a solopreneur - working just for myself. Maybe a combination of creating some products, teaching courses, coaching, writing.

So the goal is to take time to explore and figure out what I REALLY want. What’s more important for me:

stability or risk?
9-5 or freedom?
family time or ambition?
tons of money or enough-but-less money?
making an impact on the world or doing what’s convenient to me?

When I read Tim Ferris’s ‘The 4-Hour Workweek’, he mentioned the concept of ‘mini-pension’. Instead of working for 45 years, and then relaxing, why not take 6-12 months breaks during your working years?

It took me a year to make that decision, but I decided to give it a try.

Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

- Howard Thurman

Am I irresponsible?

This decision has 2 main ‘costs’:

1. Money

My father-in-law can’t understand that decision. He has his own business and worked at it for 30+ years, trying hard to save for the future.

He told me: “You know that if you continue investing those $60K for 30-35 years, even at 7% they will be worth $600K by the time you retire? Can’t you just take a 3-4 weeks break?”

I understand his point of view. He wants what is best for his daughter and grandchildren.

But my answer is “Yes, I’m willing to give up on the $600K-in-30-years for those 8 months. I truly believe it will be worth it”.

I thought hard about it, and talked a lot with my wife. She supported me, and we agreed on a length of time that made sense to us.

I didn’t rush into it, or make an impulsive decision. I thought about it for almost a year and planned our finances for that.

2. Career

An 8-month gap never looks nice on the resume, and the market is difficult now, especially for management roles.

If I decide to continue on the CTO path, I know I can be flexible in my job search. We’ll get to my plan in a moment, but I will code a lot in those months, and worst case, I’m sure I will be able to find a role as an engineer (and start climbing the ladder again). I actually believe that I will be able to find at least an Engineering Manager job.

What’s my plan

I want to experiment with different things, and do what I enjoy. I’m coding A LOT with Cursor, and I absolutely enjoy it. In a few weeks, I was able to launch multiple working apps in different domains.

The one I’m currently working on is manager.dev. If you are an engineering manager, check it out! :)

The one question I want to solve is ‘What do engineering managers need to help them enjoy their job?’. I have an ambitious vision for it, and I’m really excited to work on it.

I will also exercise more, read more books, meditate more, and spend more time with my family.

I plan to work 4-5 hour days. This is what my calendar currently looks like (Dan is my son). 1.5-2 hours every morning for a slow routine, and ending my days at 15:30 to pick him up.

Final words

It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

Do not follow where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and make a trail.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

What I enjoyed reading this week:

1. I Became a Monk for 10 Days so You Don't Have To by

   Michał Poczwardowski

2. Should managers still code? by

   James Stanier

3. One of the blog posts I enjoyed the most on this topic is “Quitting My Job For The Way Of Pain” by Nik. I definitely didn’t suffer that way, but some parts of it were relatable.