Sabbatical stories - a thread
Want to discuss if sabbatical being a taboo is valid and peoples opinions of it. I will start with mine Background - 8 years in tech 3 company switches Sabbatical of 1 month, 3 month and 6 month between each break. Personal experience - quite enriching. Though there was panic and anxiety of not having a job during the period, it truly helped me take a step back, reassess my career trajectory, and mostly just Destress and re prioritise Every now and then i loose my true love for tech and product and the sabbaticals helped me to rediscover that by just reading about technology that was not outcome driven ( like for switching a job) Quite rewarding each time in terms of salary jumps also. I think i was able to make a better case for myself at a particular position just because i had more time to process stuff from last job. It also helped me make better decisions for next thing which has in general helped me shape my career better ( i think atleast) Open to anyone sharing their stories/perspectives related to sabbaticals
LosingmakesnoCents
Stealth
7 months ago
Such a wholesome post.. I have a similar story.
Having taken 3 such career breaks(ranging from 6-9 months)in my 12 years of work experience, with the most recent one being 15 months back, I feel it has worked out for me every time. Each break was for a different reason, but i ended up relaxing, unwinding, upskilling and making better jumps in career. I don't regret any of the breaks I took.
But folks should keep a few things in mind.
1. Have a good runway ( 1 year min) so that you don't get pressured into taking the next available offer. Have the leverage to walk away from an offer if it doesn't match your expectations.
2. There is an oversupply in the market currently so you might not get lot of good inbound offers in the near future. But referrals are still decent. So having a good network will make it easier.
3. Don't tie your self worth to your occupation. You should be okay to not have any income, and comments from family/friends/mohalla uncles and aunty's shouldn't bother you or make you feel worthless. Have absolute clarity on why you are taking a break.
4. Make sure you have a plan for the break. You don't need to plan out every single day, but broadly you need to have clarity on how long will you take time to unwind, travel, chill out? By when approx you will start any upskilling program? What kind of upskilling you would want to do? If you don't do this, there is a high chance that you will end up not utilising your break properly, which will bother you towards the end of your break ( was guilty of this in my first break of 9 months)
Modern day jobs are mentally exhausting. We deserve to take breaks to recharge ourselves. Career is a marathon not a sprint.
Loved your thoughts ♥️
I am myself on a break trying to catch up on learning and exploring things in parallel. In my last position, there was hardly any motivation left. All the work was top down driven, prioritized to the likes of promoters of company. Hardly any original thought going into what needs to be built. Anxiety is there but much more motivated to learn and take on something exciting.
Btw i am a product manager, in case you are wondering 😇
Dude so much of what you said makes total sense just so difficult for me to maintain. Specially the part about handling comments from others. I'm unable to prevent myself from defining my self worth by my salary. Every day I look at my friends and peers and feel that I haven't achieved enough because everyone is ahead of me
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Much needed post.
Sabbatical and Career break should be normalised.
Job isn't life.
I wanna quote Steve here,
Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.
You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
ericcartmanchan
Stealth
7 months ago
Thanks for sharing.
Could relate to the point about reflecting better and connecting the dots well when you take time.
It's my first sabbatical and only 3 months into it, my past work became clearer to define and communicate.
The meandering through the break helped with setting my career vision-mission-strategy clear.
Going forward will save more for future breaks and also network better to increase chances of returning to work better/or in places you want to.
GolDRoger
Stealth
7 months ago
How do you think clarity came?
Also is the sabbatical intentional? Does it have a rough roadmap? Or time duration?
ericcartmanchan
Stealth
7 months ago
Clarity comes from - How you spend your newfound time evolves (where there is no salary/obligation to others). So the first couple of weeks I did nothing - just binging, lazing around like an extended weekend, then based on how I felt (bored/excited) kept moving to the next thing to the other one and so on.
The more refined and clear view came very late after 3rd month. It's all about things that make you feel content, sleep peacefully and still be curious and awed about. Realised that betting on a problem space for a 2 decade horizon is way more rewarding to my personal fulfillment and might also be financially great at some point.
Sabbatical was intentional, was planning for it for almost 10months (savings, analysing reasons why). Goal was to reacharge, learn things and do something about fitness at last (this one was a gap from trying to build something/startup).
As for a goal - I kept strength training, diet and waking up early (they go so well hand in hand) as the only constant anchor. These helped me be on a measurable track of self improvement and progress.
With the other time, did explore consuming content for fun, hobby or personal growth, enrolled to a course for upskilling etc. Right now added finding a job that matches with my clarity and long term plans as the next active goal.
It went from layoff to sabbatical for me now for 8 months… non-tech growth marketing role..
now questioning myself as to why I did MBA and shit rather than staying in Tech. Regret not going ahead and doing MS from abroad. Had a GRE score of 1450(2009). Would have easily got into some decent colleges. Now there hardly any strength left in me.
You did MS, you would have definitely learnt something. Not everyone has an MS. Try to see how this can make you a complete professional. A growth marketer with tech skills - good combination you have.
I didn’t do MS. I regret not doing it. I should have done it and left the country in 2009 itself. Right now, even with a Tier 1 MBA and more than a decade of experience I am jobless from the past 8 months.
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This entire thread is wholesome. Thanks @GolDRoger for putting this. I am aldo on sabbatical right now. It's just 20 days yet, and somehow things are not in place yet.
GolDRoger
Stealth
7 months ago
Elaborate, what is the purpose for sabbatical? Is it intentional? Is there a rough roadmap or is it more freedom based?
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