Anyone ever left job without having another job lying around for their mental peace?
I am thinking of leaving my current job and focus on myself, getting to know myself better etc. Currently I have enough money saved for my expenses for next 6-8 months. Everyone I have asked about this say don't leave your job if you don't have another lined up, in this tech winter. I understand their view point. It aligns with what my parents think as well.
Is there anyone who has had done this in the past? Do you recommend this route? Are the consequences far too severe? Does anyone have a different opinion from one stated above?
Talking product sense with Ridhi
9 min AI interview5 questions
I'm in the same boat, on the verge of quitting, and will most probably take the leap next month.
Thanks for the thread. A lot of insights. It has made me confident that I'm not doing anything stupid.
Thanks man! Thought I am the only one thinking at extreme of what current multiple people are suggesting that I do.
Physical and mental health are important.
Life's a marathon, not a sprint. It's ok to allow down a little in between, or maybe take a rest. It'll help us in the long run.
The goal is to enjoy the life, and not come first by slogging the hardest.
Doing the same here. Got tired of the shitty politics, working with people just hungry for credit. I am gonna focus on learning, and try some freelancing. Almost everyone around me is saying not to, but a break where I work on myself is better than enduring politics for some more time. One friend put it the right way, "life's too long to say thoda aur jhel lete hain". This was not a battle worth fighting for in my opinion, hence gonna figure out something better. :)
Same here! Can totally agree with you!
Just 1 thing, shouldn't it be "life's too short" instead of too long?
Depends on the perspective :)
If life's too long (given life expectancy has increased), then how long are you going to say thoda aur jhel lete hain, knowing there is no certainty that you will get to live that long. I think what my friend meant was to think long term rather than looking at the short term loss of employment/money.
I got laid off in Feb, and haven’t been able to find anything yet. I am going to tell both the sides. Pros:
- You have more time for yourself and really helps you to focus on stuff, which otherwise you wouldn’t have.
- You can get started with that idea you were thinking of, get started working on your hobby as a career.
- Learn lot of stuff(whichever you like).
- Look with a totally different perspective to life.
- You will genuinely find out who are your best friends(whom you can trust)
Cons:
- Always have this constant fear of what might happen in the future(money does play role).
- A lot of people will disconnect with you and avoid you.(except a very few).
- Recruiters will negotiate a lot with you and not give you the required compensation.
- Most of the hiring managers will take you for granted(unless you have a really strong edge).
But, personally, I do agree that life is a marathon, and there are lot of things to do in life. If you had asked this question more than a decade ago, would have probably mentioned to stay at job. There are lot of things which can be done right now in the present situation. Lot of avenues to earn money(takes time but is doable).
P.S. : You might have some days when you would feel low(I went through those).
Thanks a lot for this answer @Stillgrowing . Great points put forward! Curious to know how do relatives take the news of we not having a job? My father would clearly not be happy though, I am sure of it
You don’t need to tell your relatives. You can, however, share it with your parents, if you want. I wouldn’t recommend though. It’s unnecessary burden to your parents, unless your parents are dependent upon you for daily survival.
That being said, I did tell to my parents, as I was paying their monthly bills. So that they are prepared. My parents aren’t dependent on me, but I made it a point to pay my parents recurring bills every month ever since I started working.
One more thing, which you should definitely do is to get health insurance as well as top up(should be at least 50 lakhs).
Apart from my mom and dad, no one knows, not even my sister and in-laws. It’s not required to tell everyone.
If you are not leaving just because of money.. then you can earn enough after leaving via freelance etc. peace of mind >>> money(only if you have okaish enough)
I am not leaving bcoz of money at all. Couldn't care about money. It's just an after effect and like Harvey Specter would say, represents what I do!
Haha Loved this comment. I did resign without an offer and when my skip manager was probing whether I wanted more money, I used this Harvey spector quote. Made my day😂
Yes. That too in 2021 (during covid). It was a health care startup (focusing on women’s health, menstruation, etc.) Pathetic work life balance, started at 9 am used to end up working till 2 AM sometimes. It was WFH but still very stressful. Inhumane, annoying, know-it-all, manager. Decided to just quit in 2 months - didn’t have another offer, but had the luxury to stay put with my parents given it was covid. Found something in a month’s time. So basically I was without a job for a month (however had savings worth 2-3 months in case). 30 days gave me enough of 3-4 hours a day of non-stop applying to jobs and giving interviews. I think hanging on to toxic jobs suck out the life from you. Next 30 days we’re truly reliving. But the market is different now, yes. Not enough HRs calling you back, only referrals are working from what I’ve heard.
I have done it twice till now. Once in 2019, and another time in 2023. I've learnt not to do it again for a long time.
Continuing or Leaving is your choice, depending upon how bad your mental health is right now, but if you choose to leave, please have something planned for your vacation months. Like a few things that you plan to focus upon when you're on leave.
I'll list down the cons of doing it here:
-
HRs become obsessed with your gap. IDK what's with them but Indian HRs don't get the concept of a mental health break. Be ready with a good explanation, and no, truth doesn't work. It has to be some boring seemingly legit reason.
-
In this market, it'd take you around 6 months to get a job. If you have 8 months of backup, you can probably have 2 months of vacation and then it's back to job hunting.
-
Fear of running out of money is real. For many people, having a regular cash flow translates to mental peace too. If you're one of those people, your break for mental peace might break your mental peace.
-
Keeping up with your job skills is a bit overwhelming after coming back as you did nothing for many months.
-
Parents worry a lot. Similar to Indian HRs, they also don't understand the concept of taking a break from work.
-
There's definitely an opportunity loss of money + you start again with 0 savings. That stings.
I don't think a < 8 months break would result in anything severe, but yes if it looms around 1 year or beyond, it gets hard to explain it to HRs.
@human ,thank you for the cons, will keep this in mind!
Love the take on parents outlook. My dad was a lifer in his organisation. 38 years plus in a single org. The first time I quit my job without a backup to take a well deserved break he had a mental breakdown basically. Couldn’t fathom living without a monthly pay check. Couple of years later he is completely understanding and looks forward to our trips together during my sabbaticals.
Left my precious org without an offer in hand. But I had a decent runway (6+ months) and was getting incoming offers from some startups. So I was sure to land a new opportunity sooner than later. Got another offer in 1.5 months
Why did you leave your previous offer? Also, assume you are at a juncture where you leave your current role, wait for time and then apply for another role. Do you think in this tech winter, one should do this?
I saw my role becoming redundant in the near future, so I left early to tell recruiters that I'm switching for "growth", this gave me some leverage in negotiations.
I'd suggest only leaving only if you are confident in your abilities and somewhat prepared for interviews. Eg. If companies are reaching out to you, that's a good indication that you'd get good offers soon.
Did just that and if money runs short planning to contribute to open source and free lancing.
If you could share, why did you do it? What was your role there and what kind of roles are you looking at?
I switched my job and the new org was not what I had expected so I decided to quit and focus on myself I had saving for 1yr and very low expenses. I was senior swe back end and I am looking in same domain java / back end . I have experience in multiple business domain CRM email servers cms systems ERP systems so I had quite a few options . Lot of open source projects are available in java so that’s a plus
I had done that, frustrated of working for 18 hours a day, including weekends and holidays for more than a year. But then, I did not had EMIs like home loan, car loan, personal loan. I was married and staying on rent. My wife was also frustrated with my work schedule and she too agreed with my decision.
I resigned from my job, stayed at home for 2 weeks straight, then went for sea shore trip with my wife for a week , came back, updated my resume and was hired in first interview on day one...
All my praises will go to my wife, she stayed with me in budget hotels, homestays , travelled by public bus and all. She just wanted my time.
Now, I can't dare , because of my liabilities... But yes, a lot of people do leave jobs, but it depends on what support you have and your financial liabilities
I see. Quite interesting story. Kudos!