I had a job at Apple for two years, which paid very well and had very good stock grants, but I absolutely hated. I hated most (not all) of my managers, I didn't really enjoy the work, and my team in particular would routinely have meetings until 9pm, multiple times a week. I would sign off from my computer, and lie down on my bed nearly catatonic because I was so unhappy, to a point where my wife was getting a bit worried.
Eventually I got in yet another argument with my manager's manager, and decided enough was enough, and put in my notice, and two weeks later I was gone. The first day after I woke up and realized that I didn't have to work for Apple anymore, this wave of relief swept over me. I was so happy that I didn't even care that I had to give up several hundred thousand dollars of stock.
You only have one life, and you get maybe 100 years to live it. Don't waste it in a job that makes you miserable.
>> You only have one life, and you get maybe 100 years to live it. Don't waste it in a job that makes you miserable.
THIS.
I've been watching a lot of the Shawn Ryan interviews lately. The first one I watched was Cody Alford. Dude was a marine scout sniper, then joined force recon. His first two deployments were in Fallujah - one was during the Operation Phantom Fury. He also survived being shot in the head (he had his helmet on) and retells that story.
In short, dude went through a ton of stuff mentally and physically which caused him to retire from the military early. A lot of what OP talks about, he experienced in the military as he rose in the ranks (he was the fastest marine to E8) and the last part of the interview is where he lays out how he got his sanity back, the role of psychedelics in his recovery and what he's doing now.
The interview is over 6 hours long, but it's an absolute whirlwind and it's really inspiring to me to see someone who's already lived multiple lives over the span of his short life, telling people to "die living" not the other way around. I know his perspective has made me change a lot of what I've been doing.
Sounds very similar to my early 2020 - mid 2022. Got a "dream role" at Apple that utilized my niche expertise, was assigned to a high-value component of a high-impact project that sounded like a perfect fit.
2022 comes around and we have a barely functional prototype that was initially due to be shipped in mid 2021, constant turn-over in software engineering and product management, the front-end that had been build didn't align with the back-end due to a complete lack of project coordination, but felt tied to the role due to stock grants.
Left to join a 4-person start-up founded by one of my good friends from college and haven't looked back since :)
99% of a persons opinion about a company is a function of who their boss is.
I’ve seen situations where people have been at a company 20+ years, loved their work throughout all of those year, felt appreciated and more. Then one day they get a new boss and hated their job, hated the company and quit.
This isn't too different from how I felt at Google.
Maybe it was the wrong team for me, but it got to a point where I struggled to put in the work whilst in the office AND struggled to have a life outside of work because I hated the work so much.
My wife dealt with a lot of bullshit from me that year. She's amazing.
Eventually I got in yet another argument with my manager's manager, and decided enough was enough, and put in my notice, and two weeks later I was gone. The first day after I woke up and realized that I didn't have to work for Apple anymore, this wave of relief swept over me. I was so happy that I didn't even care that I had to give up several hundred thousand dollars of stock.
You only have one life, and you get maybe 100 years to live it. Don't waste it in a job that makes you miserable.