Ask HN: Career Burnout Looking for Options

Do that. If it gets old, switch gears immediately.

As far as we all know, today could be the last for any of us. Less planning, more living/doing/going.

There are small companies/startups that would presumably trade your experience and a desire to not be overworked for a moderate salary.

You obviously can't act like you're looking for a 'chill' job in the interview, but you can be on the lookout for companies that are a bit more relaxed, and if you aren't trying to maximize your comp, they probably will be OK if you don't put in 'startup hours'

It's hard to give advice on this sort of topic because I think it is very personal and everyone has unique circumstances.

Have you considered just taking some time off, potentially focusing on hobbies or personal projects and maybe after some so called "down" time an answer would be more clear?

I always like Neal Stephenson’s approach with his Sci-Fi novels too. Most of them have a central conceit based around a topic he wanted to learn more about (linguistics, nanotech, cryptography, etc…), so in essence writing the novel was just an excuse to obsess about that topic for a while.

Or become a consultant?

I’m sure there are things you’re passionate about (doesn’t have to be tech only, maybe you’re a hobbyist carpenter) and know deeply that you can share (for a price) with others.

You don’t ever need anyone’s permission to file for unemployment but telling somebody, “I need you to fire me” is probably not going to work in your favor.

And isn’t max benefit in CA $450/week? I get that it’s better than nothing but you’re probably earning a lot more than that.

> So, I could just "retire" now and pursue other things. But, I want to lead a productive life

From an outside perspective this is a wild statement. Why not retire and pursue a productive life?

Do you really have a clear personal definition of what a productive life looks like to you or is it 100% defined by “working”?

You might be interested in the book Tiny Experiments. It seems like from your track record you set these big goals and then move onto another before seeing anything through? And you feel like you missed out because you never “achieved” what you thought you wanted?

This book presents a very different approach to life that will probably seem very foreign to you but might be interesting and worth pursuing.

I also recommend Tao Te Ching to everyone.