ultrasounder

Hi HN, Long time lurker and occasional contributor here. I recently moved to a "high-growth" Startup after spending some significant time in enterprise/corporate. It turned out be a mutual "culture mis-fit" issue. I am burnt-out within the first two weeks of being there and I have asked them to terminate my employment immediately so that I can file for unemployment with state of California(my home state). Right now I am in a technical non-software/Hardware role and have been for the last 20 years since graduating from Grad-school. I tried pivoting into the "next shiny object" several times to no-avail(AR/VR/DS/ML/AI). I even tried getting into the whole "Leetcode" FAANG rat race and eventually gave up on that. I am contemplating on what my next potential career move could be. Truth be told, I have the financial security both from my savings, 401Ks and a spouse who is gainfully employed in a tech role at one of the Big-tech companies(that has a product in every "office"). So, I could just "retire" now and pursue other things. But, I want to lead a productive life , doing something meaningful and worthwhile with the time active work time I have on my hands(I am 47 will turn 48 this feb). Son will be off to college next year and won't have any time pressures. His college fund is taken care of. 80,000 hrs was suggested before. And so was techjobsforgood mentioned before (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40325501). A few of my core-strengths - I am generally a good person to be around, have always made good relationships with my peers and external vendors. So though not a people manager person, I like working with people. Sorry for the rant, but I am in huge mental turmoil and any iota of collective wisdom from HN would just save me not just my career but my "mid-life crisis" as well. I find posting this to HN much more therapeutic than to say "Chat with GPT". Thanks for reading.