Monday again. A new week, a fresh start—or so we tell ourselves. Scrolling through tech news, I see yet another wave of AI breakthroughs: open-source models, new startups, big tech releases. The industry moves fast, and some days, it feels exhausting just to keep up.
There was a time, not long ago, when I seriously considered leaving it all behind. Burned out from late-night debugging, anxious about deadlines, and tired of the constant pressure to "always be learning," I dreamed of a simpler life. Maybe a quiet job—something low-stress, just enough to cover basic expenses. No more chasing promotions, no more LeetCode grinding, no more keeping up with the latest framework-of-the-week.
I tried. And guess what? I came crawling back within months.
The Myth of the "Barrier-Free" Industry
Tech companies love to say they don’t care about your age, your degree, or how many years you’ve been coding—they just want creativity and passion. But the reality? The further you step outside the "expected" path (junior dev → mid → senior → staff), the harder it is to get back in.
- "No experience needed!" …except you’re competing with 20-year-olds who’ve been coding since they were 12.
- "We value diverse backgrounds!" …but the interview still involves reversing a binary tree on a whiteboard.
- "Age is just a number!" …until you realize most teams are half your age, and the culture reflects that.
Why I Stay (For Now)
- Money. Let’s be honest—tech pays well, even at mid-tier roles. Walking away means accepting a steep drop in income, and that’s not easy when rent, groceries, and healthcare exist.
- Identity. After years in tech, it’s hard not to tie your self-worth to it. "What do you do?" is the first question people ask. Saying "I used to be a developer" feels like admitting defeat.
- The Grass Isn’t Greener. Other industries have their own headaches: unstable hours, physical labor, or even lower respect for work-life balance.
So What’s the Answer?
I don’t have one. Maybe it’s about finding a niche where experience matters more than hype. Maybe it’s remote work, freelancing, or prioritizing mental health over career velocity. Or maybe it’s just accepting that tech, for all its flaws, is the devil I know.
But if you’ve ever stared at your screen at 2 AM and wondered, "Why am I still doing this?"—you’re not alone.
Thoughts? Have you ever tried to leave tech? How did it go?
Top comments (14)
Hi, curious what actions you took when you were trying to leave tech behind?
Great question! I actually tried a few different paths when I was attempting to leave tech.
First, I explored writing since I used to score pretty well on essays back in school. But after a few attempts, I realized I could only manage short pieces - my skills were nowhere near what they used to be. Then I tried getting into trade, but soon discovered it came with its own set of challenges: late nights and intense sales pressure that were just as stressful as coding.
After several months of this exploration, I ended up joining Accio AI (where I currently work). It's an interesting space - being a newer field means there are constant changes and new challenges every week, which definitely keeps the pressure on. But through this process, I've come to realize that staying within a relatively familiar domain, despite its stresses, might ultimately be a better fit for me.
The grass always seems greener until you're actually standing on it, right? Have you ever considered making a switch, or have you found ways to make tech work more sustainable for you?
I used to write a lot of songs before as well, and I thought writing outside of this context would be easier, but I found out it's a different ball game, though the previous practice helped me out a lot.
Each route has its challenges. For me, it's about making decisions where I have the probability of higher upside and developing skills to continue pursuing different goals.
My intention isn't to leave tech; I enjoy the constant learning and solving problems.
But as you mentioned, we'll need to accept the constant pressure whether we choose to or not.
This is what bothers me: I want to build a life where I have the choice to take it or not.
During my teenage years, I was earning through private tutoring in batches/1-1, teaching others programming, physics, and some mathematics. Usually, I would get customers through referrals, and it was constantly growing, since I really care/cared about making the learning experience enjoyable.
That time, I felt a kind of freedom of my time that I still seek, and I believe entrepreneurship is the way to go about it.
I have been spending time learning about many things for the last 4 years, though I am still working on building my own business, and have realized ways to practice different ways to practice aspects of entrepreneurship in my day job, cause the time constraint for us is a real thing.
I'm currently in the attempt to make the switch, though not through moving away from tech, rather my skills to move towards a place where I have more choice.
For me, the sustainable route I envision is where I get to reap the rewards for the value I deliver.
I am finding it difficult to come to terms with selling my time for the rest of my life, there's way too much to life than clocking in/out, and I want to experience all those aspects.
What's your thought on this?
Would love to hear more about your experience going through it.
The phrase 'selling my time for the rest of my life' resonates deeply with me. Recently, I've taken to growing flowers on my balcony, and I've found that watching a blossom slowly unfold gives me a greater sense of owning my time than any work task ever could.
Our industry is full of contradictions: we thrive on the constant novelty (those daily new problems do keep us engaged), yet we're drained by its inherent instability. True freedom might not lie in escaping the pressure, but in permitting ourselves to pause within it. These days, I consciously allow myself moments of mental space when possible.
What you said about 'direct rewards for value' struck a chord. If we could step outside the 'time-for-money' paradigm, even partially, that might mark the beginning of real change.
These moments are crucial for our sanity; rest is a big part of productivity.
We're constantly innovating to make systems efficient, but we're never able to reap the rewards for that efficiency.
I personally have built processes and automation that saves more than 40hours per week of development time, but I'm still putting in 40 hours, I'm not complaining here, that's how "jobs" work, the difference between the outcome extracted from employee and the salary is the profit for the company, which is why it makes sense to provide higher amount of value than what we receive.
There are so many people who are doing this, and I am not different than someone who is pursuing this as well.
The more I'm studying, the more I'm realizing it's a huge skill gap, and for the past year, that's what I was working on for myself.
And now I'm thinking, are there more people who are on the same journey, who are struggling and stuck as I was before, that required a lot of perseverance to cross?
That's what landed me on your post, which resonated strongly, and I couldn't help but ask you what you tried.
Many dream of "sipping drinks on the beach", but that doesn't drive me. I like working on projects that I care about, and I don't mind working hard on what matters. But the moment you realize that, when you're working in a job, you're always depending on others' approvals to reap a tiny ounce of reward from what you delivered, that's what pushes me to think about alternatives.
Owning even a small business, driven by automation and technology, constantly reduces work hours through optimization without losing profit. I will take this every day.
Just realized, I'm rambling there, haha.
What's your opinion on someone walking this path?
How are you crafting your future?
Are you still pursuing ways of earning outside of your job?
Totally feel you on the "automation paradox" — it’s frustrating when efficiency gains just turn into higher expectations.
Right now, I’m swamped with my main gig (working on Accio AI, helping automate procurement workflows), so no side projects for me at the moment. But I’ve been experimenting with other AI tools to streamline small tasks—like using ChatGPT for drafting docs or Cursor for code refactoring.
Curious—have you found any tools that actually give time back, instead of just shifting the workload?
This hits home..
Totally. This seems to be a shared experience.
Hey Paul,
First off - I love your energy! Your determination and passion shine through in just a few sentences.
I wrote that post to share my personal reflections, not to discourage anyone. Every career path has its ups and downs, but what matters most is that fire inside you - and clearly, you've got plenty of that!
Your work ethic and family motivation are already putting you ahead of the pack. The tech world needs more people with your kind of real-world perspective. Keep trusting that drive of yours - it's going to take you further than you imagine.
Rooting for you!
Many romanticize the tech world, but the constant pressure to stay up to date, absurd interview processes, and imposter syndrome end up being exhausting.
The struggle is real, and you’re not alone in feeling this way. The key is to remember that no one knows everything—tech is vast, and it’s okay to focus on depth in some areas over breadth.
Some comments may only be visible to logged-in visitors. Sign in to view all comments.