#CorporateAmericaWoes: Is your soul being crushed by the inanity of working in the corporate world? 🏢💔
Hey there, tech warriors! Are you feeling like your soul is being slowly drained away by the monotony of corporate America? 💼 As a 27-year-old who has been in the tech industry for 5 years, I totally get where you’re coming from. The constant grind of sitting in front of a computer screen for 8+ hours a day, working on projects that seem to serve no real purpose other than making someone else richer can be soul-crushing. 😔
I hear you loud and clear – the cycle of working tirelessly to fix issues, only to have new ones pop up, can be exhausting. And let’s not forget the guilt that comes with thinking about leaving a startup that you helped build. But is this really what we signed up for? 🤔
I’ve turned to Reddit for answers, but all I got was a bunch of people saying “life sucks, deal with it.” I refuse to believe that we’re stuck in this never-ending cycle of misery. There has to be a way to find happiness outside of the corporate grind, right? 🌟
I know that leaving a stable job comes with its own set of challenges, especially financially. But if it means finding true happiness and fulfillment, isn’t it worth it? Where are all the people who have left the corporate world behind and are now living their best lives? 🌈
Let’s start a conversation – share your stories, insights, and advice on breaking free from the soul-crushing grip of corporate America. Let’s find a way to live our best lives outside of the cubicle walls! 💪 #CorporateEscape #HappinessOverPaycheck #FreedomFromInanity 🌟
Following because I’m the same age and have the exact same feelings
If you don’t like tech, why are you in it? I generally hope to see people doing work they like doing.
I like teaching sped. Job can be fun its stable great schedule, etc. money is tight but tolerable. I’m glad you are ignoring the It AlL SuCKs brigrade parroting propaganda. It’s quite possible to be happy
This definitely resonates with me! The best advice I received when I was trying to get out of tech was to 1) save as much as possible to give myself runway when I couldn’t stand it anymore and 2) start working on some sort of side hustle.
For the savings part, that meant looking at my average monthly spending to see where I could easily cut back. That will depend on your situation, but for me it meant eating out less and cooking at home more. It also meant being comfortable saying no to friends for drinks out at bars and finding hobbies that were cheap/free like hiking.
I’ve found that bad habits compounded (drinks at night – eating late night food – hungover the next day – being lazy on the couch watching tv – etc) where good habits also compounded (not going out for drinks – waking up earlier – going for a hike – working on business ideas that afternoon).
For the side hustle, take a look at hobbies or things you enjoy. There are niches for pretty much anything these days, so you can start by trying to build a following on a social platform and going from there once you’ve built some sort of an audience. Much easier said than done, but treating it like a side hobby that can eventually start earning an income is a good way to test out the entrepreneurial journey without quitting your job without a parachute.
In terms of feeling guilty about possibly leaving your job, your company would likely have no qualms about letting you go in a round of layoffs (which happens all too frequently in tech), so don’t feel guilty if you’ve given it a good try and it just isn’t working for you. You can always leave on good terms and they very well might rehire you if you want to go back in the future (though hopefully you’ll find something you enjoy more so you won’t have to!).
Hope that helps!
Following. I know someone who left and now works at a bookstore. They said yes there are money worries now, but they are happy. They’ve been working there for several years now.
If you have enough saved up and live minimally, you’ve bought yourself time to try new things. Depending on your finances, you might be at CoastFIRE already.
Keep in mind the job market is rough right now and put that into consideration.
Well.. you are an adult and you have free will. You can go back to school and become a therapist. Or work as a social worker or teacher. If you want the high pay tho you gotta just grit ur teeth and stack $$ to retire early. Hate to say it but that’s capitalism.
It all depends on why you’re working. To survive, to put food on the table for kids and a pregnant wife? Clothes on their backs, good education, toys, vacations, health care?
That’s why I stuck out the corporate grind. My passion was to help people by teaching them karate for free, which I was able to do at a community center only 2 days a week, at nights, after exhausting 10 hours a day at my paying job.
Finding something outside of work that is fulfilling makes the grind bearable. That and the fat paycheck.
See you in the world of entrepreneurship
I’m almost 10 years older than you, with a kid now, I also feel the exact same.
I come from a blue collar family but got a relatively fancy degree including a master’s. When I showed up to my first corporate job it took me like 4 weeks to be 100% “what the fuck this is how people live?”
So far I’ve just saved a lot of money and taken every 3rd or 4th year off to do something cool and just live my own time and schedule.
My wife feels the same, for better or worse, haha. We’re on track financially to “retire” in out late 30s or early 40s.
I don’t have a better plan really, if love to hear what others are doing.
I have a very good job right now, all things considered, all my coworkers seem really happy. I sort of hate it still. I just don’t like the feeling of having an externally-imposed schedule.
I’ve looked at quitting and doing something else but I’d have to take a huge pay cut to switch, so I’m a bit stuck.
I don’t feel good about how much of my life so far has been corporate grinding, but I wasn’t born right and so far I’ve won no lotteries. I don’t see another path I should have taken, to better balance now and the future.
I really appreciate posts like this that remind me I’m not the only one.
Are you me?