Ask HN: I don't think I want to work in tech anymore?
1 wanttoquittech 0 9/18/2025, 3:50:46 PM
I’ve been working in tech as a SWE for a good while now, and I’m realising it’s making me miserable. On paper I feel like I should have a very successful career: high-paid remote work, senior/staff level, reasonably-generalist with backend specialization, generally good coworkers / managers, and so on. But in reality, I’m doing terribly! I have relatively short tenure in all my roles, because I somehow keep picking jobs where my manager/coworkers start quitting before I do; my savings were drained by health issues caused by work stresses, so I can’t afford to take an extended period between jobs; employers I end up with, regardless of contract or FTE, always seem to end up making near-impossible demands of engineering that ruin the team’s morale; the list goes on. I see a therapist, I see a number of doctors for the health issues I’ve ended up with, but I feel like no amount of therapy + meds is going to fix the underlying issue.
I feel like I’m a failure for being unable to handle what should be one of the most-privileged careers that exists. If I could take a 50-60% pay cut to have a guarantee of reduced stress / better work-life balance, I think I would take it without much thought, but I don’t even know if these jobs exist at this point.
How do I get out of this situation? Is being an SWE just not right for me anymore?
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