2025 retrospective
A reflection on the two and a half years since I quit my job at Apple in 2023. Discussion of my change in goals and mental health.
This is a consolidated Mastodon thread
Quitting my last job in 2023, was hands down the best thing I’ve ever done for my emotional well being.
I wish my partner had been more supportive about that sooner; there was a time when they didn't support my decision to leave, because they loved our lifestyle - I made pretty good money, she didn't have to think about our budget very closely, and it felt to her like I was on an upward career trajectory.
When I was deciding to accept my current job, she pointed out that I had better vacation and 401k contributions. She noted that my new salary plus bonus structure was lower than my previous job. I interpreted this as being unsupportive.
But I'm happy she supported my choice when it came down to accepting the role. The kids and spouse agree I am so much better off now: my mood, health, and commute times are improved.
Night and day
Imagine the worst commute via corporate shuttle over an hour away; some days I spent over 3 hours on a bus. I was woken up by an on-call rotation, with alerts that weren't well tuned. I was never to talk in public or private about my work, which created a rift between my family and my partner and I.
After the first two years when I reported to two managers at the same time, I had a new manager each year, and the most recent managers didn't help or support me. I was mid-career retraining for an SRE role I never wanted, struggled with big corp paperwork, and was not being provided opportunities for growth. I was the guy who did 'X', and that was the slot I was in.
When my skip-level manager asked me 'What is your plan to become excellent?', that triggered the start of my job search.
