> The respite from programming though lasted maybe about four months after retiring. I started a small project , in part to learn Python, in part to play with e-ink displays. I was back programming (back abusing git) but of course the pressure was off. It both was and wasn’t like the day job I had left behind.
This is one reasons I got disillusioned with FIRE and the concept of early retirement. Programming was my first love. There might be phases where I just get sick of technology, but most of them have proven to be temporary. It's the best, the most versatile medium of my creative energy. I don't plan to stop doing it ever. What I actually dislike is the corporatisation of programming—JIRA Tasks, PRD, Stand-up meetings, Stakeholder meetings.
I don't want early retirement. I want to work in a small team with a good product vision and a strong shipping culture. But it has proven to rare in my professional experience. For me, alternative is to keep taking breaks. Few months, once in a while, to work and experiment on my own ideas. This allows me to keep my creative spirit alive and (possibly) to make money that gives me the freedom to explore them more.
> This is one reasons I got disillusioned with FIRE and the concept of early retirement.
I think it's totally reasonable to be disillusioned with the "retire early" part of FIRE, but the "financial independence"? That part is golden for everyone.
Being financially independent means you're not scared of being laid off. It means you can walk away from bad bosses or bad companies. It means you can try out a startup if your heart tells you it's the one, but the money they're offering is too far below market.
Of course, getting there through austerity isn't for everyone. I get that. But quite a lot of people think the juice is worth the squeeze.
Agree but you can get there with much less sacrifices if you leave out the "retire early" part. Then, it boils mostly down avoiding lifestyle inflation.
Speaking as someone planning to "retire" very soon, I don't like that word at all. I'm hardly planning to move to Florida for wife swapping and pickleball with the other oldsters. I'll be doing whatever suits my fancy, including software, albeit sans Jira and keeping GoogSoft suits happy with the proper newspeak.
100% agree. Does anyone know of a word that means "retirement" without the "not working" connotation? I'm in the same camp as someone who is aspiring to "retire early", but it will be more of a "work on whatever I want to" kind of retirement and not "move to Florida" type of retirement.
Don't use the term "retirement." Instead, you're doing a solo startup. Add that it's in stealth mode if you don't feel like talking about your current focus of attention. If I'm reading your comment correctly, it's not even a lie; it sounds like you'd be happy turning a hobby into a business if that's where fate took you.
I "retired" about a year ago after almost 25 years in the industry. My story since then is a lot like that of the author of the article. I've written more code this year for love than I bet I did in 10 years for pay. It's been exactly the retirement I wanted: one of the most productive times of my life.
The lack of symmetry bugs me - if a couple swaps wives, why isn't it ever called "husband swapping", and wouldn't the (technically, and politically) correct term be "partner swapping"?
Or maybe it can all be subsumed under "swinging" or whatever the modern term is?
I've been really fortunate to have spent most of my career in places with good culture and people (and yes, usually small, but not always). Politics and other corporate bs is hard for people that care because they're just run over by those that don't (which tends to be the default).
It's really easy for companies to just look at programmers as people working on a car assembly line (no disrespect meant). I.e. you just sit at your station and put the wheels on as the next car body comes by. Skill and passion are not in sync with that reality. The number of projects where success depends on skill and passion, and this is actually understood/realized by anyone, isn't large. Starting your own company/business is hard for people that are more of the maker type and less of the business type (not to mention the other risks).
Going to work for a startup isn't necessarily a fix. Lots of startups where you are still a product line worker. That's partly because it's also risky for a startup to rely on being able to find skilled and passionate people.
EDIT: Also happy to read the author has re-kindled his love of programming. I tend to worry that my industry "PTSD" is going to make it such that I can't have fun programming again. As a kid I used to spend endless nights coding with nobody paying me. Somehow money makes it a lot less fun.
In my experience they don't get run over, but they can get outnumbered. If you're in a workplace with more than 10% of people that are dishonest or malicious you should look for an exit.
Those companies create worse software and not more reliably or quickly. You can't micromanage into good software.
I feel the exact same way, but from the perspective of a researcher. During my high school and undergraduate years I was inspired by stories of researchers at Bell Labs and Xerox PARC who invented so many fundamental technologies and had a profound impact on computing. I was also inspired by the great computers of the past (especially NeXT) and was excited about each and every release of Mac OS X.
Now that I’m more than a decade removed from my undergraduate years, I find myself disillusioned with the state of computing and research these days. Neither Apple nor Microsoft seem to care about pushing personal computing further anymore; it’s about maintaining and strengthening their cash cows. Google, Meta, and Amazon don’t impress me like they did a decade ago, when I used to joyfully study the research papers describing the interesting infrastructure they built. The days of places like Bell Labs and Xerox PARC where researchers generally had free reign to pursue their ideas are long gone; industrial research today is very business-focused, where researchers are required to put the interests of the company ahead of their personal research interests. Academia is no better; the competition is high (especially at research universities), the pay is low (especially at teaching universities), and there are pressures not only to publish regularly, but to raise grant money, which naturally curbs research freedom. This is the world I find myself navigating; I found myself training and striving for a career that no longer exists.
I’m still thinking about long-term plans for me to pursue the type of career that I want despite today’s environment. America’s high cost of living makes FIRE difficult for me unless I decide to “grind Leetcode” and join a FAANG to optimize my compensation, and even that strategy may be obsolete in 2023 due to layoffs and hiring freezes. Alternatively, I’m thinking about one day starting a bootstrapped business, one that is profitable enough to be able to fund my living expenses and to provide healthy wages and benefits for my staff. One day I’ll make enough money to where I can enough savings to be able to pursue my own research projects without having to worry about publish-or-perish pressures or about business matters. I’d like to also teach on the side, though due to low adjunct wages I don’t want to pursue that as my main job.
There are many interpretations and meanings of this Japanese phrase called Ikigai but in a basic sense it means "life purpose". Doing something you love, and getting better each day at it is one interpretation I really like. Many people in professions involving workmanship can attest to this.
This coming age of AI is really going to displace a lot of jobs, and make a lot of people unhappy- those who found meaning in their work. But, I feel we need to keep our joy of doing our work, and have that be the driving force, even if a computer can do something better. And this is what they say will be the "artisanal" things that will exist, and be popular to buy.
In the end, I think we just need to enjoy what we do. That's all this life is about.
I'm glad I found programming. I'm not sure I would have been very successful at anything else as a career. But the day I retire will be the last line of code I write. I'm planning to have as little involvement with computers as I can after that.
The point of retirement is that you’re free to do whatever you want. I still love programming but having to do it every weekday saps my creativity and muddles it with corporate bs.
I have easily a 100 projects I would work on if I had the time and energy that could be freed by my day job
Maybe the RE part, but definitely not the FI part. In fact if I achieve the FI part I may not even have to go through the RE part and I can keep working for as long as I want at my own pace, conditions, and comfort.
Sure, to each their own. I quit two years ago and have probably spent a few weeks of that programming.
The place I left gave ICs a high degree of agency, and you run projects yourself, get the resources you need yourself. So the issue was never too much red tape or process. So now doing all that stuff just feels like work again. The programming is ok (just ok) but seriously building something involves all that project stuff. Coordination, setting timelines and milestones, design, testing and on and on.
I think it’s ok to acknowledge that there are other things in life besides programming and software projects, and to therefore move on. I love lots of things!
Sometimes the gum loses flavor. But there’s lots of flavors to try.
This is one reasons I got disillusioned with FIRE and the concept of early retirement. Programming was my first love. There might be phases where I just get sick of technology, but most of them have proven to be temporary. It's the best, the most versatile medium of my creative energy. I don't plan to stop doing it ever. What I actually dislike is the corporatisation of programming—JIRA Tasks, PRD, Stand-up meetings, Stakeholder meetings.
I don't want early retirement. I want to work in a small team with a good product vision and a strong shipping culture. But it has proven to rare in my professional experience. For me, alternative is to keep taking breaks. Few months, once in a while, to work and experiment on my own ideas. This allows me to keep my creative spirit alive and (possibly) to make money that gives me the freedom to explore them more.