As a lead software engineer: I engineered an exit with severance and unemployment compensation after the company was acquired by VC and I coasted a bit. Basically stirred the pot enough to be on a couple shit lists without getting fired, so when the workers had to suffer because the CEO couldn’t hit his sales numbers after gutting the sales department twice, I got put on the layoff list.
After burning through unemployment and some savings, I’ve landed as an IT business analyst at a giant company. I’m still technically freelance, but that’s just how they hire. I make about 20% less, but am still comfortable. It’s also the easiest job I’ve ever had by far. I talk to vendors, I meet with people, and I spend most of my time building the simplest little tools to reduce toil for others. I make up my own timelines. My boss is already asking if I want to be a manager.
As a lead software engineer: I engineered an exit with severance and unemployment compensation after the company was acquired by VC and I coasted a bit. Basically stirred the pot enough to be on a couple shit lists without getting fired, so when the workers had to suffer because the CEO couldn’t hit his sales numbers after gutting the sales department twice, I got put on the layoff list.
After burning through unemployment and some savings, I’ve landed as an IT business analyst at a giant company. I’m still technically freelance, but that’s just how they hire. I make about 20% less, but am still comfortable. It’s also the easiest job I’ve ever had by far. I talk to vendors, I meet with people, and I spend most of my time building the simplest little tools to reduce toil for others. I make up my own timelines. My boss is already asking if I want to be a manager.