Ask HN: Stay or leave

1 points by dariot 10 years ago | 3 comments

Let's say you'd like to work on some stuff of your own that you like, that makes you happy and most likely that will make your resume look good (although it won't probably pay the bills in the short term). Let's also say that you have a job that takes up a lot (like, really a lot) of your waking time -- and yes, you need to sleep quite some time in order to be fully functioning.

What would you do? Keep your job and hope for some more time to work on your weekend projects or make the leap and leave the workplace, possibly getting some money working as a contractor here and there?

dankohn1 10 years ago |

Don't let success stories from HN fool you. Your chances of having a side project provide a reasonable lifestyle in the short term are incredibly low.

I would recommend option #3: switch jobs to one that has a more reasonable work/life balance. Then use your free time to work on the side project to the point where 1) it could support you, 2) you could get angel funding, or 3) you validate the null hypothesis that there is not a business there (but still get a great resume line out of it).

AnimalMuppet 10 years ago |

It's great to be able to work on stuff that I want to work on. But the problem is, I also like to eat...

How long is your runway? If you quit today, and didn't make any money as a contractor, when do you run out of money?

If the answer is a year, say, I could see taking a 6-month sabbatical to work on what you want. If the answer is a month, then no, don't quit. You can't afford to.

sharemywin 10 years ago |

1. before you leave do you have a marketing channel for your project? And is it working? 2. look at outsourcing things. I can get about 2-3 hours for every hour I work from someone overseas. They maybe can't do it all but they can do a lot.