Ask HN: Have one month break (switching employers) – What should I do?

6 points by smg 4 years ago | 15 comments

As the title says - I have one month where I am not employed. The new and previous jobs are well paid Bay Area tech jobs (living expenses are not going to be a concern). I am looking for advice on exciting new tech I should pick up during the month. I am a backend engineer. Should I learn crypto or should I go for ML/AI?

p0d 4 years ago |

Go outside. Life is about balancing work with the wealth we make. We won't always have the health to do so. I love tech but it is experiences that we remember.

junon 4 years ago | |

Seriously, this. However, less for the "experiences" and more for the "have a fresh palette going into the next job" approach.

You'll be less likely to refer to old projects/employers/coworkers/etc. in negative light, you'll have a fresh, clear mind and newfound patience for the new (probably awful) codebase, and you'll be relaxed and ready for your new team to make good first impressions.

oumua_don17 4 years ago |

Based on your responses to other comments you would prefer to stay indoors and learn some tech. As you are a back end engineer I would suggest learning some tech which is wildly different but useful and fun. May I recommend blender! [1]

[1] https://cgmasters.net/training-courses/blender-for-complete-...

smarri 4 years ago |

I had a month of between jobs this year, and as it was peak covid I couldn't travel. I ended up hiring a WeWork so I had somewhere to go, and working on personal projects. If there's something you've wanted to build and didn't have the time it's a great thing to do. However, I think there's a strong case just to take the month off and relax! Rest, eat well, get some exercise. We don't always have to be productive.

rmk 4 years ago |

It really depends on what you love doing. Do you know how to swim? It's a useful skill to have, not to mention a fun cardio exercise. If you spend an hour or two every day, you can actually make pretty good progress on learning how to swim.

raptorraver 4 years ago |

What about take deep breath, have a little rest and find some adventure. Maybe roadtrip hike, or if possible go visit abroad.

btzo 4 years ago |

Pick an open source project that interests you and spend a month on it. I would do it with the linux kernel if I had time

satvikpendem 4 years ago |

ML and AI is a fun field currently. Check out Two Minute Papers for the current state of the art.

Tepix 4 years ago |

Have you considered sailing or learning a new language such as french (or doing both)?

smg 4 years ago | |

I am fluent in 3 languages. I grew up in India where just about everyone ends up learning at least 3 languages. A month is too short to really pick up a language.

Sailing or outdoorsy stuff like hiking is not my cup of tea. I work out (cardio and weights) to keep myself fit. Not planning on making any changes to my daily routines during the month

jjgreen 4 years ago |

The Graph DB scene is quite interesting, might be worth considering.

smg 4 years ago | |

Are there specific Graph databases you would recommend? I have played with Neo4j about 5 years ago. Has there been anything revolutionary in this field since then?

jjgreen 4 years ago | | |

Oh if you've seen it ... Cypher seems to be spreading: standardised and adopted by DBs other than neo4j, so I thought a good slow month to pick it up, play with a few of the DBs, toy project ... but not if you know it already.

jimmyvalmer 4 years ago |

GNU Make sounds like a good fit for your background.

brudgers 4 years ago |

Travel.