Ask HN: 30, burnt out, with 6-10 months of runway. What would you do?

27 points by throwaway_30yo 2 days ago | 24 comments

After being let go from a small agency due to financial reasons, I find myself having at least 6-10 months of downtime for the first time in 10 years.

I am around 30 and feel burnt out from my tech career. I do not feel any interest or happiness towards building things right now. I chose this career mostly due to monetary reasons and pursued undergrad and graduate degrees in CS in Europe. After which, I worked as a product manager for a while in the networking/telco sector in internal enterprise systems.

I am really at a loss for what to do now or how to spend time. I was always interested in doing my own thing, but would not call myself a good engineer or as having deep skills in a particular domain. I am more of a jack of all trades.

I dread just getting the next job and continuing the corporate grind, but I really worry about what to do in the near future career-wise. If you were in my position, what would you do with the time?

ElijahLynn 22 hours ago |

Start with getting excessive amounts of sleep, if you haven't already. I've found that burnout for me is caused by sleep deprivation. And when I get enough sleep, I feel really good and the burnout lifts greatly, even for things I don't like working on but it can take a week or two to actually catch up on sleep for me.

I can tell if I'm sleep deprived when walking up stairs. If I'm sleep deprived it just feels hard. And if I'm not sleep deprived I actually have a little spring in my step up the stairs.

There's a good video by levelsio and how he comes up with ideas for things he wants to work on.

I only have one month of runway and I'm working nights and weekends to build my first product now. So you are in a good position if you have that much runway!

jmathai 21 hours ago |

I would encourage you to explore professions that you might find more fulfilling. I had found myself in a similar situation as you.

Some ideas that I explored were working for a church or non profit, starting an interior design firm with my wife (she’s a designer), advising startups, etc.

2 years later, I’m advising a couple start ups, on the board of two non profits, and back in tech.

I’m not thrilled about being back in tech. But the other ways I’m spending my time help provide me balance.

mattbrewsbytes 10 hours ago |

> I chose this career mostly due to monetary reasons

I saw similar cases during the dot com boom and then bust. My opinion is that people that don't have an intrinsic interest in their work won't last a career length in it. Do you think some of the burnout is that you aren't really pulled into the work by interest and its just a slog/grind?

> I dread just getting the next job and continuing the corporate grind

Find something that interests you. I don't mean find your "passion" because if your passion is watching snails climb on logs its probably not going to pay well. Given what you read online about the job market, if you start looking now you might find something in 6 months so if you wait 6 months then expect to be out of work for a year.

I think the advice here is the reverse of someone trying to break into tech: find an industry that interests you, get a tech/software job there and then learn that industry and break out of the tech role into more industry specific roles at that place.

karuppiah7890 16 hours ago |

I can understand how hard this can be. I have been out of a job two times now, once for 9 months, from October 2024 to July 2025, and then for 5 months later again, from January 2025 to June 2026. The only good thing is, the first time I was out of a job - I had some investments (Mutual Funds) which I could sell and withdraw money from though I had to sell them when the stock market was down - only because I was forced to withdraw money and I didn't have any liquid cash or any money in my bank accounts. Second time - I was smart and this time I ensured I had an emergency fund which I can quickly liquidate and withdraw from, without any losses, like, in my case it was a fixed deposit. The other good thing is, I live in India and the cost of living is pretty low here. So, I could manage pretty well even with what would one call a lavish lifestyle from the perspective of a poor person

I would say - figure out how you wanna earn money / make money. Just focus on that for now. If that means looking at your career and it's long term goals and how to keep it sustainable, do it. You might arrive at decisions like - you need to do something you like. You can give it a shot. I know many people who say that a job is just to pay the bills. But I also know that to be sustainable, it's important to have good jobs (good roles, good experience) which can compound later for you to get a better job - like, better role, better pay, and makes a good career which is worthy of promotions etc. So, yeah, look at short term to start with, but at some point you need to start looking at long term too - how to make money - startup, or work for others, and how to do it sustainably. Starting up is surely hard though, compared to working for others who take care of selling for you, which is a hard job

karuppiah7890 16 hours ago | |

About the "doing what you like/Love" - for many it's important to keep things sustainable. Or else it's easy to do anything, even if you don't like it, assuming you can do it sustainably, and still earn from it and also make a good career, which is big - cuz you don't even like what you do, but maybe you are good at or made yourself good at it and also ensured you did your 100% and more (in today's world every employer always expects more) and got promotions etc

karuppiah7890 16 hours ago | |

Btw, I'm 30 too. I turn 31 in December 2026

karuppiah7890 16 hours ago | |

I hope you figure things out!

atak1 5 hours ago |

First: breathe. Give yourself permission to serve yourself. That's hard.

Then repeat. Day 2.

Longer term: Focus on sleep and personal life for 3 months! Enterprise is soul-draining. Pursue your curiosity.

keiferski 16 hours ago |

Is that runway based on US expenses? If so, I’d seriously consider going abroad to a cheaper country. $24,000 saved is poverty level ~9 months in America but could last you a frugal 2 years in many places.

After that I’d figure out what you’d actually like to do, and use this opportunity to become good at it. 2 years is enough time to retrain in a good amount of careers, if you don’t waste your time.

redrix 22 hours ago |

35. Almost the same position as you!

Personally, before doing anything else, I would take at least 3-4 weeks and have a proper break. It will take you at least 1-2 weeks to get out of “work mode”.

Stop thinking about work, ideas, the next thing, etc. Get off social media, HN, Reddit etc. Try and distance yourself from all of the things that may have contributed to the burnout in the first place.

I’d probably do some travel in that time - maybe a week or two going to a country I haven’t been to before.

Once I was back, I’d then start to consider my next move with (hopefully) a fresher and clearer mindset.

satvikpendem 22 hours ago |

Go travel the world. Now is a perfect time since you have money enough and it'd last more in many other countries.

herbst 12 hours ago |

Move away for a while, do nothing, actively. Consider a week of dwelling in front of the TV as success. Break your pattern. It might doesn't get better, but you might learn to live with it.

Source: been there at 25. Still am there 11 years later, but life is good now.

purple-leafy 19 hours ago |

I also just quit a job, but on my own terms.

For me, I'm going to spend the next 6 months focusing on:

- Fitness and Eating right

- Baking bread

- Learning Spanish with my partner

- Travelling

- After 1 month, I'll pick up coding again - but for now my brain needs a big break. I have a few parked projects I want to revisit without the slot machine genies help

Just have a break from tech. It will still be here when you get back, look after yourself first. Just have the confidence that you will bounce back when you are ready. Thats what I'm telling myself.

If it doesn't work out, there are other careers, more to the world than computers

Robeano 14 hours ago |

Consider what you may have neglected in your personal life. Otherwise sleep and clean, grab a new skill, feel out positions that stretch you a little and then leave room to get pulled from something steadier into something inspired.

hyperhello 22 hours ago |

Don’t have an existential crisis, because you’re thirty and it’s not the time. Right now you need to be recharged as much as possible so you can seem to walk up to any situation as a “likely yes if possible”.

superze 13 hours ago |

Prioritize your life not your job.

eb0la 11 hours ago | |

That's more important than it seems. Easier to forget, too.

nolon 17 hours ago |

No one knows you better than you do. I'm 46 and I live in Russia. Believe me, I have far fewer opportunities and options.

deepsun 19 hours ago |

Learn to fly hang gliders.

Travel cheap countries.

Make (more) kids.

Woodworking is always here. As is local politics. But you said you're not up to building something.

asim 18 hours ago |

Decompress. A few days, a week. Let your brain clear. Get good sleep, go for walks, eat well and hydrate. Do little things you enjoy and take time to reflect. Try not to stare at screens too much. Look at the sky.

The answers will come. Once you've had some time to process you'll know what to do. Don't overthink it. Just take some time to relax.

I've had a few of these breaks in my life. It's time to take stock and move on. Sometimes retrain or learn something new. But ultimately breaks are good. Just don't force the change. It will come. Slow and steady wins the race.

ljsocal 19 hours ago |

consider a Peace Corps assignment. Besides the standard 27 month option, there are shorter term options in host countries and there are virtual volunteer positions where you serve from wherever you are. www.PeaceCorps.gov

Nicholas_C 21 hours ago |

Go to Latin America for a few months and think about what career would make me happy.

sharts 8 hours ago |

Take a vacation. Sleep a lot. Eat well. Relax the body. After about a month of healing you will become interested in life once again.

livinglist 19 hours ago |

Go to countries with lower cost of living than where you are, travel around, avoid doom scrolling on the internet, and I think you will figure it out on the way.