Ask HN: How did you escape your safe 9-5 job?
I&#x27;ll prefix my answer with a definition:<p>adj. meaningless - not bringing a sense of meaning, satisfaction, worth, value, or purpose.<p>Now onto my response...<p>I was in AAA video game development, and regardless of what game I worked on, it was always the same thing each cycle: solve the same problems, work long hours on a game I&#x27;d never play myself, often detested, and maybe get some kind of a bonus or vacation time if it did well. Rinse and repeat, only each cycle was worse as I got older, had a family, wanted to spend time with them, and learned from past mistakes, but the designers got younger (from my perspective) and wanted to continually make all the same mistakes over again.<p>After a while, I came across - and read - &quot;What Color Is Your Parachute&quot; (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;What-Color-Your-Parachute-2018&#x2F;dp&#x2F;039957963X" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;What-Color-Your-Parachute-2018&#x2F;dp&#x2F;039...</a>), which was fantastic!<p>At the time I was working for Disney and used the strategies I learned to come up with a plan to make connections outside my studio, learn a few new things while helping with other issues. Eventually (it took about a year) it paid off and I was moved + promoted to a completely separate division. I was still helping the game studios, but doing work that was far more rewarding to me and I was learning new skills: big data, ETL pipelines, databases, etc. And, I was able to apply all my existing knowledge and experience to that new position to make it better. I may not know Kafka yet, but I knew how to integrate pipeline code into the game engine using very low memory and CPU.<p>Time goes on, and - after helping someone else with a Scala + database problem on Reddit, I ended up landing a job using all my new skills at The Broad Institute helping with genetics research. I can&#x27;t say that I&#x27;ve ever been happier or ever had a job that was more meaningful. I go to conferences now and meet people who are actually using my tools, REST APIs, etc. to cure complex diseases. And I&#x27;m learning so much more than I ever thought I would.<p>Back to your questions:<p>&gt; Did you have a strategy or was it a leap of faith?<p>It was a strategy. I think when you&#x27;re young and don&#x27;t have a family it&#x27;s easy to take big risks and leaps of faith. That was not an option for me. But, I think that believing that I _could_ successfully make the transition was a leap of faith.<p>&gt; Did you regret it later on?<p>There was one point early on I did. I knew game development inside-out and was an authority on the subject. If I said something in a meeting it was taken seriously. It was hard to go back to being the newbie. After a while, though, that went away. I absolutely do NOT regret it now.<p>&gt; Are you happy with the decision you made?<p>Couldn&#x27;t be happier. Life is better on every single front for me. I&#x27;ll also note that much of that is intertwined. I&#x27;m happy (with work), so I act happier (at home), which means the family is happier (around me), and it all feeds on each other.<p>&gt; Where do you think you would be today if you had decided to stay in that job?<p>Do the same shit over and over again, until something happened to the studio and I was let go. Eventually, I&#x27;d be a 50-year old game developer that no one would hire because my price tag would be too high, and I wouldn&#x27;t put up with someone telling me to work 80 hour weeks.<p>&gt; If you are currently in a job like that, then do you have any plans of escaping to work on your passion?<p>No.<p>But, I&#x27;ll answer this a little differently than you probably expected. At every job I&#x27;ve had - until now - I&#x27;ve always had side projects and little programming things I did for fun at home. I always had an &quot;itch&quot; that wasn&#x27;t being scratched by my day job. That&#x27;s no longer the case. I get fulfillment at my job, and if there&#x27;s ever anything I&#x27;d like to explore, I&#x27;m lucky enough to be working where it is actively encouraged.<p>In summary, I&#x27;m not sure if your question was a kind of &quot;poll&quot; for something else you&#x27;re working on or if you are looking for encouragement to escape a job that you find meaningless. Assuming it&#x27;s the latter, I would suggest reading the book linked - or at least enough to get you going. It has many great tips for helping you discover what&#x27;s actually important to you, and then how to come up with plans on how to get there. It may take a while, but often, simply having a plan and sticking to it (and being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel) is enough to keep your spirits up.<p>Good luck!