I did it. I grow organic market/CSA produce and provide opportunities for special needs individuals on the farm. I go to bed dog-tired, I make a fraction of what I would in software dev these days, but every single day is rewarding, and my resting heart rate is in the high 40s/low 50s without going to the gym. No jira tickets, no sleepless nights slamming caffeine during a sprint, no out of touch execs forcing me to enshittify, no more eye drops for excessive screen usage. I grow delicious food, support a wholesome local community, and feel like I'm making a positive contribution to society instead of pumping out CRUD apps and gamified bullshit like I was in tech.
I agree that farming is definitely romanticized in some tech circles, and it is not for everyone. Of course my tech experience wasn't universal, but even if ZIRP free money comes back to tech, I'll still be here tending my field :)
Can you compare the actual income between the two?
Farming is "easy" when you have your tech savings and the option to plunge back into a high earning career when shit goes sideways (with wise sage aura, cause you took care of some goats). Farming is harder when your entire family depends on you working hard and you have very little capital.
> the option to plunge back into a high earning career
With the way the industry is moving, this seems much harder now than in the past.
> Every ... leftist
People on the Right fantasize about the farming lifestyle, too.
> crappy life of sleepless nights and hard toil.
I went back. Sleepless nights in the tractor is my favourite time of year.
But you're still ultimately just siting there staring at a screen — albeit a screen on wheels. Same as software development (minus the wheels).
If that's hard toil, I'm not sure what you think is easy?
Every Web 3.0, leftist, tech bro I ever met, idolize the farmin lifestyle and see before them a hippy commune where free love is practiced.
I never ever seen that, or heard about the leftist tech bro who actually did it.