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throawaylife

Re:Ask HN: Should i quit? on Monday July 21, 2014 @09:00AM (#8063470)
> Don't underestimate the anxiety that monetary stress will bring if you don't win the SaaS startup lottery in your anticipated time frame (in my experience the rule that it always takes twice as long and requires twice as much money as expected holds true).

Thank you. I'd imagine my anxiety could very well be worse if things were tanking. On the other hand, i feel a sabbatical would greatly benefit my mental health. But the next step, after the sabbatical, would be uncertain.

Re:Ask HN: Should i quit? on Monday July 21, 2014 @08:21AM (#8063369)
Thank you for your insight.

Building a profitable SaaS is very, very difficult, and can be soul crushing, i am aware of this (that's why i find people like @patio11 very special). On the other hand, working at a dead end job can be equally soul-crushing.

> ultimately you should figure out what will make you happy and go with your instincts

I'm slowly driven towards the same conclusion, but it's easier said than done. Stepping outside the salaryman nest, especially when jobs aren't easy to come by locally, let alone paying well, is scary.

Re:Ask HN: Should i quit? on Monday July 21, 2014 @08:09AM (#8063340)
> What I did was I start planning for 6 months, and in those 6 months I try to improve my CS theory for interview purposes and start doing personal projects (finished projects, something tangible that you can show). The projects should have some sort of complexity just for the sake of telling the interviewer that you are capable of doing/learning whatever that you are applying for.

Interesting, thanks.

Re:Ask HN: Should i quit? on Monday July 21, 2014 @07:13AM (#8063225)
All valid points, thanks.

In my case, it would be possible to arrange my resignation to appear as a lay off. Currently there are no eligibility criteria for unemployment benefits other than how long one has been employed.

Severance, at least here, is paid as long as one is laid off and has been working for the same company for a number of years. So, i would be getting some for sure, but i am also owed a few salaries so that would be a significant chunk of money in my bank as well (~5K). Severance could be another 4~8K.

A paid internship would be very interesting, unfortunately there are no programming/web dev jobs locally. At least not advertised. Even if there were, i'm not sure i would like to work on an anachronistic tech stack, which would most likely be the case. Food for thought though...

Ask HN: Should i quit?

tldr; 23K € in the bank, minimal living expenses. 3-5 years runway. Should i quit my non-developer job now, and start working on a not-yet-conceived SaaS business or at least seek a developer job abroad? Or should i weather it out until i have something definitive going in parallel to my job?Much more info here: http://pastie.org/private/fgdermsyhgjemx2otmwbpq

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