I was a software engineer, decent pay, but the constant uncertainty and pressure to keep up was exhausting.
I quit, switched to other work, now earn more and life is a lot calmer—no city hustle, no endless grind.
Still, most of my tech friends stay even when they're clearly burnt out. Is it the money, fear of leaving, or just inertia? Just wondering, are you actually happy in tech or just used to it?
Because not everyone has a plan B.
Mostly it's the money. In tech you can hit a high salary much easier than in most other fields.
What are you up to these days?
Just curious, what did you leave and what are you doing now? Any pointers would help.
Some people feel pressure from their families.
It's the money, the low entry barrier, the lack of well‑paying jobs in other sectors, peer pressure—seeing friends earn good money early on—easier emigration, and the comfort of a desk job.
Leave? Where, bro? You probably had options—most people don't.
In India, what other options are there? In other sectors the pay is low, many companies are just "LALA", and government jobs are super scarce—less than 100 seats for 10 lakh aspirants. There's basically no real alternative.
I love what I do. I've been tinkering with computers since I can remember. Right now I'm working from home in rural Kerala for one of the Mag 7 companies. The work‑life balance is great and the pay is good too.
Because of money. You could quit because you hit FIRE as part of the top 1% and could afford to jump from software to something else. Most other devs don't earn as much, but it's still far above what most Indian industries pay. When they do reach FIRE they'll also look at other paths. Maybe if you empathise more and drop the entitled vibe you'd see it. You moved into farming—most can't afford land, and 15 LPA isn't enough for the hard work involved. You also went into options trading, which is highly unstable, but you already have a sizable corpus. Money makes money, and most don't have that seed capital. Stop acting like you've cracked the secret to a perfect life and calling everyone else stupid for not following your path.