quit my job because I don't evolve

Question

Hi guys,

I've worked for some time(few years) for my company. As time passed, the important tasks with new technologies started to be given to my colleague although I've asked several times for more challenging projects. I believe this could be because I asked a few times for a raise when I had more responsibilities for the projects and the boss might have been irritated.

Now, I feel my work is becoming boring, I don't evolve and the time is passing by. I was thinking I could ask for the rest of my vacation and then to retire and stay home and work for my personal project.

My wife has a job too that could maintain both for some time. However, I think the ideal option would be for us both to stay home and work for personal project since the project would evolve much faster with us both concentrating full time on it.

But with this option, there's the money issue.

We have some savings(about 20K) and I guess they could sustain us both for about an year. However, since we might need some money to invest in the project I'm not sure how much we could hold on(1 year was without project investments). It's our first project and I don't know how much money we need to get it started.

To launch the project we'll need to first build the specs(I guess about 3 months of work at least where it's all research and paper work) and then to pay for programmers to implement them.

So my question is, did you face a situation similar to this or what advice could you give me so I can continue achieve the best results?

Here is a comparison of my current choices:

1. continue to work for my company

   • Advantages:

     • constant monthly income
     • ok environment - the co-workers are friendly and the work schedule is flexible

   • Disadvantages:

     • time passes by and the experience is not advancing
     • I always do what my boss needs, not what I'd like to do
     • my moral goes down as the time passes

2. work for my personal project full time

   • Advantages:

     • learn many new things and have challenging experiences
     • when time will be against me(aka 35-40 years old) and the employers will look for younger and with more time to spend for work employees, I'll have my own project to work for
     • any success in the project would be a huge upgrade in my moral than to work for the boss where any success you have doesn't matter so much per total

   • Disadvantages:

     • financial issues if the project will eat much money(I'm not that experienced in how much money a project could eat, so any suggestions are welcome)
     • income comes after the project is launched, and it is not constant
     • economic climate(is the current economic climate still ok to start your own project?)

I appreciate any insight on this matter because it's been haunting me and my wife for some time now and we really would like to take a decision.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Answer 1

I don't see why you can't continue your current employment and work on your project part time for a while. Many people do this successfully.

Since you have less time on your own project you tend to be more focused and specefic about the work and functionality that goes into the initial versions.

You also don't have the stress and anxiety of no income.

Nothing is stopping you from doing extra work at work (for the company) or personal projects at home on your own machine(s) to expand your skillset and experience.

good luck

Apparently this question was deemed inappropriate for SO, so perhaps the OP can try the same question here or here

Answer 2

You need to assess the viability of the project to sustain you and your wife by first developing a business plan. You haven't spoken at all about the possible profitability of the project, so I assume that's not the reason you're so interested in it, and that extends out the question of: will you be able to eat in a year?

Twenty thousand dollars isn't a lot to start a business with unless your costs are minimal; supporting two adults isn't minimal in my book.

Good luck!

Answer 3

In biological evolution, new species tend to evolve when a group gets isolated and evolves separately.

You've done all you can in your genepool, but I'll stop this analogy before I suggest you stop copulating with your co-workers!

The important point is, you're not happy, you've made efforts to get what you want from your boss, he hasn't played ball, so you have to find a new job.

Answer 4

Try to stay calm and have a clear head about this. I know that right now you're experiencing a lot of stress and probably some humiliation and embarrassment over seeing your coworker as "eclipsing" you in skills and prestige. Basically, your workplace has become uncomfortable, and you feel like you're not getting enough value out of your paycheck to justify being this uncomfortable all day.

I have definitely been there.

However, you have to try to reason about this objectively, not coloring the issue with your feelings. Remember that your wife needs the money coming in, and that you're going to be a lot more uncomfortable dealing with the poverty and bouts of depression that go along with making a decision like this.

Work on your side project until your 9-to-5 becomes an obstacle to progress. At that point, and not before, quit your job.

You'll be too busy to get upset about this dramatic life change, and you'll be that much closer to achieving your project goals. If you don't succeed in launching, you'll have picked up new skills you can bring to your next gig (or even get your old job back if you leave on friendly terms).

Grit your teeth, grin and bear it for as long as you can. Trust me, it's the best thing to do, even though it's hard.

Answer 5

Why not do the specs and paperwork during nights and weekends while maintaining your job? That way, if you find out it's not feasible, you still have a job. If it is feasible, you have a head start and you have a lot more start up capital since you weren't using your 20k to sustain yourself all through your planning phase.

It kind of sounds like your mind is already made up though, so I'd suggest you follow your heart as well.

Answer 6

Allow me to share a piece of advice with you as it was shared with me in my time of need. I paraphrase this page among other related sources.

For reference, William Penn is the founder of the Religious Society of Friends or Quaker religion.

When William Penn was convinced of the principles of Friends, and became a frequent attendant at their meetings, he did not immediately relinquish his gay apparel; it is even said that he wore a sword, as was then customary among men of rank and fashion...

The Friends philosophy preaches nonviolence, and obviously the sword is a symbol for the opposite. Related sources also say that he would have upset his father to no longer wear the sword.

Being one day in company with George Fox, he asked his advice concerning it, saying that he might, perhaps, appear singular among Friends, but his sword had once been the means of saving his life without injuring his antagonist, and moreover, that Christ has said, "he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." George Fox answered, "I advise thee to wear it as long as thou canst."

Not long after this they met again, when William had no sword, and George said to him, "William, where is thy sword?"

"Oh!" said he, "I have taken thy advice; I wore it as long as I could."

I share this anecdote with you because you are in a position where you would like to leave your job, but you seem to be unsure if this is the time to do it. You risk a lot going out on your own, just as William Penn risked his reputation among his friends and with his father by removing his sword.

As several people have pointed out, your decision is not as black and white as William Penn's. You can do some work to prepare yourself for the eventual move between your current position and self-employment, and you certainly should start to do so. Having a plan and being well prepared for that moment is going to be absolutely critical to the success of your personal project.

The key point I'm trying to make here is taking that with regards to taking that big leap of quitting your job, you should take George Fox's advice: "Wear it as long as thou canst."

Answer 7

Why not look for a more interesting job?

Also, I would have your wife keep her job. It's a matter of risk management. What happens after your savings run out, you have no sales, no money, and no job? If at least one of you has a job, then you can pay the rent and buy food.

Answer 8

I tend to agree with the attitude of 'do both' at least for now. The planning work for the project could be done nights and weekends as samooz points out. Work can actually be a good thing for you, once you've convinced yourself that you are there to get a paycheck and that is about it. You can use downtime to think about your home project, while keeping yourself in practice by doing the coding exercises that your day-to-day provides.

One piece of advice that isnt for everyone: you could be honest with your boss about your frustration, about what you feel is the reason why you have been passed over, etc. See what (s)he says. The good thing about doing this is that you will get that out of the way and you can feel good about coming in at 9 and leaving at 5. The rest of the time is yours.

Once you get yourself going on your project and you feel that you need more time to spend on it, you can push the envelope. Ask for a 4-day work week and see what they say. Maybe they will make you redundant in the meantime and you will get a package.

Answer 9

Short version: maybe quit, but be 100% sure you've done the required homework before deciding. Leaving gainful employment is a HUGE risk -- but a very rewarding one when it goes right. Writing code and making a business successful are completely different things, so you really need to think hard about whether this is right for you.

1) Have you thoroughly thought through the following critical business components?

• What is the amount of revenue you expect to get from this project? Is it a one-off or a sell-multiply idea? Have you REALLY validated this #?
• How long will it take to get to a monetizable first-release of this project?
• Who will your customers be? How will you acquire them? How long will the sales-cycle be (e.g., just 'cause you have an app someone would buy, it may still take 3+ months to get them to buy it)
• What is the time-to-revenue for this project (think of this as RROI; rate-of-return-on-investment)? $1M in revenue is a lot...but if it takes you 10 years to get there then it may not be so hot (or even viable)
• What are the potential 'headwinds' you may face here? What can you do about them?
• What competing products exist? Why is your product better/more compelling/etc?
• What are the capital expenses associated with this business? Will you need more hardware or hosting or bandwidth? Will you need to buy anything?
• Are you excited at the project of making all the business decisions you'll have to make here?
• Do you need any additional headcount? How many? How much will they cost? How/where will you find them?

2) Have you thoroughly thought through the following personal financial components?

• Do you have a "no-joke" budget that accurately reflects your family outlay? If not, immediately stop and make a real on, based on actual #'s from your last 3 months.
• What costs will increase when you're not working? Which will decrease? (ex: driving will decrease, but health insurance cost may dramatically increase if you're in the US and it's currently employer-provided). Make sure to include in your budget.
• What is the future cost of your leaving your job? For example, you'll no longer be making 401K contributions -- and you'll now be spending your savings, rather than adding to them. Add these numbers up and project into the future using a simple interest calculator to see the ACTUAL cost of taking this "flier." If this gives you pause, it should: this is a HUGE decision.
• I assume that you'll be spending savings and not making any $ until you release v1 (and get customer sign-up). I assume that in this Great Recession it can take a LONG time to find a job (My sr engineering friends are hunting for 3+ months these days). Consequently, you MUST to calculate how long you can last and not run below your "cushion required-to-find-a-job" figure. That is to say: reaching $0 is not OK, since it may take you 3, 4, or more months to land a job. Your actual number will depend on your budget, and you should be conservative here: the worst possible situation is not getting your product out and then having to take the first job which comes along. Bottom line: you need to calculate a trigger-point-date which tells you that it's time to start looking for a job...then religiously stick to that date.

3) Is this really what you want to do? In my experience, you need to be really ON FIRE to start your own business. Starting with "I'm not learning so I want to quit my job; maybe my own business would be cool" is not the same thing. If what you really want is to be challenged and learn, just go get another job someplace better.

Lots and lots to think about. The questions above are a very incomplete list and are for you to consider -- not for you to post all the answers to here on SO...though if you want to post them for feedback that's cool too. I would strongly urge you to stay employed and really work through this in detail. Look before you leap and all that.