Ask HN: Taking 6-12 months off work?

I'd love to do this, and could afford it.

I'm old enough (40s) that I fear my career would never recover.

Your savings are impressive for your age, so good work there

You may be overestimating the time you need to "recover"...my guess is you will be fine after a couple of weeks of low stress and a change of scenery

As to living in a HCOL area...the stress won't end, look at relocating.

Mental and physical health are always priority number one. Do whatever you feel is required to get your health back. Try asking for a sabbatical if possible because job searching again is a nuisance in itself, and you will also have to worry about health insurance if you are unemployed.

That said, a year-long break doesn't matter at all in the long run. You should travel around and have fun. There is this quote, "in youth, we often lack money, in middle age we lack time, and in old age, we lack energy." Your circumstances are quite favorable as you have all three of them. So have fun man and come back stronger.(that is if you ever want to come back)

Health is important but be careful, economically the 'no landing' scenario that is unwinding right now is super dangerous for job seekers in your sabbatical timeframe. If you're seriously considering it, have an emergency plan for moving to a LCOL place.

(There's a nonzero chance of being hit by a layoff in this time no matter what you do or where you work, so you can kind of hope it happens and take your extended time off if it does.)

ask yourself, what's the alternative? just keep going forever until something breaks?

Take the opportunity to address chronic health issues before age 30. You have plenty of financial margin.

If I were you I’d move to somewhere in Europe for a year. Probably would learn a language while there. Probably would relax for a couple of months and then work on a hobby project (not necessarily writing code).

I’d also look into buying real estate for the 600k and renting it out - this could fund your sabbatical indefinitely.

Get professional help ASAP vs asking unqualified techies

Your employer is likely down for you to go part-time. Not clear if unemployment or new job will actually help, and even if so, way better to find a new job from a position of employment vs unemployment, esp as there are good reasons to think employment market will be even more brutal EOY.

Do it! The question is if you will want to get back to your old type of work. I was out for 3 months and I wanted to vomit seeing my old code afterwards. Couple years later or now I need to plan a job change and I don’t know where to start, because I don’t want to continue as a coding guy.

I did 6 months and would recommend. In my case it was much more being burnt out on the job than programming so I kept busy contributing to open source.

Economy is shit. Wait to get fired with severance.

Also consider that your HCOL area is part of the problem.

Did 12 months between jobs, 2020-2021. Highly recommend if you can. At the start of it I didn't think I'd ever want to be a programmer again. About 6 months of rest later I was good to go, but eased into it.

I’ll repost from similar HN topic:

“Are you taking proper vacations?

I mean for 10+ consecutive days. Completely disconnected from work. No email etc.”

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34719088

How were you able to accumulate 600k by 28?

Long vacations aren't helping much with burnout and depression related - that's what I read just today and I totally agree. I'm fighting this thing for years.

If you can lower your hours/day AND if you can take few days off much more frequently - that should help in the long term.

My 6 month Sabbatical is now one month in. It's my first one after four years at my current employer.

I really enjoy my work, but I still took this opportunity to try new things and be able to really live in the moment without any responsibilities or appointments getting in the way.

You're 28? Dude, go travel the world. Don't spend much money either. Some of the best times of my life were just hanging out with people I met traveling on the cheap.

I'd also suggest a little pet project while you travel. 6 months to a year is a long time, so it's relatively easy to spend an hour or two a week on something that you kinda wish you had picked up before but hadn't given yourself the time for.

About 2 months before your sabbatical ends, start putting feelers out there for another gig. Gives you a little bit more time to start re-adjusting

I did this in 2017 when I was 30 or so. Very similar situation to you. Ended up taking around 9 months in total off. Traveled a lot. Worked on personal projects. Picked up chess as a hobby.

Highly recommend it if you’re able to.

If I had 600k I’d retire and work part time and I’m twice your age, take a whole year!

My wife and I are 32, and just both quit our bay area tech jobs. We're moving to Europe for a year. Plan is to explore / adventure and spend some time thinking about what we want to do next. The way we see it, it'll be much harder to do this with kids, so this is kind of the last chance to do it. And with our work experience we can just move back and start working again whenever we want.

You're in a great place with your savings. I say go for it! You'll have the adventure of a lifetime.

Some suggestions:

* Spend a little time thinking about what you're hoping to get out of this break. Try to come up with some concrete goals. Write them down. It doesn't necessarily have to involve an extensive to-do list, which might feel overwhelming. But maybe a handful of goals related to your mental or physical health?

* Do you rent or own your home? Can you sublet or rent out? Consider spending at least some of the time in a different part of the country. If there's some place that interests you and has lower cost of living, all the better.

* Let you professional network know about this. And try to find some time to reconnect with colleagues and friends during this period. This will likely help you when you're ready to return to work.

* Be mindful of the fact that you are in a position that is unattainable for practically everyone else. Very, very few people have the financial means to stop working for an extended period. Don't take the break for granted.

* Traveling can broaden your horizons, but it also has a way of helping you better appreciate what you have at home. As Chesterton wrote, "The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land."

* I'm not sure where your interests lie, but one important contributor to personal fulfillment is helping others. Consider looking for opportunities to volunteer.

* A lot of people think burnout is purely a result of being overworked. But researchers who study burnout point out that there are two other contributors: cynicism/detachment and inefficacy. Basically, if you're not finding meaning in your work, and you're not seeing the fruits of your accomplishments, that can burn you out even if you're not particularly overworked. So when it's time to return to work, be on the lookout for these things, because you don't want to go through this cycle again.

Some wild suggestions below about not doing it because of the economy.

You're 28 dude. Go spend 5% of the cash you have in the bank and travel the world for a year.

There is nothing wrong with not wanting to work right now or jump to your next job if you don't know what you want. Mental health and well being aside. If you need the finances then you need a job and that is a different problem. If you have the vest and you don't need the job for money, just take the break. The stigma around it why we need to justify it shouldn't exist. We afraid it makes us look lazy, etc. Some people are maybe. But don't worry about it. Be the author and creator of your own life. Posting this question is like posting "Should I wash my car?"

I've taken myself out of work 3 times. 12 months, then 6 months and now currently 24 months. Between and around those breaks worked at various silicon valley companies (nvidia, google, startups, major open source non profits)