[sanderjd]

I did this. I would agree that it wasn't smart, but I don't think it was unprofessional. I stayed long enough to wrap up or hand off all my projects. It wouldn't have worked to find something else right away because I was burnt out with stress, and adding on job-searching stress and starting a new job right away would have just compounded that problem. What I needed was time off to recover. It's absolutely a luxury of our industry that I was able to do this without (much) ill effect, but all my employers since then have benefited from my improved mental state afterward.

But still, I agree it wasn't smart; the smart move would have been to recognize the impending burn out early on and work with my employer to keep it from getting to the quitting point.

[justin_oaks]

I did the same. I quit without a new job to go to. I had planned to quit for months before I actually did, but job searching while I was stressed was adding to my stress. It just wasn't working. I had enough savings and I knew my skills were in demand so I quit.

I recovered for a couple months before I started job searching again. Within a month of starting the job search, I had a new job.

I think quitting without a new job isn't always a dumb thing to do. I think in our cases it was the smart thing to do.