| I've taken time off work in the past (by resigning), and found it very helpful to stop my mind cycling through the same worn negative mental pathways caused by work related stress & my perception and emotion about that situation. From memory, after about a month of time off -- with plenty of time outside exercising, lots of discussions with friends and former colleagues, and no software development -- I felt completely different. In my case it didn't lead to "career suicide", it accidentally led to me becoming aware of the market for contract engineers, so I went and did that for around three years for an effective 3x increase over my old salary, before negotiating a permie role with a salary anchored against my modest contract rate. The 3x jump is less amazing than it sounds as I was paid under market in my prior job. Much of this outcome was not in my control or due to my skill or planning, it was simply a result of the labour market: there was a good market for software engineers, I had a few solid years of professional experience, I had some professional connections and reputation from working in the old job that let me easily get a different role in a related sector. If I were in a similar situation in future, my advice would be: * resigning immediately isn't necessarily the best move, even when you definitely do need to to move on from the current job. First take paid leave (if any remains) or unpaid leave (if that can be negotiated). Then you have a stronger position when negotiating the terms of a new role. But if the market is good and you can get multiple competing offers, maybe that doesn't matter so much. * recognise how I am feeling and take action to improve or change the situation earlier. Being passive and letting things get worse can impact mental health, which can reduce your motivation to improve the situation and ability plan and execute reasonable decisions. * in the longer term, you achieve financial independence when you have an investment portfolio with an expected return that covers your baseline living expenses. If you have saved and invested roughly 25x your baseline living expenses into equities, then you are free, things go nonlinear, phase transition, you have achieved escape velocity for infinite sabbatical. Spending accumulated savings to live for 1-3 months without income might be a great short-term move to let you get healthy and explore the next steps for your career or life. Spending accumulated savings to live for a longer time without income might set you back in the longer run and have less upside. |