[maaarghk]

The web stack might give you more transferable skills but how did you calculate the trade off vs the 50% pay cut? Was the salary not actually very high and at a low ceiling compared to web work - i.e. you expect your salary to soon exceed what you made working in HFT? Or was there a serious risk of layoffs happening far in advance of your retirement? If the goal is to support yourself after retirement, are you saying in certain circumstances halving your salary 10 years into a tech career ultimately optimises your entire-career-earnings?

[hliyan]

It wasn't such a purely material calculation. Less stress, more time to spend with family and friends, learning more things and doing something that you know actually adds value to the world -- those things matter.