Ask HN: Burned out on AI and want to go part time

[llmlover]

I’ve been in the industry for ten years and have been fortunate enough to build up enough savings to where I could work for substantially less than I make now.

I’m so burned out on writing software and the never ending rat race that the industry has evolved into over the years that I’m at peace with quitting to do something part time so that I can focus on doing things just for myself that make me happy and give more of a sense of purpose that I feel is lacking in my life.

Has anyone made a similar transition that can recommend part time jobs to look into?

[Zavora]

I took up writing and sharing what I learned and it turned out to be an intensive fun actvity for a whole year...I did what I always dreamt of writing, romance novels, technical books on AI, science fiction, books on sensitive topics like abortion, books on my convictions...in total I wrote a 100 books that quenched that childhood dream...another transition example is my brother who always loved pigeons as a kid, he started raising them recently and the passion came back full speed that he is now exporting exotic pigeons and loving it more than the money....you don't have to look far, look at what gave you a sense of purpose as a kid or at any point in your life and take time to rediscover yourself - don't worry if the whole world disagrees or it seems silly - its just for you.

[OccamsMirror]

You wrote a hundred books in a year?

How? How long are these books? How much research did you do per book?

I don't know how someone writes a hundred books in a lifetime, let alone a year!

[sigbeta]

With gemini, I could imagine he could write 100 books in 10 days.

[jlongr]

You know, many people groan about consumerism and advocate being a creator... but at a certain point, someone has to consume all of those creations, otherwise it's just navel-gazing slop being churned out for one's own self-satisfaction.

[thorin]

It's a lot easier to go part time in a job you already have than find a new part time job. If you are already successful in your job start by asking to move to having every Friday off or even every second Friday. This is very popular in UK/Europe. If this is working maybe you can drop another day after some time.

Alternatively a lot of companies let you take as much unpaid leave as you want (as long as you don't miss anything critical). This amounts to the same thing but gives you a lot of flexibility.

[clintmcmahon]

I did this about ten years ago when I was feeling burned out. I started a t-shirt company in the off hours which eventually grew to be large enough for my wife and I to live off.

Running a business is a lot of work so I'm not sure if that is the type of transition you were looking for. But a starting a side business doing something you enjoy could be a worthy path to check out. Obviously, it's not as easy as applying for a part-time job at an established company.

[ferguess_k]

It's too late for me, as I'm already in the prison of family and kids, but you probably still can!

[mohitp28]

Curious to know if this feeling got accelerated post the AI coding agents introduction. Personally feel that the urge to complete that coding/prompt session and tendency to not take breaks are more amplified, leading to more burn out feeling

[sph]

> so that I can focus on doing things just for myself that make me happy

Is that using LLMs by any chance, llmlover? Interesting that you chose that nickname to post this work of fiction.

[zandersun]

No offense intended, but I wonder if finding a hobby would help you more than finding another job (even a part-time one).

A part-time job can reduce the burnout, but a real non-work pursuit gives the extra time somewhere meaningful to go.

[llmlover]

None taken, I would just like to get to a point where my job doesn’t take all the energy out of me during the week which seems like it would be a part time position. I want more time for things I actually enjoy

[voakbasda]

It might seem counterintuitive, but spending some energy on a hobby can produced a net gain in energy. If done right, it should be refreshing.

[phatnhse]

this is good