I'm thinking about doing this for my own mental health, whether they be open source projects, fun projects, or projects that might be eventually monetizable and turn into a business (but without the pressure to necessarily do so). After burnout in the corporate world it would be nice to just do what I feel like doing for a while.
Financially, I'm good to do this for a certain amount of time, but at some point I'll need to work again -- my savings is fine for some years, but nowhere close to retirement.
Have any of you taken this kind of gap? Did you ever feel that your lack of a line on your resume caused the constant influx of recruiter emails to slowly start dwindling, and your "I can always get a job" lifeline started vanishing at some point?
Or did you feel it was a non-issue, and that recruiters continued to see your technical abilities without the job title?
I only really regret treating the time off as more of an issue than it was. I was convinced by month 10 that I had failed to meet some imaginary, impossible deadline I had set for myself against the imaginary, impossible expectations of imaginary and impossible people. That cognitive distortion only got in the way of the inevitable and only possible resolution, which was a better sense of my own motivations and a broader horizon to sail toward hope again.
I would agree with the advice of everyone here, and add: If you’re stressed about the opportunity cost of lost earnings, weigh it against your sense of value for the time you’ll take off, whether it’s in the skills you’ll be building, or the new experiences, or the renewed mental health. And above all, talk to your friends early and often. Even if the roof is on fire, especially when the roof is on fire.
Job-wise, I haven’t really stressed that much because I figured it wouldn’t too hard to get a software job as an experienced dev (and I was right)
During the break, I did try to build some for-profit projects so that I could prolong the break as much as I wanted. But in hindsight, it was a mistake if I were to do it again I would just focus on what makes me happy instead of trying to make something that can make money.
All in all, I’d recommend it. I’m in a better place mentally and I hope I can do it again in 5-7 years.
It's good to consider the financial impact seriously in balance with everything else - not only the income you won't earn, but also how that would have compounded across your lifetime.
To address your point about recruiter emails, I still get them. So long as you can provide value to a business at the end of your break it's not necessarily an issue, though you might have to work harder to demonstrate that - I think especially for the soft skills you'd otherwise be using day-to-day in a workplace as opposed to when you're just doing your own thing.
I took a three year break that combined freelancing, some personal projects and a good bit of everything but devwork. Coming back into a full-time dev role was challenging for a couple reasons, but most pointedly all the effort required to rebuild the emotional muscles to negotiate the political/social situations. Took a good 6 months before it felt effortless again.
I am thankful for the opportunities and growth that my break enabled. At the same time, it has felt that getting back into work routines has been just as awkward as getting out of them.
I don’t mourn money I misspent in my youth because experience was worth it but only now I see how much those would be worth in money terms. So I guess at least make adventure really worth it, because bumming on a couch watching streams for a year or even month is going to be a disaster.
The first of those, my second of five deployments, I taught myself to program. Yes, I was a professional programmer before I could program anything. This is actually the norm in JavaScript and unfortunately many JavaScript developers never really learn to program.
My programming speed and capabilities has dramatically improved with each of these career breaks. The strange thing about programming is there is absolutely no correlation between competence and career elevation, and these breaks have been detrimental to my career elevation.
The odds of creating teams among 70 founders, freezing on an idea, pitching and getting an investment from their IC is only 5%. This contrasts with YC where everyone gets an investment on day 1. But Antler isn't meant for those who have that clarity. Yet. You just want to startup. They interview you, giving you 2-3 months to figure it out.
They also have a small stipend during this time.
Although I personally pitched with a team and didn't get an investment and decided to join the workforce again - there are many who continued with their team and bootstrapped post that or raised many quarters later.
Regardless of how many founders eventually raise at the end of the cohort (15 teams formed from 70 founders, 3-5 teams on avg clear IC for $250k investment), Antler raises capital from their LP's 100% of the time, backed up by the logos of the employment of the founders, and potential opportunity. I felt conflicted by this initially. But it's a net win for the ecosystem. They get to fund more winners longer,and aren't obliged to fund every team for various reasons and have a high bar at the IC that is a reality check for many first time founders.
Much like cohorts, the bond from staying in close proximity with that many folks also leads to a lifelong network that is still super tight 3 years post.
That worked, and I got my mojo back.
I also became a bit of an expert in the niche I was learning. That helped get me work that was unusually challenging and rewarding.
(I've since moved on to other areas, especially startup do-all-the-things roles.)
Just an anecdote, maybe an edge case. I don't think it's a reliably repeatable formula. There was a lot of good and bad luck involved. And, under the particular circumstances, I had to be willing to give up almost everything else, and ended up giving up things I didn't even know I was giving up.
Without financial security, to get by, you might have to suffer all sorts of things no one should have to put up with. The hardest parts are probably not what you would've guessed.
A penny-pinching lifestyle can also have effects on relationships. A "starving artist" or "poor student", who thinks differently, definitely has temporary appeal with many. But that's a lot less attractive to a partner's long-term thinking/feeling by late 20s, if they want to raise a middle class family, with good schools, safe housing, and comforts. My sense is that someone whose field seems to be "techbro", but who doesn't already show signs of financial comfort, is likely registering more as no-future, not like a "poor" med student (who will seem viable for raising a family, with just a well-defined period of hard work and non-affluence to get through first).
If at all possible, endeavor to have a FAANG war chest, or to be born to wealthy parents, and your gap becomes much better.
Note: I am not affiliated with the Recurse Center, just a big fan.
I have no affiliation to them but I’ve definitely considered applying when I’m confident I’d be able to make the most of it.