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nobody 2y ago

Anyone out there taken a creative sabbatical/career break? I work in software development and have been managing for a couple years and I'm burned out. I'm considering taking a 3-6 month career break to work on personal projects, upskill, and just generally recenter myself. I've been working non-stop for 20 years and have a nice nest egg saved up so financially I can afford an extended leave.

Has anyone taken a career break? Was it invigorating? Was not having cashflow stressful? How was re-entering the workforce? Were employers understanding of the break?

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Discussion

HoloKat 2y ago

I’ve never had a fixed design career - it was always freelance and I had the luxury of switching context often - working on interesting things. I can imagine why someone might want a change of scenery once in a while for the sake of switching things up a bit.

nobody 2y ago

I still love building things and love engineering. Switching things up is a great way of putting it. I've been feeling like I'm in a creative rut with work. My current job sucks up so much of my time and mental energy that there's not any left for pet projects. I built a block clock display over winter break and felt more alive doing that than I have anytime in recent years of my job.

How do you find freelance work? Are they consults or contracts? Do you get repeat business?

HoloKat 2y ago

I have heard this so many times (the part about taking up time and mental energy) it’s a common thing.

As for freelance, I started on Upwork back when it was ok and built up contacts over time. I also built up a mailing list so when I needed work I’d just let everyone I know I’m available. That and some combination of referrals, Twitter and LinkedIn also did the trick.

For development work I imagine you’d have longer contracts. Mine were fixed engagement contracts.

About a month ago I accidentally deleted my account that had my mailing list so if I go back to freelancing I’ll be starting from scratch 😂 😭

TLDR; make good work. Make noise about it and share far and wide. Then let people know you are accepting work. Otherwise they won’t have a clue if you don’t make it known.

HoloKat 2y ago

Also, pitch solutions not code. Clients don’t care about what you do day to day , but about what you can accomplish.

nobody 2y ago

This is something I am very thankful for my career giving me. I have had the privilege of working on teams and projects where I was really close to the business.

nobody 2y ago

Really appreciate this advice. I plan to spend the time actively building since I'm not so much craving downtime as I am more time to work on building things I want to build.

If I can freelance beyond the break and never return to corporate engineering that would be a fantastic outcome IMO.

Totalisator 2y ago

Mate I'm in the same boat, I'll watch this thread eagerly.

Pepe NOSTRos 2y ago

I never went back

nobody 2y ago

Voluntarily? How did you manage that? What do you do with your time?

I've considered early retirement and really only 5 years away from that. But I've always said even retirement I'd still work for charity/donate my time for causes that matter to me.

GreatGrandMan 2y ago

I can relate. I'm burning out (healthcare) and am taking 5 months later this year to travel with the family and regroup. Ideally never go back, but plenty of water to go under the bridge before then. Will network during those months, and may reduce hours back at the fiat mines in anticipation of a career change.

nobody 2y ago

What do you want to do after the career change? Healthcare is tough. Mom was a nurse and it was brutal from the hours to the work. Much respect.

GreatGrandMan 2y ago

Not sure yet. Would be nice to have some breathing room financially to reset the mind and see what appeals. Something on my own terms. I've got some retraining of the mind to do, to part with the fiat hangover. On the right track though. Good luck to you. We're gonna win 🤙

Emperor Kuzco 2y ago

Sounds as if you screwed up a perfectly good hobby and tried to make it a career.

Sam 2y ago

Yes, many times, can only say good things -it’s an amazing opportunity, if you go about it smartly. Send me a message.