Golden handcuffs — when you stay at a job that you’d rather quit only for the money.
I thought I was going to stay at Netflix foreve...
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TL;DR I didn't like my job anymore so I left.
How is this interesting? Is everyone's life.
The salary is irrelevant and seems clickbaity.
Most people I know would gladly copy paste for 400k a year for life.
And most people I know would like to work less for the same salary, not more for more salary.
Edit: The author published the same article in medium some time ago and the comments are worth reading:
link.medium.com/bbGGYFgbfxb
Spot on, it seems the Author benefited immensely from the experience and the financial gain that has allowed a different lifestyle choice.
Perhaps some more critical introspection would have helped this article appear a bit more relatable.
I think you missed the point, mate
They want to work more for less salary, right? That was the point, isn't it? :)
Yeah main point that this scumbug not only did not done job he been paid for, he even blackmailed company demanding more money for leave and stop stealing their money
"TL;DR I didn't like my job anymore so I left."
This.
I {unfortunately} read the entire article seeking some interesting nugget but found none. You don't like what your company requires you to do for mid six figures so you quit?
See the opportunity for crying out loud. Start a new side project while being paid a lucrative salary. The silly Lauren Self tweet about aiming to work less than 5 hours a day could easily be replaced with "I made my paid work more efficient so I could work on my passion project".
Some serious self-entitled #humblebrag in this.
Yeah this article reads like a love letter from corporate overlords. Yikes.
There is some bias when it comes to judging a person's behaviour when we take salary under consideration. For example, we would instinctively attribute things we would do if we were in that position. But this doesn't seem right.
The guy, just a personal feeling, just wanted to share his story, maybe out of guilt, get come reconciliation, validation or whatnot. Take it onboard or not. Everyone is different.
Besides, making 40k, 400k, or 4M doesn't give you immunity to psychological struggles.
In his case, salary is somewhat relevant because it is rare among developers who start their journey; besides, many measure themselves by the length of their... errr... payslip.
I see hundreds of articles on Medium. I see people doing extraordinary things, being 10x developers or having other superpowers, earning big bucks, etc., but I don't do either. Instead, I humbly struggle in my life, and I am glad I can learn something and enjoy things from time to time while my fiancee holds my hand when I am overwhelmed. She deserves more credit.
Anyone who is rich enough not to need to work, has the privilege to choose whether to work. If they don't like the job, they should quit.
... or the rest of us who will never have that option will look at them thinking they're crazy!
Very true. I will push the button to quit but with my new job offer waving.
You only have one life, and money means nothing once you're dead. Your youth will never return. Everyone in Big Tech should consider the choice to leave, even if they don't end up taking it.
I don’t know if you know anybody who’s actually impoverished — folks who go to bed hungry because they don’t have enough money to buy food.
But that’s a reality that faces a lot of Americans as they get old.
As someone I know puts it, “I used to want to be rich, but now I just don’t want to die cold and hungry.”
One mistake of youth is believing it won’t end. But it can end tomorrow if life throws you a curveball (cancer, for instance, or a parent suddenly becoming your dependent).
I hope the poster is able to find meaningful work that also provides for them and their family, but these things are not guaranteed.
Totally agreed Kelly!
I was recently in a similar situation. In my case, my motivation waned because my management changed 4 times in 9 months. My performance dropped and my managers tried to give me work and coached me to deliver, but my health started to suffer from the stress. I feared I could get fired at any minute. I attempted to leave for another org, but I couldn't because of my probationary status.
When the news came of layoffs, I started praying that I would be one of the affected. Someone must've been listening, cuz here I am talking to recruiters and past employers who all want me. I just have to be careful and pick the place that would value me as an employee.
So guy had huge salary, then wanted to change role. High chance his managers saw that he would not fit, so they not gave him role. The guy become upset and stopped do work for what he paid so much money. And that only half of shame. Then he decide blackmail manager to get even more money for job he not done, threatening he would stay longer and waste even more company's money! That a shame!
HR been hiring those scammers...
Many would be happy to work at Netflix, a specially for that money, and those guy blackmailed them!
So instead of taking a couple of months PTO you decided to quit. It's your head, you're free to hit any walls you like, but just like your parents I think this isn't really smart.
You're free to chase your dreams and this is good, but you have to be prepared to lose a ton of money during that time. And working for yourself - prepare NOT to earn anything for the next couple of years while piling up expenses.
You felt bored being paid 400k a year to copy paste A/B tests? Mate, we developers are plumbers for data. Everything is boring at some point, this is why we call it "work" and not "fun".
Maybe you wanted people to tell you again how stunning and brave you are, not everyone will. Like your parents, I think this was a mistake not wanting anymore to be part of a company having that much visible impact on the world and on top of that for such prosperity given to you.
But it's okay, everybody make mistakes, even mistakes which takes months to build up.
Please don't take this the wrong way as I'm not judging because everyone is free to do whatever they want with their life because we all get one and only one... hell I quite couple of positions because I was no longer happy in them so I totally understand your point however those jobs did not have 2% of the perks and pay that you seem to have had with yours... I do not know you, I have no idea what you're going through in your life and again I'm not judging this is only my opinion based on the article that you decided to publish publicly for the world to read I agree with your parents, friends and most of the commenters on here that you handled this wrong and I believe I speak for a lot of people when I say anyone would've been happy to copy and paste for half of the the perks and pay that you had but then again if you're financially well off then you can afford to do this which brings me to my second point and this is just a theory but I believe you wrote this article for one of two reason either as click bait or deep down inside you believe you've made a mistake and you're seeking validation from some commenters on here which I do not see you got.
Either way I wish you health and hope you find the motivation, passion and happiness you're after.
I have mixed feelings about this, very mixed feelings ...
On the one hand, yes you should not stay in a job that makes you unhappy, even with a royal salary like that, so yes, good for you that you took that decision.
But on the other hand, many people would commit a murder (figuratively, not literally) for a job with a salary like that - and many people simply could not afford the luxury to quit like that ...
Also, I do feel (reading your story) that Netflix genuinely takes good care of their people, they're absolutely not a bad employer, on the contrary. That's also why this is giving me mixed feelings - it's like I almost feel pity for Netflix, lol.
Great read and def inspired by you and your journey.
I made the mistake of staying somewhere longer than I should have and then, boom, layoffs. Now i’m looking for a job without a job. But, is I see it as the universe doing for me what I was not.
You talked about doing what you love and things will align. I’m going to remind myself of that as I start my next career chapter.
Usually in these kinds of essays, I'm all about not wasting your youth, not striving so much your health suffers, and not valuing salary over sanity. Life is short, live it fully. But in this case, I've got to side with this guy's parents and mentor. Unless you've saved up enough that you never have to worry about salary again (which at $450K/year you had a chance to do quite quickly) you are a fool to give it up.
These incredible jobs are not as common as you think - your salary alone represents something like 30,000 Netflix subscriptions. I'm guessing you will never again make that much money for that little stress (and it doesn't, from your description, sound like it was all that stressful - and I say that as someone who's experienced the soul-crushing drain of doing unsatisfying work from time to time). Who knows, maybe you're right that this move "might ironically unlock potential earnings even greater than I was making before" but I highly doubt it. There are many hard-working, brilliant software engineers from elite schools who pursue improved opportunities and fulfilling work for their whole career and never make half that much. And these high-salary coding jobs will get even more rare as it gets easier and easier to work across time zones with non-USA coders. Good luck, fellow Cal grad!
Special note to Netflix HR: you sound like you've built a wonderful place to work, and I admire that. However, the correct response to someone saying they're ready for a "preemptive severance package" is a quick goodbye, an escort to the door, and a final paycheck deposited two weeks later. (I hate that the USA is like this, but that is absolutely the expected norm). If you're really feeling generous and don't mind the security risk, let them work those two weeks for the sake of knowledge transfer - but you certainly don't need to give them extra money. Once they're gone, search your inbox for the 10,000 resumes of people who'd be thrilled to spend a few years repurposing proven bits of code for a mere $250K. ;-)
Thank you for writing this
Thanks for sharing. I get that you wanted more control over your work, but is there clarity on how you’ll get that now that you quit? Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your journey and wishing you best of luck.
I quit my longtime job without after much consideration but without having even begun looking for a new job. Like the author here, everyone thought I was crazy. But, 7 years later, I am so glad I did. My new job pays less but enables me to learn new things. Most importantly it "cleared my desk" - when you are in a position for too long, you end up bearing too much "history" and it weighs you down immensely. Money, past a certain limit which allows you to live (say ~75K) does not make you happier.
I was reading your article emotionally and got touched and was by your side for a moment and thinking emotionally is the biggest mistake can a person make , you don’t make decisions based on your feelings , you just do what you have to do , you need to outsmart every bad situation you can have , after reading a couple of comments only then I noticed that you were having a lot of money with doing just a little of work and your only excuse that talking waning motivation , you could just have invested your time in learning new stuff , new technologies , new soft skills if you are thinking ahead for your future and beginning to build your own startup , the large amount of money you were having just spend more time having it and as I said for later investment and bigger plans… maybe what you did was a life mistake or maybe was just god’s plan and better things are waiting for you in your journey but the mistake i am sure about leaving without any plans and not using the fact of earning a lot of money with doing the least of work that’s all…
I've worked as a content creator (english for brazilians - @inglescommusica) for 3 three years before quitting. It was and it is the best decision I've ever made since I wasn't feeling going anywhere as a software developer. You need to have a certain income from your social media/products and save some money first before thinking about it for sure, but just do it. The feeling of being free and working with something you love is incredible, even though you'll be working harder and more hours.
Thank you for ur brave honesty
Yeah that need some brave and honesty to admit that one not only not doing work for what been paid, but also demanding even more money to stop doing that.
Hi Michael,
Feel free to review jobs at Arm (careers.arm.com/). I worked there for 6 years and I do not have the golden handcuffs syndrome. You can evolve and change roles. You are welcome !
Fred
Interesting read. Thanks for sharing!
Great :) What you said in the article is that I want to hear in my current situation. Thank you
You quit because you scarred by covid, wtf ;XD .
The basic premise of this is correct - if you are unhappy at your job, it is no longer fulfilling or a challenge, then it is time to look.
The rest of it - meh.
Such a good article.