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Posted by PinkG 3 hours ago

I am retiring from tech to live offline(openpath.quest)
440 points | 296 commentspage 2
abought 2 hours ago|
I overlapped a bit with Chad in 2015, as he was navigating a professional transition. I wasn't in an especially high role back then- just a guy in the back of the room.

In the times I saw him since, I consistently saw someone who thought hard every day about how to help others, and didn't lose sight of the human element. Sentry worked hard to create a viable business, without losing sight of open source goals. (you can see some of his efforts at https://blog.sentry.io/authors/chad-whitacre/ )

I tell my younger colleagues to do the best work they can sustainably do... but too often in this field, the big roles become too intense to be sustained forever. I hope his new role shows him the same warmth and support that he tried to put out there for others.

elliotbnvl 3 hours ago||
This resonates with me as well. For more reasons than one: with the rise of AI (Mythos is but a pale forerunner) digital security — and by extension, digital privacy — has ceased to exist. The bomber will always win. The only way to win is not to play.
ianm218 2 hours ago|
I don’t think is true - the endgame of software security is very secure atleast at the code level. I.e. fully clean supply chain, no memory safety issues, maybe even formally provable code.

Right now we are in a very unstable place but it might not be permanent!

generic92034 1 hour ago|||
As long as the costs (monetary and otherwise) of breaches are not (by and large) hitting shareholders and the C level, why would they pay for better security? And why would politicians depending on campaign contributions of tech companies force the mentioned groups to take on the full responsibility by regulating them?
ianm218 1 hour ago||
So full disclosure I am working on this but my thought is basically this:

* Make Rust (or similar memory safe language) drop in replacements for C/C++ code

* the stick is Claude mythos and the like - scares CISO’s, shareholders, etc into urgency

* the carrot is - improve performance significantly where possible. Either through straight up better code OR through customizing hot paths for companies specific use cases

So for companies running large workloads it could be economical in two ways

generic92034 57 minutes ago||
I am not sure anything is scaring anyone into urgency as long as breaches are no great issue for the company (in contrast to their customers and/or affected third parties).

Also, more secure code might be performing better, it might also perform worse. I am not sure the concepts are completely orthogonal, but there is at least no clear causality.

elliotbnvl 2 hours ago|||
That's an optimistic take I haven't heard before, love the idea a lot. Wake me up when we get there though...
ianm218 1 hour ago||
This end state isn’t guaranteed to be clear people need to go out and work on it.
bregma 1 hour ago||
I have 3 weeks left, but outside of work I've already been divorced from anything technological invented this century. I've been living in a log cabin in the woods for over a quarter century. This essay does hit home.

21 days left. I don't plan to look back.

fullshark 2 hours ago||
The ideal career path

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/1jgcfx9/pe...

enos_feedler 2 hours ago||
Left engineering & Google on my own accord in August 2020. WFH was the catalyst that helped push me over the edge, but it was a long time coming. The underlying feeling I always had when working on programming at work versus programming at school and graduate work: I am being paid to re-type out things that many people have typed out before. As I saw waves of layoffs both pre and post LLMs, it's funny how my gut intuition led me down the right road at the right time. Always trust your gut.
mrmarket 3 hours ago||
thank you for this. what a sacred journey you're embarking on. i hope to follow you - talking with a close friend now about becoming an elevator mechanic. my wife is pregnant so i have to find a profession that comes reasonably close to tech salaries. i've been writing poetry by hand. i think the world you envision is possible, and closer.
neutronicus 3 hours ago||
Do not do this until your youngest child is at least 4.

There is no profession better matching what women in western countries expect from a co-parent than tech. The money first and foremost, but the flexibility to work (more accurately, pretend to work) remotely, too.

Let me reiterate:

For your marriage, do not do this until your youngest child is at least 4.

shigawire 2 hours ago|||
As someone who changed careers as my youngest was born - hard agree.
mrmarket 2 hours ago||||
This would be ideal, but practically speaking, it will only become harder to switch careers and make up the income gap as I get older (i'm 30) and more people leave tech for less volatile industries. Plus, I don't think we'll be one and done re: kids. I don't think waiting is necessarily a smart long-term move given rising anti-tech sentiment among workers, even if it would be better to wait until the perfect age from a lifestyle perspective. This is just my opinion.
neutronicus 2 hours ago||
I guess it depends on how the pay actually compares.

If the tech salary is more than the trade salary, every year you hold on is more runway for the eventual transition. Even if it takes you longer to get into the new thing because you were slow jumping ship, the extra runway might cover the difference.

Obviously I've had similar thoughts to the ones you're having. But this is a pretty cushy gig and I don't think leaving it before they make me is the right decision.

tayo42 3 hours ago|||
Incel logic for relationships. This isn't how people actually work. Lost my job, considering career switch, marriage and baby are fine
sergers 2 hours ago||
Everyone has different situations and different level of risk.

If u lost your job already, u didn't choosingly give up a stable(don't know u, so guessing) job as the other person alludes (don't know their situation so people guessing here).

So if u had a stable good paying job, giving it up to start something new while having a new kid can be very hard .. but doable. Still I'll advised.

If u lost your job, based on job market, career switch makes total sense as you need to help provide and a career switch may provide a better or stable opp.

Many people have successful home life/family life with no financial stability or even a job altogether...

pasquinelli 2 hours ago|||
> Everyone has different situations and different level of risk.

that's true, and also why it's prudent to not go around giving unsolicited family advice to strangers.

also it's why, when you're talking about one particular woman you've never met, you should keep the demographic insights you think you have about her to yourself.

tayo42 48 minutes ago||||
If you start a post talking about what you think western women value and then continue with the idea that women just want to be taken care of by a man, their partner your world view is distorted by garbage information.

Healthy and stable relationships sre built on care and being good people, not what you're job provides.

mrmarket 2 hours ago|||
important context for me is that layoffs keep eating my company every 6 months or so, meanwhile the due date is fast approaching. treading shark-infested waters
karmakurtisaani 3 hours ago|||
> my wife is pregnant

You're just about to become much more dependent on a stable income.

> i have to find a profession that comes reasonably close to tech salaries. i've been writing poetry by hand.

These two sentences are completely independent of each other.

Sorry to be a downer, but once you have kids shit gets real and room for idealism shrinks fast.

chasd00 2 hours ago|||
> my wife is pregnant >> You're just about to become much more dependent on a stable income.

I would say your priorities and what you value are about to radically change. Parenthood is very instinctual, you'll work so much harder and struggle and worry so much more than you ever have but you'll find so much more joy than you ever thought existed at the same time. Once you hold your child for the first time the only thing that will matter will be your family and that will drive your decision making from there forward.

tclancy 1 hour ago||||
>once you have kids shit gets real and room for idealism shrinks fast

I get what you mean, but if there's any part of me I want to pass onto my daughter, it's my idealism. What would be the point? "Hey, I would like to get involved in this 'Next Generation of Humanity' project because I love people and think we are wonderful and can do anything. Before I go having a kid though, let me actively forget all that!"

mrmarket 3 hours ago|||
> you're just about to become much more dependent on a stable income

would you consider the 2026 SaaS market stable? Very naive take.

> These two sentences are completely independent of each other.

They are two separate thoughts. Two thoughts that are separate can exist in one comment. They are just next to each other. The profession that comes close to tech salaries is elevator mechanic. The poetry is for my heart, which is related to this guy's post, in which he talks about leaving tech for the sake of his heart.

Not only are you a downer, but you have a highly unusual approach to parsing information.

Carrok 2 hours ago|||
Typically two sentences directly following one another are related. You are missing a paragraph to separate your completely unrelated thoughts. The person you are replying to has a normal way of passing information. You need to work on how you present your information.
hatefulmoron 2 hours ago||
Aren't they related in the sense that they're not tech/SaaS/software related? "I'm looking into being an elevator mechanic; I need the money because my wife is pregnant." and then "I'm writing poetry by hand." Like, their life is going in a non-tech direction?
rootusrootus 2 hours ago|||
> would you consider the 2026 SaaS market stable? Very naive take.

There is lots of stable software work outside of SaaS. Not exciting but reliable and pays decently. That's what might take priority when you start a family.

doug_durham 2 hours ago|||
Why is it a sacred journey? They are quitting a job at Sentry and taking one a Home Depot. As much as I value the role that Home Depot plays in society I'd never use the word "sacred" to describe the work, nor the work at any other job.
mrmarket 2 hours ago||
I guess it depends on what sacred means to you. i'm not a religious person, so my definition is entirely personal, but i consider honoring yourself even when it looks like a failure to others, or even when it doesnt give you money/power etc. to be a holy act.
buildsjets 1 hour ago||
I am reminded of the lesson "Some say he is a holy man. Others say he is a shithead.", from the Principia Discordia.

https://www.principiadiscordia.com/book/12.php

JTbane 2 hours ago||
brother I've thought about the tech to blue collar transition too. for me, I would choose plumbing or electrical, but it seems like 4 years of low apprentice wages are unavoidable.
__mharrison__ 2 hours ago||
Chad is one of the kindest souls I've ever met. Good luck off the grid!

Also, how did he post this if he isn't using the Internet?

generic92034 1 hour ago||
If you are that pedantic you could also ask if he is living without a mobile phone, without a car and without any modern electrical appliance phoning home. So, probably him being offline is not to be taken quite so seriously.
sciencejerk 2 hours ago||
Probably had a friend do it for him
yubblegum 2 hours ago||
Do the Amish pay non-Amish to do forbidden things for them? Asking for a friend.
newt_slowly 1 hour ago|||
I manage the Google Maps listings for two local Amish businesses, as well as send the occasional e-mail for them when a supplier or other business reason requires they use e-mail.

They offered to pay me for my time, but I refused as I'm happy to help my neighbors. They seemed pretty uncomfortable with me helping without anything in return, so they pay me back in discounted products or labor of their own.

nomadygnt 2 hours ago||||
I'm not sure about "forbidden" per se but they definitely make accommodations for various things, e.g. riding as passengers in cars for long trips.
stanac 1 hour ago||||
I am not sure what is forbidden. There was a YT video about computer they were using for business. It was stripped down OS (windows xp?) that only had office apps, or something like that.

I am unable to find the video, but here is an interesting story: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2013/02/25/172886170/a-co...

antonyt 2 hours ago||||
I'm not sure if payment is involved, but I've heard Orthodox Jews can and do seek non-Jewish help when they need e.g. light switches toggled on the Sabbath.
kayo_20211030 2 hours ago||
Shabbos goy. Pete Hamill was one, and tells a good story. Snow in August, I believe, is based on his experiences.
quietsegfault 2 hours ago|||
Yes. They pay folks to drive them around.
alchemism 1 hour ago||
A friend of mine encountered a wrecked buggy on the road and drove the Amish family inside it to the hospital and saved lives.

The entire local Amish community now comes and helps him tend his property, raised him a barn.

NoGravitas 1 hour ago||
I'd retire yesterday if I could afford it. Maybe in 10-15 years. Have a once-a-day NNCP feed rather than total disconnection.
Kuyawa 57 minutes ago||
60/yo and still loving it. I get burned out every couple of years but new technology always refreshes my admiration for the field I chose. It never ceases to amaze me the capacity to reinvent itself, from the early days of dbase and clipper, it came the dial up internet, the craze of FrontPage and webmasters, the move to client/server, Python, Ruby, Go, then mobile apps, Swift, Java, Kotlin, then back to basics with Node and PostgreSQL, painful deviations like React, Tailwinds, NextJS, I've learned them all. And now we're finally here, in front of us, the promised land, AI, the final frontier, one of the most beautiful pieces of technology my wrinkled eyes have ever seen. I am more excited than ever.

See, through the years I've left behind an immense graveyard of dead projects I never had the time to finish and now they're all rising from the dead at the same time, like a really bad zombies movie, like MJ's thriller video, all dancing to the tune of AI, all coming alive in minutes because of AI.

This is it, Valhalla, Elysium, Paradise, here we are, I am already dead and I don't know it, but I love it.

tims33 2 hours ago|
I think we're going to see a ton of this in the coming years. A return to the 60s/70s when people were going off the grid, moving to a farm, or just disconnecting
SoftTalker 2 hours ago||
People have always done this, and always will. I don't think we'll see a lot more of it. I haven't met a lot of people who are actually happy living a very simple frugal life for very long. Maybe it will be a fad for a while, or people will do it as a sabbatical type of thing to recharge but really committing to it forever?

Then the younger generation who have never known life without AI will be entering the workforce (whatever that looks like in 10 years time), and it will just be normal.

floren 1 hour ago|||
I'm trying to figure out where the best place to do this sort of thing is, looking a few years ahead. Currently feels like the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York hits a good combination of available farmland, affordable prices, acceptable weather (I went to school near there), and so on. I love the West Coast but it's all too damn expensive.
stephbook 1 hour ago|||
Whether man belongs into the city or wilderness is a question as old as humanity. It was pondered 4,000 years ago in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Culiper 1 hour ago||
You should read the book "Walden". The guy is also leaves society to live closer to nature for more or less similar reasons. But then in 1845.
senderista 19 minutes ago||
It's good to keep in mind while reading Walden that Thoreau was basically a trust fund baby.
Culiper 7 minutes ago||
Yeah I know, and his mom did his dirty laundry. Still a comfy read!
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