23 Comments
Mar 15, 2023Liked by Michael Lin

Love the article

Expand full comment
author

Thanks Gary!

Expand full comment
Oct 16, 2022Liked by Michael Lin

Well done. It's nice to see such high salaries being paid. I am a retired MIT EE who bounced around the field, working for a few years then taking a year or more without working, then going back to work. I do not regret leaving any of my workplaces. The more engineers that refuse to put up with BS the less we'll have to deal with. Thank you for your part.

Expand full comment
author

Nancy, your support is much appreciated. Thank you!

Expand full comment
Aug 12, 2022Liked by Michael Lin

I am just a student who is in college but reading all this gives me an overview of how life and things can turn out to be, and how important is to choose what you like to do irrespective of anything, i am grateful to know all the inside stories of the engineering world before getting into it, it's a great article, Michael!

Expand full comment
author

Glad you liked it Ayush!

Expand full comment

I just caught your op/ed at Business Insider and found you here.

You've made the right choice, and it will become clearer and clearer the further away from the decision you are.

You only live once. Chase the dream and see what happens. If you fail, so what? At least you tried. And you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you gave it a shot - which for someone like me (and obviously you, too) is all that matters.

And, if you're successful? You achieve the best of everything you could want career-wise.

Super cool what you're doing. Godspeed my friend!

Expand full comment
author

Your words motivate me to keep going. Thanks MutareMan!

Expand full comment

Can relate, and I suspect many others can as well - Michael, this was an outstanding article.

Was in a similar situation 1 year ago, only I got fired before I could exit. It ended up being the best thing that ever happened - someone else made the decision for me.

100% people stay too long in jobs that they don't enjoy and can lose years "renting" their time

Expand full comment
author

Insane story Peter, thanks for sharing!

Like I said, if you stay an extra 2 years at a job you wanted to leave, and did this over 5 jobs in your life - that's 10 years of your life you spent doing work you didn't want to do!

Glad you're doing well now, and I really hope your substack takes off! I'm rooting for you!

Expand full comment
May 21, 2022Liked by Michael Lin

This article really speaks to me

Expand full comment
author

thanks shad!

Expand full comment
Mar 31, 2022Liked by Michael Lin

Well said! I feel exactly the same way. I left Twitter back in 2013 because my dream job had become soul sucking

Expand full comment
author

Thanks Chad!

Expand full comment
Mar 1, 2022Liked by Michael Lin

Really a Great Article!!

Expand full comment
author

thank you kaushal!

Expand full comment
Feb 28, 2022Liked by Michael Lin

What a brilliant article! Glad the handcuffs have come off. Looking forward to reading more articles in the future.

Ash

Expand full comment
author

thanks ash! new article coming soon

Expand full comment

Life is too short to stay at FAANG building up number. I love the tombstone piece: are we just actually replaceable nobody in the corp, while making 6-figure? Life is more than that.

Expand full comment
author

💯 agreed!

Expand full comment

Really a inspirational journey, that proved hear yourself even while more noise arise outside.

Expand full comment

This really resonates with me. I'm a part time primary care physician in which I operate from a standard western medical approach to mental illness.

I'm also a mental health coach operating from a much deeper perspective which helps at the cause end of the cause and effect pathway rather than masking symptoms with medication.

One provides a higher income, the other transformation in people's lives.

I know which I'd rather be doing full time, but the golden handcuffs keep me restrained.

This was a very useful article, thank you Michael.

Expand full comment
author

amazing how ppl from all backgrounds can still relate. thank you dr. tipper!

Expand full comment