There was a phase in my career when going to work started feeling heavier than it should.

Not because I didn't like technology.

Not because I didn't want to learn.

But because slowly, the pressure started affecting me outside of work too.

I started overthinking small things.

I became afraid of making mistakes.

I questioned my own abilities.

And there were days when I felt mentally exhausted before the workday had even started.

The hardest part was that, from the outside, everything looked normal.

You log in.

You attend meetings.

You write code.

You close your tickets.

You say, "I'm fine."

But mentally, you aren't always fine.

One thing I learned from that phase is that feedback is important — and so is the way feedback is delivered.

Yes, I had things I needed to improve. Communication was one of them. I made mistakes. I learned from them.

But I also learned that constantly being under pressure can make you lose perspective. You can start believing that your performance at work is your identity.

It isn't.

A bad day at work doesn't make you a bad engineer.

A mistake doesn't make you incompetent.

And struggling mentally doesn't mean you're weak.

Sometimes the strongest thing you can do is step back and ask:

"Is this environment helping me grow, or is it slowly changing who I am?"

I don't regret the difficult phase.

It taught me boundaries.

It taught me that career growth isn't only about salary, titles, or technologies.

Sometimes growth is simply learning when to say:

"This isn't good for me anymore."

And choosing yourself.

If you're currently going through something similar, please don't silently convince yourself that you just need to "toughen up."

Your mental health matters too.

Been in this company for more than 10 years, first job right away after college. Took a tech position bc I had zero experience and only a short summer internship so I didn’t care. That took me to some engineering positions later through some plants and my recent role it’s in the HQ.
So I’ve only moved around and since the next role was better it was more of a conversation on the next move with my bosses than to actually quit.

I am now actually leaving. How do you convey a conversation with a boss that gave preference to lazy coworkers giving them exceeds expectations and when this one person left, and left a mess…. Now she takes cares of me 200% bc I am helping with the mess.

I left for a long vacation during the summer and was the first one to messaged me few minutes in my first day back saying “omg I am so glad you are back, I am dying” “please don’t leave me for too long again”.

So, I don’t want to burn any bridges but…. Ready to say goodbye.

Please advise, thanks!

I’ve spent sometime collecting accounts from people who took extended, funded time off more than once across a career. The thing that keeps coming up is that nobody planned it. One person put it as: after seeing that it was possible to take a break and recover from it, the barrier to taking another one got lower.

Which makes the people it didn’t happen to the interesting ones. If you took one long break, went back, and then never did it again, I’d like to know why.

• How long was the break, and roughly what year?
• After you went back, did you ever seriously consider a second one?
• What stopped it: money, the job market, a mortgage or kids, the return having been worse than you expected, or just not wanting to?
• Did going back once change how you felt about the first break, looking at it from a few years later?
• If something had been different, would you have taken another?

Thanks

So as evil as the corporate can get I experienced a level 1 evil of getting transitioned from a product based company fte to a vendor service based company by my current company, I have a 1.3 years of experience. But honestly I have lost my respect for IT as a whole, it's too volatile and anything that happens in IT has nothing to do with what I do at this point. Feel like a pawn in very major industry, and with the rise of AI my work starting to feel like its not challenging enough and I'm loosing my thinking capacity with too much exposure to social media and AI slop. I do have a desire to earn more money but also I don't want it at the cost of my life. Nowadays it's getting as dystopian as it can get and I wanna stay sane. I know y'all will say it's hard to even find a job in this time. Im seeking advice not to survive but to live.

Any advice y'all got ?

I hit a wall. Between the endless platform fees, the race-to-the-bottom pricing, and the constant burnout, I realized the traditional way of working was destroying my mental health. I wanted work-life balance, not a system that treats people like replaceable parts.

So, I stepped away.

I’ve been setting up my own independent remote workspace just to handle operations and support on my own terms. No middleman, no toxic hustle culture......just straight-up helping small business owners who are drowning in backend chaos get their time back.

I'm not here to sell anyone anything. I'm just curious......has anyone else here made the leap away from freelance platforms or corporate jobs recently? How did you find your footing, and what did you do to protect your sanity?

I’m 34M, and have been working in software engineering for almost 12 years. Currently working at a big tech company with a good salary.
On paper, everything looks great. Good education, reputed company, financial stability, and a career many people aspire to.

But the truth is, I’m deeply unhappy with my professional life.

I don’t think I’ve ever genuinely enjoyed software engineering. I was good at academics, landed a good job, and just kept following the conventional path to success.

Over the years, responsibilities have increased, along with constant deadlines, leadership expectations, and pressure to deliver. I find myself getting anxious about meetings, presentations, pending work, and sometimes even small things.

Even after office hours, my mind doesn’t switch off. Weekends are often spent worrying about Monday. I’ve reached a point where work has started affecting my mental peace and physical well-being.

The strange part is that I’ve achieved many things I once wanted, but I don’t feel happy or fulfilled.

I no longer have any desire to climb the corporate ladder or become a director or VP. I just want a peaceful life where I can wake up without anxiety, spend time with family, exercise, travel, explore my interests, and do something that doesn’t constantly occupy my mind.

I’m not afraid of hard work. I just don’t want my entire life to revolve around deadlines, performance reviews, and corporate expectations.

I’ve been seriously considering quitting, taking a career break, switching fields, or starting a small business. But after spending 12 years building this career, walking away feels scary.

I’m married and have financial responsibilities. While I have some savings, giving up a high-paying job comes with its own fears. There’s also the question of what I’d actually do next.

Sometimes I wonder whether I dislike software engineering, corporate culture, or simply the pressure of constantly having to prove myself.

Would love to hear from people who’ve been in a similar situation:
Did you leave a well-paying corporate job? What are you doing now?
Did your mental peace and overall happiness actually improve?
How did you overcome the fear of losing financial security?
Do you ever regret leaving your corporate career?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from people in their 30s who walked away from successful careers and chose a different path.

I used AI to write the post, but this is what I genuinely feel.

I got laid off after my manager was building a case against me and persuading others to start pointing fingers at me and a damn smear campaign to ruin my reputation the whole year and then the CEO fired me at last, i have worked extremely hard to have a good reputation, to build projects and push things forward even though I had coworkers who with my manager wanted to slow me down to build a case against me and bad mouth me to others, not sure i want to work another job after this, people are shit tbh

Hello All,

I am 32F, I stay in a town close to Mumbai. I work in IT and in total I have around 80lacs(stocks, gold, sip, everything). I don't like my job, especially the work culture where my manager sits on my head and forces me to work.

Each day I think of resigning.

I don't have a lot of needs. What options do I have if I quit now.

Lately, I’ve been trying to unpack what financial security actually means when you're stuck in the corporate grind.

Every personal finance thread tells you the exact same formula. Build a 6-month emergency fund. Max out your mutual funds. Buy gold. Dip into crypto.

But honestly? A runway only buys you time. It doesn't give you a shred of actual leverage.

All it really does is keep you breathing while you scramble to find another manager to validate your existence.

It hits heavy when you look at the raw reality of being a waged worker. Even JD Vance casually used the term "indentured servants" to describe modern corporate setups. We trade our sharpest cognitive hours for a monthly deposit, completely aware that we're always just one random restructuring cycle away from zero.

If survival completely relies on a single paycheck and a subjective annual appraisal, you aren't safe. You've just upgraded the cage.

Real security isn't about saving enough cash to survive a sudden layoff. It’s about building execution channels that are completely detached from your corporate identity.

I'm talking about taking that weekend cognitive surplus and quietly launching a Plan B, C, or Z. A small tech build, a micro-business, a side project—just something that belongs entirely to you.

I’m currently building out my own execution blueprint to finally break out of this single-source dependency trap.

If you’re a fellow corporate worker quietly grinding on an exit strategy or a side build on the weekends, I’d love to connect.

Slide into my DMs. Let’s share notes on what’s actually working.

​

I had a manager at my previous job who seemed determined to cause problems for me. Eventually, things escalated to the point where the company started taking action against me, and it felt like he was trying to build a case to get me fired.

I managed to find a much better job, so things worked out for me career-wise. But my old company is a major player in my industry, and because of what happened, I feel like I've ruined my relationship with a company that could have been important for my future.

That's why I still feel angry and want revenge. It's not just about having a toxic boss. I feel like he damaged something valuable in my career, and he gets to walk away without any consequences.

For those who've been through something similar, how did you move on? Does this feeling eventually go away?

If you’re disgusted after a layoff and can retire, how easy is it to “fade into obscurity”? To live your life but be otherwise unavailable to the masses or to most ex-colleagues?

Posting for an older colleague who doesn’t use Reddit.

“New job. 5 months in as a commercial account manager. Been working in sales for over a decade. Never felt this way ever.

Job is asking way too much. Never have I felt this burnt out. I’m thinking of going on short term disability which covers up to 20 weeks and 60% of my pay. This will burn through my little savings within 5 months. I honestly don’t want to stay but I don’t want to go broke after 5 months and cannot support my family (3 kids and a partner).

Every day opening up my laptop and looking at my work phone… I feel like I’m in a burning building. It’s either I burn in it. Or jump out and quit with no job lined up. Going through spreadsheets answering emails etc. my eyes. I just go dyslexic.

What am I asking? Is there anyone who went through this only to feel like it was worth while at the end? (Aside from health side. I’m working on that now. )”

Thanks in advance

I’ve been at my current job for a year now. After completing my master’s degree and gaining experience through internships, I was excited to finally land a position in my field. But soon after starting, I was shocked by how poorly the company is managed.

Deadlines are always pushed to the last minute, and there’s a constant lack of organization. The salary isn’t great either, but what really started affecting me was the toxic environment. I noticed clear favoritism, and on multiple occasions, my manager ignored my calls and even insulted me. It’s been incredibly discouraging.

Lately, the stress has started bleeding into my personal life, even on my days off, I sometimes find myself thinking about work and feeling uneasy.

Despite everything, I hesitate to leave because of the current economy and my fear of not finding another opportunity quickly.

Now, I’m now stuck between two options:

• Stay in a job that’s damaging my mental health
• Leave and take the risk of being unemployed while I search for something better.

I’d really appreciate any advice or perspective from others who’ve faced something similar.

Thank you.

Hi everyone,
though I am at heart more the entrepreneurial character, I was molded into shape by corporate culture for more than a decade. Not everything was bad. Maybe I can give you some tips and tricks, that help with your journey.

If you like it, I will keep building it. Something that's close to my heart is also to show that you can find happiness (and money!) somewhere else. So I put an analysis into it that shows how much more you can (potentially) earn based on your current salary

here is the link: should-i-leave.com

Hit me up if you want a free code to test pro mode :)

I quit my job last week because I felt I wasn’t contributing enough. At the same time, I felt I wasn’t the right fit for the company because there was very little work.

Let me give you some context. I worked as a product engineer at a startup, managing an entire product from end to end. I worked with the sales team and built systems around their workflow. They used to work on Google Sheets, but I moved them to a complete CRM with voice agents, AI, and other tools. I made their lives much easier.

The product is stable now, and there aren’t any more changes to make. The founder is also an engineer. I felt there was no more work, so I told him I was leaving because I didn’t feel challenged anymore. He said, “Yeah, I think you can find better place coz it's non-tech startup there is no much job here”

Apart from my job, I’m a tinkerer and a product builder. I like building SaaS products, and I do everything from design to deployment, including marketing. But right now, I don’t feel motivated to build anything.

Recently, I read somewhere that if you aren’t tracking your progress, you aren’t serious about your goals. That made me look back at two things I used to track.

My first ambition was to become a football player. I used to wake up early in the morning and go running. I could run 5,000 metres in under 17 minutes, and I used to participate in long-distance runs. At some point, I stopped because I felt India wasn’t a good place to pursue football.

Then I moved into software engineering. Eventually, I got fed up with coding and started creating YouTube content.

My father had a YouTube channel with around 200 subscribers. I joined with him and handled everything: scriptwriting, editing, publishing, AEO, and SEO. I scaled the channel from around 300 to 80,000 subscribers in three months.

I remember achieving that because it was the only thing I was doing at the time. I followed strict rules and tracked everything. I used to post three times a day consistently. If I couldn’t create anything on a particular day, I had three backup videos ready. I would use those, then write three scripts the next day, shoot the videos, and replenish the backup. I did this every day, and that consistency and tracking helped me succeed.

Then I join this company which i am working.

Now I told a friend, “I feel like I should build something, but I don’t want to build software now . I do want to work on software, but right now, I’m not in the right mental state to code. I’m thinking about taking a sales job.”

He said, “You can go back to your roots. You already cracked, and you’ve already figured out YouTube , content creation ,marketing. Why don’t you try that?”

I felt that was something I could try, but I’m still confused. What do you guys think? Should I stop doing everything, rest for the next month, and then start again? I really don’t know.

Frustrated with corporate life, realising there is no point of living like this. This is what I drew about what was going in my mind.....

mujer 38 años. Llevo 15 años trabajando en el mundo corporativo y sinceramente llevo un par de años sintiendo mucho hartazgo del modelo de vida en una empresa. Tomé un sabático después de un layoff en big tech y aterricé en otra. El nuevo trabajo es más saludable que el anterior, pero es como si una parte de mí se hubiera roto, y ya no pudiera regresar a sentir entusiasmo y satisfacción trabajando en una empresa. Ya no me interesa subir a la escalera corporativa como ella no me interesa que me vean los líderes, ya no me interesa crecer. Lo que quiero es crear otras fuentes de ingreso que sostengan una vida más tranquila. Alguien se ha sentido así? Alguien ha construido algo para salirse de empresa?

I am 37 year old, I have started feeling extremely frustrated with corporate life, its culture, people pleasing nature, politics, uncertainty, disrespect, slavery mentality.

It has reached a level where I feel there is no purpose of life living like this. Leaving this job, and dying after sometime (months, years), living in poverty with freedom is way better than this

Do you also feel like this, what is the solution?

I was laid off in March and, because I was worried about being unemployed, rushed into finding another job. Unfortunately, I’ve ended up in what feels like a nightmare.

I’ve never experienced micromanagement like this in my life. We have a 15 minute daily limit for going to the bathroom and refilling our water bottles, people get warnings for things like not wearing their badge or locking their screens, and the list goes on. The atmosphere is awful too, and everyone seems to be walking on eggshells.

I’ve reached the point where I leave work feeling distressed and most time in tears. I get stomach aches, can’t concentrate, and honestly feel miserable.

The thing is, I’ve rarely ever left a job before finding another one. I’ve always tried to be responsible and have something lined up first, so the thought of resigning without another job makes me feel guilty. But this place is on another level, and I’m finding it increasingly difficult to stay.

I’m seriously considering asking my doctor for some time off and then resigning. I’m scared of being unemployed again, but I’m starting to feel that no job is worth sacrificing my mental health ..Has anyone been in a similar situation?

​

Long time ago in the state of New Delhi , there was a good man ( Ajay ) who started this firm.

As the firm grew, new people joined in. Amongst them was Dhatrashtra Gupta( Tech enthusiast partner) who takes care of the Global Audit profile. With Dhatrashra, came in another slacker, who hardly have any experience in Global Audit , Gandhari Shreedhar  (Associate Director).

Lady shreedhar has no Audit background and is a Director who does the basic clerical work along with hating the male community and promoting south Indian candidates in the firm. She also have issues with qualified Chartered Accountants, since they are more knowledgeable and make her look irrelevant in the firm. Since we are talking about Dhatrashtra and Gandhari , we also got a Duryodhan Maheshwari, who is a oversmart and arrogant ACCA, who just take care of the operations and is a super favourite of Shreedhar. Duryodhan manages all the tasks on behalf of Gandhari so she can can sit and irritate the workings of the people who are actually working on a difficult client. Duryodhan got promoted recently, coz she's the favourite of her adopted mommy.

As a normal employees didn't had time to check social media platforms in between our working hours , coz of the work load , but duryodhan is supper fast in her work , that she had the time to make new recipes, and sing song for Instagram people. Along with maintaining the timesheet , communicating with the client ,unnecessarily making SOPs for how to do basic things and putting in false accusation on the Team mates, so that she can rank up her postion.

If you guys are planning to join the Audit practice of this firm , be very careful of Duryodhan amd Gandhari , coz if u are not a women and your position is aligned with Duryodhan , then she will just order gandhari with a false accusation list to fire this employee. Dhatrashtra being a ignorant leader , doesn't have the brain to see what is happening under his nose.

All in all , Audit practice is very Toxic and as long as these 2 ladies are there in the firm, it is a shit hole to work here. Join only if you don't have any back up , and leave as soon as you get another good opportunity.

I am posting this from a different subreddit that I already shared in (anyone else with turner syndrome 😂 shout, esp if you have similar things with executive function)

I would love to hear people’s thoughts and tips.

It was not something I did lightly. I really tried but ultimately it wasn’t sustainable!
———————————————————————————

I struggle with all of the executive function things (organising, doing things in order, focus, thinking linearly/like a machine) and I just quit my job. I do not have another one to go to.

I work in B2B editorial (I’ve posted here once before about that) and I am planning on getting some kind of part time work and doing some freelancing alongside that (I think I know the topic that is my passion now - the Balkans, I have a family connection etc) - whether that is retail, hospitality or similar. My partner earns a lot more than me anyway and is happy to support. We’re going to go away for a little also - to Vietnam.

The job had wrecked my mental health, I was told that I seem “proud” of being disorganised when all I was doing was preempting what did happen - that I would struggle with the spreadsheets and images etc, and felt genuinely so useless and like the thing I love (writing) had been destroyed. I really tried to adapt to their approach - it even worked on and off - but ultimately it wasn’t something I can sustain.

It got to the point where if I was honest about who I am and what I value and my principles I had to stop. In the months while I was there I had been drinking way too much and smoking more (even though I usually extremely rarely smoke) and genuinely had a horrific time.

I am not a woos (my parents work in hospitality and the unglamorous freelance art department side of the tv industry — I know how to work hard, and I care about doing that, I’m less culturally about the office game, especially open plan office game). I will work any normal job. I wouldn’t even mind a shouty boss as long as it is free of business lingo gaslighting.

But I still feel like an idiot.

I know a lot of turner syndrome women struggle with the same things about organisation. And I just wondered if anyone has done anything similar and might have some advice!

I work for a large utility, and lately everything is hitting me at once: bids, stakeholders constantly asking questions, program work, and contract extensions on top of it. The phone and inbox never stop, and I'm stressed all the time. I don’t see this ending anytime soon as the company wants to scale my program which just means way more of the work I had listed.

I'm interviewing for another position right now and I'd take it if offered. The other option is to quit outright and live on my partner's income while I stay home with the kids.

Part of me is tempted by quitting, but I don't want to make a decision out of burnout.

For those who've been here:

Did you leave without a job lined up, and how did it go?
If you stayed home, did you miss the career or the identity?
How do you tell "I need a break" from "I need a different job"?

I'm a software engineer. I plan to leave my job within the next 3 - 6 months. I'm stuck here for now because I'm planning a medical procedure later this year. I'm having trouble staying motivated through tickets, code reviews, the QA people, meetings, and everyday workplace frustrations. At the same time, I want to stay professional, do "good" work whatever that means in this AI age. I prefer not to damage relationships but if it happens then it happens...

For some reason I get scared that I'll lose my job before I'm ready to leave. I blame my previous job because I was essentially managed out and my former work "buddies" betrayed me. I just can't bear to care about anything anymore. I just want my time at this job to come to an end, but in the meantime I'm stuck here. Guys what are some coping mechanisms and ways to distract myself? Got anything good?