--- type: "article" title: "Why I decided to quit a Director's job" newsletter: "manager.dev" newsletter_handle: "managerdev" newsletter_url: "https://usecommune.com/n/managerdev" author: "Anton Zaides (@antonz23)" published: "2025-03-11T07:02:04.000Z" canonical_url: "https://usecommune.com/n/managerdev/a/why-i-decided-to-quit-a-director-s-job" markdown_url: "https://usecommune.com/n/managerdev/a/why-i-decided-to-quit-a-director-s-job.md" chat_url: "https://usecommune.com/n/managerdev/a/why-i-decided-to-quit-a-director-s-job/chat" source_url: "https://newsletter.manager.dev/p/losing-60k-why-i-decided-to-quit" body_source: "imported" likes: 0 replies: 0 body_words: 955 --- # Why I decided to quit a Director's job 4 weeks ago I made the hardest decision of my career - I quit a dream job, in a company I love, to take a 6-8 months break. I wasn’t burned out, or super-stressed. There is no family emergency requiring me to be at home. Everything was truly ok. I enjoyed my work, liked the people around me, and got a nice paycheck (by non-US standards..). There were many good reasons **not** to make that decision: - **Market** - The market is shit, It'll be difficult to find a job - **Role** - Director of Engineering jobs are even harder to find - **Money** - I have a family to take care of, and this decision will cost us ~$60K (there are many variables in that calculation, not just the salary, like lower tax returns and government payments). ## So why did I do it For the last 12 years, I have been following the classic path, doing what everyone expected from me. I went through a coding bootcamp, and stayed for 6.5 years at my first company. During that time, I also completed a Computer Science degree (evening lessons) because it was important to my parents. Then I moved to my latest company. After a year, I was promoted to Engineeirng Manager, and after another two, to Director of Engineering. I’m on the sure path to becoming a VP R&D/CTO in 5-10 years. **But I never once took some time to really stop and consider: “Is it what I truly want?”.** I know I enjoy programming, and the tech world in general. I feel it’s a truly good fit for what I’m good at, what I enjoy, and what the world needs. But even inside the tech world, there are many different paths I haven’t tried: - **Becoming a CEO** - if I want to lead a company someday, I need to get some experience outside of engineering, maybe in Product or Sales. - **Founding a startup** - a dream of many engineers. Why not try it out? What better time than at 30, when I have experience and energy? - **Becoming a solopreneur** - working just for myself. Maybe a combination of creating some products, teaching courses, coaching, writing. So the goal is to **take time to explore and figure out what I REALLY want.** What’s more important for me: stability or risk? 9-5 or freedom? family time or ambition? tons of money or enough-but-less money? making an impact on the world or doing what’s convenient to me? When I read Tim Ferris’s ‘The 4-Hour Workweek’, he mentioned the concept of ‘mini-pension’. Instead of working for 45 years, and then relaxing, why not take 6-12 months breaks **during** your working years? It took me a year to make that decision, but I decided to give it a try. ## Am I irresponsible? This decision has 2 main ‘costs’: #### 1. Money My father-in-law can’t understand that decision. He has his own business and worked at it for 30+ years, trying hard to save for the future. He told me: “You know that if you continue investing those $60K for 30-35 years, even at 7% they will be worth $600K by the time you retire? Can’t you just take a 3-4 weeks break?” I understand his point of view. He wants what is best for his daughter and grandchildren. But my answer is “Yes, I’m willing to give up on the $600K-in-30-years for those 8 months. I truly believe it will be worth it”. I thought hard about it, and talked a lot with my wife. She supported me, and we agreed on a length of time that made sense to us. I didn’t rush into it, or make an impulsive decision. I thought about it for almost a year and planned our finances for that. #### 2. Career An 8-month gap never looks nice on the resume, and the market is difficult now, especially for management roles. If I decide to continue on the CTO path, I know I can be flexible in my job search. We’ll get to my plan in a moment, but I will code a lot in those months, and worst case, I’m sure I will be able to find a role as an engineer (and start climbing the ladder again). I actually believe that I will be able to find at least an Engineering Manager job. ## What’s my plan I want to experiment with different things, and do what I enjoy. I’m coding A LOT with Cursor, and I **absolutely** enjoy it. In a few weeks, I was able to launch multiple working apps in different domains. The one I’m currently working on is manager.dev. If you are an engineering manager, check it out! :) [Checkout manager.dev](https://manager.dev?utm_source=newsletter.manager.dev&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=why-i-decided-to-quit-a-director-s-job) The [one question](https://www.notboring.co/p/long-questionsshort-answers?utm_source=newsletter.manager.dev&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=why-i-decided-to-quit-a-director-s-job) I want to solve is ‘What do engineering managers need to help them enjoy their job?’. I have an ambitious vision for it, and I’m really excited to work on it. I will also exercise more, read more books, meditate more, and spend more time with my family. I plan to work 4-5 hour days. This is what my calendar currently looks like (Dan is my son). 1.5-2 hours every morning for a slow routine, and ending my days at 15:30 to pick him up. ![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/29cb991d-b319-4cc6-9cb3-40003512933e/86b8f14e-fecc-4705-b7b2-25ac2fb1723c_1606x732.png?t=1773825848) ## Final words ### What I enjoyed reading this week: 1. [I Became a Monk for 10 Days so You Don't Have To](https://read.perspectiveship.com/p/meditate?utm_source=newsletter.manager.dev&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=why-i-decided-to-quit-a-director-s-job) by 2. [Should managers still code?](https://theengineeringmanager.substack.com/p/should-managers-still-code?utm_source=newsletter.manager.dev&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=why-i-decided-to-quit-a-director-s-job) by 3. One of the blog posts I enjoyed the most on this topic is “[Quitting My Job For The Way Of Pain](https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/quitting-my-job-for-the-way-of-pain/?utm_source=newsletter.manager.dev&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=why-i-decided-to-quit-a-director-s-job)” by Nik. I definitely didn’t suffer that way, but some parts of it were relatable. *** [Powered by beehiiv](https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=c16b6125-633c-4690-939d-d0fffa767ad5&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=manager_dev) *** ## Discussion No replies yet.