About this site
Built for the ones who are tired of pretending everything is fine.
If you've landed here, you probably already know the feeling. The Sunday dread. The Slack notifications that make your stomach tighten. The performance review that went well — on paper — but left you feeling hollow. The creeping suspicion that you've optimised your way into a life you don't actually want.
That's what Life Beyond Tech is about. Not quitting tech dramatically. Not becoming a monk or moving to Bali. Just honest conversation about what it actually feels like to work in this industry — and what comes next, whatever that looks like for you.
"The goal isn't to help you escape. It's to help you figure out what you actually want — and then go get it."
This site exists because most career advice for tech professionals is either toxic positivity ("just find your passion!") or doomsday cynicism ("the industry is broken, leave now"). Neither is useful when you're sitting in your third back-to-back meeting of the day, wondering if this is it.
We cover burnout recovery, career pivots, identity shifts, money, meaning — the real stuff, for people who are going through it right now.
What you'll find here
Recognising it, surviving it, and figuring out how to come back — or not come back the same way.
Stories of engineers, PMs, and designers who made the leap — with the finances and feelings included.
What happens to who you are when your job title stops defining you. Harder than it sounds.
How to have the conversation, save the runway, negotiate the exit, and plan the next chapter.
How our stories are written
A word on honesty, because this site asks you to trust it with a vulnerable subject. The first-person stories on Life Beyond Tech are composite narratives: they blend the commonly shared experiences of many tech workers — from public accounts, forums, research, and conversations — into a single telling. Names, employers, salaries, and personal details are illustrative, not reporting. No story here is one individual's memoir, and none should be read as testimony from a specific person.
We write this way because the patterns are real even when no single person's story is safe to publish — most people quietly planning an exit can't attach their name and employer to how they feel. Our articles are drafted with the help of AI writing tools and shaped by editorial judgment about what's true to the experiences people actually report. The practical guides — runway math, severance, boundaries, budgets — are research-based and meant to be checked against your own situation, not taken as professional financial or medical advice.
If a composite story rings true, it's because thousands of people are living some version of it. If something here rings false to your experience, tell us — that feedback makes the writing better.
New articles go out every week. If you want them in your inbox — along with thoughts that don't make it onto the site — the newsletter is the best place to be.
No daily emails. No hustle culture. No advice from someone who has never actually felt burnt out. Just one honest letter, every Sunday.