All Articles
Honest stories and practical guidance for tech workers who are exhausted, questioning everything, or quietly planning their escape.
Roughly two thirds of what's here is practical: how to work out the runway you actually need, what to say to a manager without damaging your standing, how to tell burnout from depression, which careers people genuinely move into. The rest are stories — composite accounts of what the other side looks like, including the parts that went badly.
None of it assumes you've already decided to leave. A lot of people reading this are still trying to work out whether what they're feeling is a bad quarter or something that has run its course, and most of these articles were written for that stage rather than the one after it.
If you don't know where to start, Start Here points you at the right piece for wherever you currently are, and the complete guide to leaving tech maps the whole arc in stages.
Personal Finance
What happens to your RSUs, options and vesting when you leave a tech job
Burnout
Tech burnout: the complete guide to recognising it, recovering from it, and deciding what's next
Career Pivot
Tech jobs that don't involve coding: a realistic list for burnt-out engineers
Mental Health
How to tell if it's burnout or depression (and why the difference matters)
Career Pivot
How to leave tech: the complete guide, from first doubt to life after
Identity
The skills that AI cannot replace — and why burnt-out tech workers already have them
Career Pivot
How to use AI tools to test a new career path before you fully commit
Burnout
AI is doing my old job now — and honestly I have mixed feelings about it
Identity
How to rebuild your identity after leaving tech: a practical guide
Personal Finance
What financial independence really looks like on a reduced income — honest numbers
Freelancing
The freelancer's guide to setting rates when you're terrified of charging too much
Mental Health
The anxiety nobody warns you about when you finally have free time
Career Pivot
Why I went back to a tech job after trying to leave twice
Personal Finance
How much should you actually save before quitting — a tech worker's real budget breakdown
Identity
What leaving tech actually did to my sense of self — two years later
Freelancing
How to find your first freelance client when you've only ever been employed
Burnout
The burnout signs your body shows before your mind admits there's a problem
Personal Finance
How to build a 6-month emergency fund on a tech salary before you quit
Mental Health
The hidden cost of chronic stress — what burnout does to your body long term
Freelancing
The burnout that pushed me to go freelance — and why I haven't looked back
Stories
What life beyond tech actually looks like — 12 honest stories in one place
Career Pivot
The tech worker's guide to knowing when enough is enough
Burnout
90 days of writing about burnout — what I've learned from your responses
Identity
The loneliness of being the only one in your circle who wants out of tech
Career Pivot
What to tell your family when you're thinking about leaving a well-paid tech job
Burnout
How burnout affects your relationships — and what to do about it
Burnout
How to manage stress at work when you've already decided to leave
Career Pivot
Financial independence for tech workers — what FI actually means when you're burnt out
Career Pivot
How to prepare for leaving tech while you're still showing up every day
Identity
What happens to your tech skills when you step away — and why it's not as bad as you think
Career Pivot
How I calculated my "freedom number" before leaving my tech job
Career Pivot
The financial fears that keep burnt-out tech workers stuck — and how to face them
Career Pivot
The 5 questions to ask yourself before making any big career decision
Career Pivot
I downshifted from senior engineer to junior at a different company — no regrets
Burnout
How to start a side project when you're still recovering from burnout
Career Pivot
One year after leaving Google — the honest update
Burnout
How to find a therapist who actually understands tech work stress
Burnout
What nobody tells you about returning to work after burnout leave
Burnout
The real cost of staying in a job that's burning you out
Career Pivot
From PM to independent consultant — the first 90 days honestly
Career Pivot
How to negotiate a severance package when you're ready to leave
Burnout
How to set boundaries at work when your company culture punishes it
Burnout
Three years at a startup that broke me — and what I learned from it
Burnout
Quiet quitting is not laziness — it's your nervous system protecting you
Identity
How to figure out what you actually want when you've optimised for the wrong things
Identity
I had everything the job promised. So why did I feel nothing?
Identity
The identity trap: why tech workers find it so hard to just stop and rest
Burnout
Why taking time off didn't fix my burnout — and what did
Burnout
The 7-day reset for burnt-out engineers — no productivity hacks
Burnout
What actually helped me recover from burnout — and what was just noise
Career Pivot
10 Career Paths Tech Workers Can Explore Beyond Tech
Career Pivot
I left a $180k engineering job to become a writer — here's year one
Career Pivot
How much runway do you actually need before leaving a tech job?
Burnout
How to tell your manager you're struggling without tanking your career
Burnout
The Sunday dread is not normal — what it's really telling you
Burnout
10 signs you're burnt out — not lazy, not ungrateful, just burnt out
Burnout
I thought I was lazy. Turns out I was running on empty for three years.
Career Pivot
From senior engineer to ceramics teacher — the finances nobody tells you about
Identity