![]() ![]() (In addition to back problems, I started getting crushing migraines.) Before I did, I bawled like a child on my sofa every night for weeks, saying, “I don’t want to go.” My next role, at Facebook, had similar drawbacks but few of the upsides. The nurse practitioner prescribed muscle relaxants and tramadol, an opioid painkiller, and urged me to quit. I showed up at the on-site health clinic and broke down crying. My lower-back pain became so severe that I couldn’t sit down at my desk-I had to code standing up, for hours at a time. After I reported sexual harassment, I was unable to sleep soundly for weeks on end. It smelled like sweat and old socks, and it felt like home.įor all the perks, the job took a toll. We rolled around on the carpet, doing crunches and planks. each day, I filed into a conference room with the other young engineers for “Capybara Abs” time. This shared mission, plus the considerable perks that tethered me to the office, made relationships there fierce and visceral. When democracy seemed to be melting down outside our office tower, I believed I had the power to help. My team combatted misinformation, and our bosses warned us that our mistakes could kill people. I arrived at Google in 2015, right after college, and immediately fell in love with the full-throttle pace. We hoped that career switches would solve the problem, but we’ll probably be struggling with it our whole lives.ĭerek Thompson: Three myths of the Great Resignation Talking with fellow quitters about what we lost when leaving, I found that there’s a fundamental tension between doing projects that thrill us and being able to shut our laptops, disconnect, and sleep through the night. Even after nearly two years of reflection, I still can’t decide if that euphoria is bad for me and incompatible with a healthy life, or if labor is, in fact, sacred. I’ve never felt more alive than when doing intense work in an intimate environment. But it was not the panacea I’d anticipated.Īs a culture, we’ve come a long way in identifying the bad parts of all-consuming jobs, but saying goodbye still often comes with an enormous sense of grief. Quitting seemed like the path to taking control of my mental and physical well-being. Like many workers who were part of the so-called Great Resignation, I walked away because of burnout worsened by the pandemic, along with a heightened sense that life is short. Even though I’m glad I left Google, after which I worked at Facebook briefly before exiting tech in mid-2021, moving on was complicated. Reunited with my colleagues, I throw myself back into debugging, ecstatic that my life has a clear purpose again. I clip my holographic badge back on to my belt loop I clutch my corporate MacBook to my chest. ![]() Even though it’s been three years since I quit- frustrated by sexual harassment, an excruciating HR investigation, and being discouraged from applying for a promotion, which led to a reduction in pay-I always accept their offer, flooded with joy and relief. ![]() Human resources tells me that they have the perfect software-engineering role and that I alone can do it. In my dreams, Google begs me to come back. ![]()
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