Every time I drive this place I fantasize about buying it and restoring/repairing it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sayre/4366230632/

It sounds like this guy thinks his job at Google was as good as it gets. This is like a musician thinking their job at a marketing agency writing jingles is the best they can hope for.

My feeling is he probably gave up too early on finding a way to integrate money making and his passion. Maybe this works best for him though.

I have a story to share:

I started programming computers when I was very young. Because of the skills I developed, and because of some connections I had, I got a very high paying job in the data processing department of the Livermore School District while I was still a junior in high school. (I was on independent study at the time.) I literally made more money than I knew what to do with, unfortunately.

A couple of years later, I had been talking to a girl online, who lived in Florida. We met a few times. I've never been all that good at the relationship thing, so this seemed important to me at the time, so I moved to Florida. Shortly after getting there, I learned Oracle PL/SQL and another language I can't remember any more in the course of a few days to get a job at Ceridian Benefits Services; in time I became one of their lead techs with a path into their software development department. Again, more money than I knew what to do with.

After about a year of this though, things weren't working out, and there was a part of me that felt starved. It was the part that enjoyed hiking, enjoyed being outside, enjoyed being fit and in good physical health. I also had a strong feeling that everything up to this point had been too easy for me, that I wasn't getting as much out of life as I wanted to.

So I quit.

I moved back to California and resolved to spend the next few years starting over, completely from scratch; I wanted to take the hardest possible path through life for the next few years. (Boy, I had no idea what I was in for.)

I got into rock climbing, and then got a job as a climbing instructor. I had the opportunity, through my style, personality, will, and determination, to influence people around me. I made a lot of friends, many of whom I'm still friends with. I got to feed the outdoor side of my personality for a while. The job didn't pay much though, and eventually I fled, in debt, to a job in the retail part of the outdoor industry, in another part of the state.

During this time I didn't use computers, unless it was as a cash register or inventory system. For a period of a couple of years, I was completely disconnected from the internet, computers, toys, and gadgets. I learned how to fix cars, I chased sheep down the street, I climbed a lot, and I wandered around.

I'm back in computers now, obviously. It took me only about a year to catch up to the changes in the industry, and I'm one of the leading consultants in my area now, with a successful business of my own.

But, I'm really, really, really glad I took that road. It taught me so much that I couldn't have learned by staying behind a computer desk all day long. It taught me how to relate to people, for one. It taught me how to maintain some balance in my life, and how to pay attention to the needs of my spirit. (My girlfriend, who's reading this over my shoulder -- she's really patient with my need to hear myself talk! -- is reminding me that it's also how I met her, which is probably the best part of all. :-)

So my main point, in so much as I have one, is that abandoning your core skill in an area, and putting yourself in over your head for a while, can lead to some really valuable experiences. You don't need to worry about whether or not you'll still be able to get back in later, or re-acquire old skills; they'll come back, in time. Don't worry about that at all.

One friend of mine did the same, here in France: high level degree, but only one year working in front of a desk. He totally switched to a sailing instructor job. As a computer engineer and sailor, that's really appealing me, but my skin wouldn't bear it. I know he's 100% living during the day, I know I'm making mouldy on my chair...

Interesting to be able to directly contrast the comments of a Reddit-story with the comments on the same story at HN.

From Python to Monty Python?

It felt amazing to leave work with a clear head, not thinking about whatever unfinished business I had left which could prove to be a problem in meeting the deadline.

My story is quite the reverse. I grew up on a dryland wheat farm in Montana. Nature has a way of enforcing its own deadlines. There, you are never not aware of the issue facing you, hail, no rain, early fall, short crops. Software deadlines seemed to pale in comparison.

The only problem I have with this is that he left a job where he had the potential to make a net positive change in the world to one where he is a tool in destroying the environment.

Sure personally he feels less obligation, but it just seems like eventually that will catch up with him, i know it would to me... especially for someone who professes to love the outdoors, and then contributes to its destruction. The motivation is a little hypocritical...

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Are most programmers even capable of this sort of physical work?

Also, what happens if you get injured on the job?

Making bucks, working outside, getting exercise... fuckin' A!

I have this ambition to move into the middle of a forest some where. I'd love to spend my day tending to a garden, and maybe a few animals supporting myself. To live life the way it used to be. At night i'd hack on code again, or actually spend time with my girlfriend (maybe wife?). At least in that case if I worked 70 hours a week, I personally would receive the value from 70 hours of work. Right now I'm just getting fatter, my cloths smell because i'm too tired to do laundry, though I see my girl friend every day I'm too tired to do anything.

Not the first guy who has had thoughts of quitting IT and getting a real job.