Quit my job yesterday, after 23 years with the same firm. The company's changed over the last few years (since well before Covid - anyone else noticed that 2020-21 don't count when talking about "a few years ago"?) between the previous CEO losing his way and ultimately quitting, and a new guy coming on board and bringing his team with him. My role within it has also changed over that period, into one I'm not satisfied with. I could have fought to get back into a role I wanted, but ultimately I came to the conclusion that even if they gave me the perfect role, the company culture is now not one I want to be part of, and given the individuals involved, I can't see that changing. So I'm out.
I'm glad to have made the call, and hopefully it'll have me feeling better about life in general in a few months - I've been finding myself getting steadily more negative about all sorts of things of late. But meantime there's a grieving process to go through - this job's been part of me for almost half my life, and while I'm not sad to be going, I'm sad it's come to this.
No idea what happens next - I don't have a job to go to. I'm going to take a few months out to decompress, shitpost a bit more, and do some landscaping around the house: there's some big jobs required to finish off the massive project we took on with this property four years ago, and I've been deferring paying someone to deal with them because I had a feeling that at some point soon I may have more time than money. After that, maybe a similar tech management role with a different company, maybe get back on the tools, which TBH I enjoyed more than I ever have management; the only issue is money. Or maybe get back into the startup scene - I joined my soon-to-be-ex employer as employee #6, and the best days were the early days when we were making it up as we went along and everything seemed possible: I'd love to get that feeling again. I'm not overly worried about finding something when I decide to look - the job market seems to be booming even despite the looming recession, and worst case we can get by on my wife's salary with a few lifestyle compromises.
A reminder of more carefree days (or at least less thoughtful ones) for your time.