How I took the tech back from the "tech industry"

For a long time I really was happy. But slowly, something inside me started to wear down. I stopped doing coding projects at home. I no longer had much of an interest in the things that originally made tech so interesting to me. I just stopped using computers almost entirely outside of work. I didn't even own a computer for a while. My job started to feel boring and repetitive. I moved to cyber security (my minor) which helped some at first, but everything was still feeling very "grindy". Like a video game you've been playing too long, but you keep playing it more out of habit than anything else. Of course it wasn't just habit, I *needed* a job just like everyone else. We had a house and kids at this point, and due to our kids' special needs one of us had to stay home. My wife's career choice didn't make nearly enough for us to survive on, so she was the one to stay home.

I wasn't the happiest, but I was in a state of equilibrium for a long time. At this point my bipolar had finally been discovered, diagnosed, and medicated, which made life much more stable (if a little boring). I had developed strong opinions of course, about code and tech. I loathed things like cryptocurrencies and NFTs. I was disgusted by the tech industries lies and manipulations of everyday people ("get on the block chain!"), but thankfully I worked for a non profit cooperative, so I was shielded from having to participate in such nonsense. All of the code I was writing was to support internal teams, so I had no crisis of conscience of proprietary code or exploitation of users.

But, of course, things change. I'd done research on AI in college and I'd really enjoyed it as an academic pursuit. I'd even been offered a grant to turn one of my AI class projects into a research project (as an undergrad no less). So I was loosely following AI research. I was impressed when GPT 3 came out, it was really wild compared to what everyone else had at the time. But I'll never forget the first time I used ChatGPT. This was right after it had been opened up for "academic preview", long before the news or average person had heard of it. After 30 minutes of using it I knew it was going to change everything. I felt concern, like someone had opened Pandora's box and there was no shutting it now.

Many abominable tech incarnations fade after a year or two. It's kind of like a consolation prize for enduring the stupidity of it in the first place: you get to see it crash and burn and feel vindicated that it was in fact as bad of an idea as you originally thought. But we all know AI has been different. Not because the LLMs are actually good and useful, but because so much money has been poured into history's biggest ever scam.

In 2025 it's pretty damn hard to avoid using AI, **especially** if you work in a corporate environment. It's rammed down your throat, and with Windows 11 approaching it will soon be totaly unavoidable for the majority of office workers. I was tired of AI, tired of people not listening, tired of fighting the ever losing battle of cyber security, and tired of staring at a screen all day in a windowless office.

I'd made some friends online, friends who used Linux, wrote code, spun up servers, and explored cyber space - all for fun. They didn't even have tech jobs. One of them, who wrote several impressive tools for our community, was training to become an HVAC technician. One was a technical writer, and another wrote ad copy. But they all enjoyed tech, they all worked on their personal projects. If they wanted to learn a new language they just started using it, without worrying about lost productivity while they got a feel for it. I'm not saying they were perfectly happy people, but I'm trying to emphasize that they pursued tech as a passion without being in the *industry*. "Industry" feels like the opposite of passion. I'm sure it's not true for everyone, but it's true for many people.

At home things changed. My grandfather passed away and it left contemplating what I want out of life. Thing out of my control started to change the culture at my job for the worse. My kids were at a point where they were doing well enough that my spouse was able to change careers and start working again, but that didn't last and suddenly they needed someone home full time again.

So after prayer and careful thought, we decided that I'd leave my job and my wife would become the primary source of income. It was scary in many ways. Financially we'd be taking a huge hit. Her job makes enough for us, but only with her working a lot of overtime, and with us changing our standard of living pretty significantly. Also, I'd been in the tech industry for about 8 years, and that kind of identity change (no matter how much I wanted it) was also scary. But it was clear that it was time for this change, so we took the plunge. May 9th was my last day at my job.

So far I really like it. I'm finally able to adequately take care of the house and the kids. I can actually go outside and take a walk. I'm not chained to a screen, and I'm not so sick of computers that I don't want to use them for fun. Of course it's not been very long yet, but I think these things will all hold true. I'm most sad for the friends I left behind, but I'm doing my best to stay connected with them.

Getting away from the gross side of tech has been refreshing. Getting away from having AI forced on me, from having to use tools that I hate, from execs foolishly ignoring critically important advice, has been a breath of fresh air. I'm excited for this new chapter in life, and as I get further in it I'll post more here!