Quitting My 9 to 5 - First Thoughts

I’ve just taken the leap and bid farewell to my “secure” 9 to 5 job. Instead, I’ve joined a startup called Streameth as a freelancer, which is, admittedly, the most daunting part of this transition. My emotions are currently a whirlwind of excitement, fear, uncertainty, and liberation, among many other contradictory feelings.

To be honest, I’ve never experienced anything quite like this before. It’s such an unusual sensation that I felt compelled to sit down at 23:43 on a Friday night to collect my thoughts and write about it. My hope is that this exercise will help me organize my thoughts and gain clarity on how I truly feel about this new situation.

Why Quit?

My decision to leave my 9 to 5 job was influenced by several factors. However, before delving into the reasons, let’s acknowledge the positive aspects of my former position.

The Good

I was fortunate to be part of an excellent team. My colleagues were all genuinely pleasant, and on Mondays - my only on-site day - we would gather for breakfast and engage in team-building activities. This made the work environment more enjoyable.

Additionally, I had opportunities to engage in development work, which was the saving grace that prevented me from quitting on day one. I was able to develop some smart contracts (the very thing they urgently claimed to need during my interviews) and APIs. These tasks aligned with my skills and interests, providing a degree of job satisfaction, but again, just enough to not make me quit.

Conditions were also not bad, hybrid work and a, kind of, flexible schedule.

The Bad

Despite holding a relatively high position, my salary didn’t reflect my responsibilities or the value I brought to the company. This disparity is unfortunately common in corporate Spain. The growth potential was virtually non-existent; above me was only my boss, and beyond that were the C-suite executives (CEO, CTO, etc.).

For 2k/month, I was leading a national project involving a consortium of 6 to 8 companies, conducting meetings, managing a small team of developers (including myself), writing numerous documents, and delivering presentations. In essence, I was performing a managerial role without appropriate compensation. To summarize, the job offered a low salary relative to the responsibilities, no growth potential, and work that I disliked 90% of the time.

The Ugly

I briefly touched on this earlier, but it’s worth elaborating. The company had initially hired me as a blockchain developer for a project that required this specific technological expertise. They had no in-house talent familiar with blockchain, so they reached out to one of my university professors for a recommendation. The professor suggested I would be the perfect fit, and indeed, my skills aligned well with their needs. However, this blockchain work ended up occupying merely 10% or less of my daily responsibilities, a far cry from what was initially promised.

The Jump

As mentioned earlier, I’m joining a startup, which is inherently risky. However, I’m not just joining as a regular employee; I’m coming on board as a freelancer. This decision was made due to the complexities and expenses associated with hiring full-time employees in Spain. It’s a double whammy of uncertainty, but one that I’m willing to embrace.

In this new role, I’ll be wearing two hats: developer and manager. Unlike my previous position, development will be a core part of my job rather than a side quest. While the salary is higher than before, the increase isn’t as substantial as one might expect due to the hefty taxes freelancers face in Spain.

The growth potential in this new venture, much like my previous job, is somewhat limited given that we’re a small team of five with a rather fluid hierarchy. However, the opportunity to build something truly innovative and potentially scalable is incredibly exciting. The chance to be part of a project that could grow into something significant is a major draw, despite the associated risks and uncertainties.

This new chapter in my career is filled with both challenges and opportunities. While the path ahead may be uncertain, I’m eager to embrace this change and see where it leads me professionally and personally.

Last words

So, this was a first brain dump on describing my new situation. Lets see how this reads after some time has passed.

Was it a good decision? Answer in a couple of years