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1 day ago
3
I recently spent the past six months working on a startup. We had a fair bit of momentum coming out of a well known accelerator and an idea with traction, but unfortunately the money just didn't quite show up for the seed. At 30, doing this without pay (and expenses covered) seemed like an ok idea, at least for a few months. But at this point I'm kind of done.
Co-founder didn't understand why I wasn't interested working without salary anymore... there were other signs the relationship had broken down etc. Planning on letting him know I'm out near the end of this week.
I started interviewing when these feelings started to get to me and... the VC from the accelerator ratted to my co-founder that they'd "heard from recruiters". This was effectively the most unprofessional breach of privacy I've ever experienced and as a result I think I'm done working in software (don't even ask me my opinion of SF).
I've been doing this six years, clearly I'm not good enough (tech screens these days are ridiculous) and even as a founder of multiple previous companies (with one exit) and lots of SWE experience I'm no longer attractive for roles that pay well. I've come to realize I don't really even enjoy programming or prepping for interviews - it all feels grating and makes me feel like an idiot.
That said, I have no idea what to do next and feel inexplicably lost. My age doesn't help this, but I'm fully drawing a blank. I don't really have money to go to grad school and it appears that dev roles are just getting more competitive. Maybe I was an ok engineer for a while, but I just feel lost and scared.
At 30 I don't care about clout anymore, most of my friends make way more money than me or have families. Being an adult here seems like acknowledging doing startups is maybe the dumbest thing I could've done with my life.
This probably sounds like a lot, but it's the first time I've run up against this many things going wrong in my life at once. Anyone else pivot away from tech and still make half-decent income?
