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June 02, 2005
Withering on the vine
For some time now I’ve been considering a career break of a year or longer. Not to travel, though it might be nice to do a bit of that, but to strike out on my own, trying to get some paying work in games development (even if it means trying the self-employment route once more). I’m nearly 29; this is probably the last part of my working life where I’m not paying a mortgage and won’t have to support anybody else, so I may as well take the time to do it now.
Plus, I’m getting very frustrated at how little demands are made on me at work. Finishing my part-time masters last year was hugely demanding but it really pushed me to accomplish something, and all I’m doing now is clocking in my hours, doing a competent enough job and watch my savings slowly increase.
I’m starting to think that not being pushed (or not pushing myself) is actively bad for me, just as being pushed was good for me.
So today, I went in to my boss and told him I was thinking of a career break.
Ooops! What if I completely fail to motivate myself and get stuff done when I’m working on my own? It happened the last time to an extent. And I really like working here if only because I get on well with the people I work with. That’s something I’ll definitely not have. And I’m sure my dreams of becoming financially independent are hilariously naive.
But I have to get out of here. And it’s hard to think of a safer way to do it than taking a career break and knowing you’ve enough savings to live on for a year, no matter what else happens.
Posted by Oliver at June 2, 2005 05:48 PM
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