Anyone ever successfully gotten *out* of IT?

[crays]

I'm kind of in this boat . . . hit 20 years at the same company this year (sort of--we've done some acquiring and been acquired) and it's kind of the "golden handcuffs" situation. I was a manager (sales operations & quasi-IT-related) up until a couple years ago when things got nutty with being acquired and a gigantic chitstorm of a project that I was neck-deep in all at the same time that my dad was cratering from Alzheimer's and mom needed a lot of help. I resigned once teling my boss it just wasn't worth the brain damage & stress anymore and he talked me out of it. A few months later it wasn't any better and I told him I wanted to move to individual contributor or I was leaving. So that's where I've been.

It's been "better" like that but it's getting a bit stupid again . . . company is like a head with its chicken cut off most of the time. But with the pay being what it is and great benefits--and the pandemic--its just not an advisable time to jump unless something comes out of the blue. Probably just try to bank as much as possible for as long as I can stand it and hopefully downshift into semi-retirement in the next 5 years. Maybe find something part time just for basic spending to minimize dipping into other funds.

I dunno. Weird place to be. My wife says I just need to transition to "quit and stay" mode . . . don't kill yourself and do just enough to not get RIF'd. I'm trying to care a lot less, but I'm just not wired that way.

^^^Very similar here, but I'm at 25yrs and too young to retire (i.e; access funds w/out penaties). I agree that it's not a great time to "start fresh", but maybe there are actually more opportunities out there right now due to all the hoohah going on.

[Ramsker]

^^^Very similar here, but I'm at 25yrs and too young to retire (i.e; access funds w/out penaties). I agree that it's not a great time to "start fresh", but maybe there are actually more opportunities out there right now due to all the hoohah going on.

Yeah, I'm 52 . . . so it's another 7ish years before I'm in the no penalty stage.

We'll see how it all goes. I keep my ear to the ground for potential opportunities so you never know. Nothing that has come up so far would be worth leaving--equal stress for less pay. I've thought about what my next move here might be if I get to "that point" again. Maybe would go to my new manager and have a chat about whether they'd be open to creating some new position at a reduced salary where they could benefit from what I bring (which they'd be hurting if I left) while having some funds back to backfill with someone younger who'd start at a lower salary anyway. High risk move and I'd have to be ready for the "thanks but no thanks" response or just getting laid off later.