Big city, good company, good position, good salary. Though there is one thing: don't want to be here. Not unhappiness, just lack of happiness, just apathy.
Want to go back to my country, return to my hometown, return home. This is not new, been feeling like this for the last 3 years.
Don't want to work remotely, don't want to work in tech at all. Want to go back to teaching.
Two problems: 1 - How to stop feeling like a disappointment? 2 - How to justify a 95% income drop from my current job to a average teacher salary in my 3rd world country?
Any advice much appreciated. Cheers.
First thing they did was purchase a home, car, furniture, and that took care of the typical monthly expenses that eat into your salary. The rest went into CDs or other fixed income accounts. If you combine that with a teacher's salary, it's more than enough to live a basic and comfortable life.
I think the only caveat here is currency value fluctuation. The laws and rules about how you keep your money in accounts (e.g. American Dollar versus local currency) can vary a lot and change over time. The weakening of a currency can basically force you to change your plans. Some people have to "unretire" after a while.
None of the people I'm thinking about were "rich" by Western standards when when they lived in US/Europe. So it's not a story of some startup millionaires who went back and lived a life of luxury.
While I am tempted to write a long essay, I will call out 4 points which I think are crucial:
1. Talk to someone you trust who can be a bit more objective (and a good listener). You will find the answers yourself.
2. You are going to die someday. Think about what you want to leave behind.
3. Assuming you have some money saved and where you are going to live, your drop in quality of life might not be as high as you anticipate.
4. It is easier if you are not married. Getting back into tech industry is both easier and harder than you would expect.
My go-to books for these kind of questions have been [1] Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22535/22535-h/22535-h.htm) [2] Stray Birds by Tagore (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6524)
Please dm me if you just want to talk about it and best of luck.
I’ve found life to be good here, but I can’t help but think I had it made in my home town: in terms of family (father recently got out of rehab, and despite his issues, I love him), Great long time friends, along with some love interests (left one behind that I felt like I really clicked with!). I don’t know, it felt like life was getting good for me for the first time in a long time, and then I left to go for the job offer I accepted out of school.
I certainly wouldn’t call myself depressed here, I’m active, see friends nearly every day. The town is really nice too. At the same time, I don’t feel the overwhelming sense of appreciation that I used to.
There are some good work opportunities there as well, although I’m not sure if the pay would be quite as good. I try to keep in touch with my friends from town but its already getting hard. I’m afraid that if I wait too long I wouldn’t have much to come back to. Simultaneously I don’t want to waste the time I’m investing in my new home.
Any thoughts hackers?
If that doesn’t work, seriously consider switching to a part-time remote job. I don’t know what your current salary is or where you’re from, but I’m assuming that even 5-10 hours a week of remote software work will be significantly higher than a local teacher salary. I wouldn’t throw that opportunity away on a whim, especially if you have any family members to consider.
I feel you pain of not feeling worth while, you say, you wanted to be a teacher.
would you like to have 30 mins call to see what really bothers you?
the call is free and its not to sell you any service
my email is in my profile
Daniel
Spend few (2-3) months in your native town, work remotely at your current job. See how it feels.
Soon you'll be able to justify eitherway if making the full transition is worth it or not.