100%. I just talked about buying a farm to my colleagues yesterday, and I'm not making this up.

Sort of

I still love open source software and tinkering and building my own software

Anything closed source can go pound a bag of dicks

30+ years experience with computing, and I hate them.

They only ever do what you tell them to, and they’re not even doing that anymore.

Tech workers is like the majority of fediverse. You won't run out of people to ask.

Edit: A friend of mine working in IT mentioned that his ex-boss retired and then became a children's book writer. If financial constraint isn't an issue, I would be a polymath and travel to learn more about the world. That was actually the point of education is to be a more well rounded person.

I don't even work in tech but I want this more and more each, I blame it on society getter consistently worse each year.

True. I am eyeing woodworking more every day.

Yep. I've middle aged coworkers who are saying quite emphatically that they can't imagine retiring in tech -- they know they'll need to move to another industry well before retirement, in part because of AI reducing the need for certain skillsets. They also know they're too old to be considered a 'good hire' due to ageism in tech. Most seem to have made plans to try and move on to something relatively low skill for the last part of their working lives. I know one of their plans is to do a food truck.

When I started my career in IT I consciously started keeping a variety of backup careers in mind, and I intentionally keep my expenses where I could simply swap careers and make it all work financially.

Probably my most viable backup plan is to move into banking or finance. Decent money available there, still tickles the part of my brain that loves understanding numbers and processes while also working my brain entirely differently than troubleshooting network problems. Data science, HIT and HRIT are also options in considering if I want to stay in the realm of IT, but that depends on how burnt out I get really

In my personal life I've been picking up more off-screen hobbies to help stave off burnout among other reasons. I'm hoping career-wise I can promote myself into management before I get too burnt out, but you never know

Fuck no.

Stardew Valley in a nutshell

I don't want any sort of device or appliance in my home that requires an internet connection that doesn't get a long time of security updates. My old printer died and they're so bad now I just don't have one. I'm going back to a dumb flip phone because this one's battery s dying. I use everything I can without spending money because I've never had a lot to spend to try and maintain my privacy. I keep spam email for the random site that wants you to enter one. The IoT is cancerous, it creates huge security holes because these appliance manufacturers don't care about security one iota. I have worked in IT for 15 years professionally with over that personal experience. I hate what the internet has become, I want something more akin to the 2000s back or at least the scrubbing of corporate mandates cut out. It's actually more dangerous to be on it because of advertisements. I would still have internet and gaming PCs regardless, but I want tech that's basic and functional.

Yeah. But I think most of us would only last 2 days on a farm, and then come screaming back to comfortable office life.

I disagree. 20 plus years in tech. Never wanted a farm, and I still love tech.

Agree with the sentiment. Solar and print farms might be part of the picture though.

I work I tech and have a small nature sanctuary. Why not both? We get high speed internet out here now 🤣

Worked in tech for 18 years, now I fix rust old cars and try not to touch computers beyond looking up wiring diagrams and replacement parts.

I have dreamed of this life since before I was in tech.

I was born in a passive-solar, earth-sheltered house that my dad designed and built himself. Instead of a stack of Playboys he had Mother Earth News in the back of the closet. My parents owned one of the first Priuseseses in the US.

For a wonderful few years I had this life. I raised pigs and chickens and managed my property. I got into the best shape of my life, physically and mentally, and just stepping out of my front door made me feel more alive than I've felt since I had to move back to the burbs. (I don't think people realize how little oxygen they get in urban and suburban environments.)

Though I am stuck in the suburbs for now I am determined to get back to that. I would rather wake up to a hungry pig tearing apart its enclosure than to another fucking meeting.

Nah, I just want to retire not live on a farm. The last place I'd ever want to live on this earth is a rural community, I've tried. It is terrible.

True for me.

Meh.

If you're in a toxic workplace, sure. If you're in a workplace that lets you have fun with your work, learn, discover new things and tinker - the 9000th day is exactly as exciting as the 9th day on the job.

My original plan when going to IT university was to make 1 money-milking website and move to a forest in middle of nowhere...

Can confirm.

No, I really can’t.

Confirmed.

I'm halfway there having a farm but still required to have a tech job to sustain life.

Hoping to retire in 3-4 years though and after that I'm getting say in to growing my own food.

This is mostly true, but farming/ranching is constant work once you have even a modest amount of land and livestock.

I grew up in a low-net-worth family, working on a farm that has been in our hands since 1873. I worked 3 jobs while studying my butt off, and eventually got a degree in Electrical Engineering with a Computer Science minor. I was recruited into various government programs and defense contracting companies, made my way to consumer electronics and medical device companies, then finally free- and open-source hardware/software. I now gratefully hold a very prestigious position while living full-time in my RV while prepping a fully self-sustainable homestead back on my family's ranch.

There is no substitute for the beauty of nature in the small amount of time we're able to appreciate it. That said, there are many many many to enjoy nature without sacrificing vacations for the vocation of fixing fence, herding cattle, plowing fields, eradicating invasive species, calling the game warden on poachers, fixing fence....

A tech job to fund a pivot into ranching sounds like a fun plan

I'm retiring from an IT position with a public college at the end of the month. I sure AF don't plan on doing any programming for shits 'n' giggles.

Yep, absolutely

I think most people feel like Ron at the end of office space.