How do I leave this hellhole while tech is doing so bad?
Throwaway because I answer/ask tech question in my normal account. (30F) tech worker net worth ~1 million, been working towards firing since college. Currently I work in a FANNG company. It’s known as a meat grinder and I know several people who use to work there and most of them tell me it sucks. One left with hair loss from stress and another one left after it triggered their wife filling for divorce after being an only mom for years since he had to work so much. So I knew what I was getting into, but I had to take the job because I had been laid off and it was my only offer that wasn’t insulting.
Now it’s been nearly a year and I want out. I’ve been applying for jobs just I just feel so depressed and it takes all my energy to do the job. I don’t know if I’m weak or what but even if the rare day is relatively chill I still feel a sense of dread. My manager keeps telling me I need to approve and take on more but Im honestly not sure if his feedback is honest because the team use to be staffed by half of a minority he is a part of and now 3 people that is not that minority has left and now it’s just me and another guy who is not that minority. They also recently had a segment meeting and displayed the sales figures for every sales person and highlighted those under the target in red. I felt it was so toxic but everyone seemed to think it’s normal.
Now my friend suggested I go for stress leave. I just don’t want to leave without another job, since I was laid off with my entire team and it took 4 months to find this job. So it’s not easy, but I also barely have the energy or time to apply for jobs.
I’m also getting married this year but I cannot feel any sense of joy about it because planning a wedding is hell with this job. I’m pretty resentful that this job has made me regret deciding to plan a wedding rather than eloping. Which I was advised to do because or my job. It’s not even a big weddings like 40 people and very simple but still hard to do and execute with this job. I also wanted to not travel for work the week before and after the wedding and I got pushback about how that makes things hard on the team. So all things said I would have left immediately if not for tech being so bad. My tech friends are having hard time finding new jobs and the ones who aren’t employed aren’t getting offers even over a year later so I’m scared to leave. Also it’s much higher paying (I’m in Canada) than most other jobs than I could get, so thats also hard to leave.
Posted Aug 12, 2025, 5:38 PM UTC