Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own. 

With the doubts and burnout lingering earlier this year, I contemplated on taking an extended break. There wasn’t any reason not to, since I was fortunate enough not to have to pay loans or medical bills. I looked realistically into an extended break by forming a rough budget and researching insurance options. Even with the planning and growing excitement, I spent a lot of time doubting myself on whether this was a good idea to quit with no job lined up. How would other potential employers see this gap in my resume? Was I abandoning my coworkers? Maybe I was too stressed to think clearly, so should I first take an extra long vacation to clear my head?

HALLOWEEN 2020 LAWN DECORATIONS – “WE’LL ONLY REST WHEN WE DIE.”

At the end, I asked myself, “What would my future self look back on – spending a year to take a break and do some cool things with a minor hit to my career, or to continue working myself to the bone?” Looking back at my academics and career thus far, I felt confident that I would work hard to re-enter the workforce after an extended break. I then confided to my close friends and family on this plan, and they were nothing short of supportive. Finally, I handed in my resignation. I am now five months into my gap year, and it has been a refreshing experience. I spent the first two weeks not doing much, simply resting and adjusting to the freedom. I then set myself a rough outline of how my week would go, while also not confining myself to optimize every minute of my life. This is the time to explore new hobbies, or to cultivate and refine existing ones. I took advantage of my free weekday time to enjoy the sights of NYC, or travel around the Northeast, avoiding weekend crowds in the process. So far I’ve taken online courses, volunteered, exercised my creative brain, exercised my body, and read novels. I keep in touch with family, friends, and colleagues regularly – virtually or in-person. I reflected on how I’ve grown in my career, what lessons I’ve learned, and what I value most in my career and life.

PAINTING MINIATURES FOR A FUN WAY TO UNWIND.

The treadmill of the tech industry is not easy to keep up with. Technology and business continue to evolve, which means there’s always something new to learn. Keeping up with the treadmill can also result in tunnel vision, moving so quickly that other aspects of life may blur in the process. I did end up nearly falling flat on my face as I stepped off the treadmill. However, after picking myself up, it has been nice to walk at my own pace and learn what I can do on my own terms. If you want to follow along in my gap year, you can check out my blog at www.warunlock.com!

SusanNa Dong 

She / Her / Hers

Software / Data Engineer

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

If I traveled back in time to meet my younger self and told her that I had quit my data engineering job to take a year-long break, my younger self would give me an incredulous look. “What are you going to do with all that time?” she would ask. “Won’t you run out of money? What will happen to your career?” Throughout college, I was solidly focused on my academics and career. I powered through a rigorous curriculum and was surrounded by very smart classmates. I carried this work ethic to my full-time data engineering job in New York City. Within the first six months of my professional career, I learned how to develop jobs in Apache Spark, a big data processing software, to crunch millions of production customer data points daily. I worked in other technologies such as databases, cloud infrastructure, distributed computing, and API programming. I also learned soft skills such as writing technical documentation, interfacing with customers to understand their needs, and handling on-call dumpster fires. I enjoyed exploring new lunch spots with coworkers, playing Dungeons and Dragons in my spare time, and reading fantasy novels on my commute to work. I’d be lying if I said that my professional dreams had come true. Behind the veil of productivity and success were the doubts and burnout. My first six months of the job involved a high-visibility project that I was wholly unfamiliar with, tech- or business-wise. This project also added to the stress of adjusting to post-grad life in an unfamiliar, fast-paced city. I’ve been known to reliably deliver any project I’ve been given, and was rewarded with more requests and responsibility. I was surrounded by very brilliant software engineers who seemed to know everything in the industry, while I felt like I was always just trailing behind their shadow. The treadmill of tech didn’t get any easier with the stresses the pandemic brought. With the doubts and burnout lingering earlier this year, I contemplated on taking an extended break. There wasn’t any reason not to, since I was fortunate enough not to have to pay loans or medical bills. I looked realistically into an extended break by forming a rough budget and researching insurance options. Even with the planning and growing excitement, I spent a lot of time doubting myself on whether this was a good idea to quit with no job lined up. How would other potential employers see this gap in my resume? Was I abandoning my coworkers? Maybe I was too stressed to think clearly, so should I first take an extra long vacation to clear my head?

HALLOWEEN 2020 LAWN DECORATIONS – “WE’LL ONLY REST WHEN WE DIE.”

At the end, I asked myself, “What would my future self look back on – spending a year to take a break and do some cool things with a minor hit to my career, or to continue working myself to the bone?” Looking back at my academics and career thus far, I felt confident that I would work hard to re-enter the workforce after an extended break. I then confided to my close friends and family on this plan, and they were nothing short of supportive. Finally, I handed in my resignation. I am now five months into my gap year, and it has been a refreshing experience. I spent the first two weeks not doing much, simply resting and adjusting to the freedom. I then set myself a rough outline of how my week would go, while also not confining myself to optimize every minute of my life. This is the time to explore new hobbies, or to cultivate and refine existing ones. I took advantage of my free weekday time to enjoy the sights of NYC, or travel around the Northeast, avoiding weekend crowds in the process. So far I’ve taken online courses, volunteered, exercised my creative brain, exercised my body, and read novels. I keep in touch with family, friends, and colleagues regularly – virtually or in-person. I reflected on how I’ve grown in my career, what lessons I’ve learned, and what I value most in my career and life.

2021 TRIP TO PORTLAND, ME. CHANGE OF SCENERY AFTER MANY MONTHS IN NYC.

PAINTING MINIATURES FOR A FUN WAY TO UNWIND.

The treadmill of the tech industry is not easy to keep up with. Technology and business continue to evolve, which means there’s always something new to learn. Keeping up with the treadmill can also result in tunnel vision, moving so quickly that other aspects of life may blur in the process. I did end up nearly falling flat on my face as I stepped off the treadmill. However, after picking myself up, it has been nice to walk at my own pace and learn what I can do on my own terms.

If you want to follow along in my gap year, you can check out my blog at www.warunlock.com!

Susanna Dong

She / Her / Hers

Software / Data Engineer

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