I’ve missed the cutoff for the 2024 year in reviews, but a majority of my last year was spent on a break, so I’m writing up a review of my sabbatical instead.

I took my first-ever sabbatical in 2024, which was close to 9 months. It seemed like the right amount of time for me, for my stage in life, though it might seem both too long and too short. There is no right amount of time for a sabbatical, though I spent some time researching the “right” amount. I also went down a rabbit hole of researching the origin of sabbaticals. I learned that they are actually Biblical in origin, with the original mandate being a year-long rest for every 7 years worked, deriving from the word “sabbath,” which is the day of rest. I am not religious, but it was fascinating to learn of the religious origins of a mandated time of rest, which also extended to land being given a rest and not tilled during this time. 

I have wanted to take sabbaticals at different points in my career, but it was never a good time for many reasons: work, immigration status, etc. Finally, in 2024, everything converged, and it was finally the right time to take extended time off between jobs. It was a bit terrifying when I first started. I’ve worked with an intense schedule since my early twenties without a break. I took only a few weeks between jobs due to being on a work visa, so this was the first time I quit a job without a full schedule ahead of me. The sudden change of having a calendar with absolutely nothing on it made me very anxious. So, of course, I immediately started trying to fill it up to keep myself busy. This is apparently very common. I had to actively resist scheduling things, keep myself busy, and work on relaxing. This is probably a reason why travel is so popular on sabbaticals; taking yourself out of your regular environment and forcing jet lag and a different time zone helps. Traveling also allows for the piercing of the Silicon Valley bubble. It’s good to be occasionally reminded that San Francisco and the Bay Area are not the center of the world. The best part of my break was holding my newborn niece just a few hours after she was born. Newborns are perfect at making all other problems in the world seem completely trivial. They also have the capacity to humble even the most battle-hardened amongst us when they cry and you struggle to "debug" the problem.

At the halfway mark

The post on 40-year careers is one that has stuck with me, and I reference it often. I used the time off to think about where I am, the highs and the lows, and look ahead. The blog offers a useful framework for thinking through work from the different angles of people, learning, prestige, pace, and profit. I realized that I have consistently prioritized people and learning in all my roles, which also gives me the most satisfaction and happiness. For the last 7-8 years, I have also been working at an extremely fast pace. My more fulfilling roles correlate with a faster pace, so the pace to burnout isn’t as much of a straight line as I would have thought. But it does mean that if I want to recharge and have a sustainable career, I need to take active breaks from work. The sabbatical allowed me to reconnect with my hobbies and explore my interests. I also found joy in exploring unexplored areas of tech that I hadn’t had a chance to go deep into, such as reading about AI, playing with the various LLMs, coding for fun, and learning about product management. I enjoy working with founders, advising startups, mentoring, and helping others, and this continues to be a source of satisfaction. Now that I have had a chance to plant these seedlings of interest, I hope to continue with them even when I am working. The sabbatical allowed me to explore both what I want to do outside of work and what I want future work to look like. 

Looking ahead

It has been a few years of so much change that it is clear existing career frameworks aren’t going to apply. The combined forces of the end of ZIRP, AI innovation, and many geo-political changes mean everything is uncertain. In a time like this, what works best for me is to try to do what I can do really well, focusing on my own sphere of control. I will continue focusing on learning and people, with an eye on pace. Profit and prestige are more useful as valued side effects of work well done instead of primary goals.