One month in: now employed by a tech company during my 9-5
How it feels being employed again
I told myself I could always go job search again if VuxByte didn't do as well as I wanted. I didn't know how long it would take or if I'd be successful in a job search, especially given the down turn of big tech jobs, but it worked out great! I am now one month in to being employed (goodbye self employment), and it's been quite a change up. I go into the office 4 days a week to work with coworkers in person, I deal with legacy codebases once again, and of course the biggest change: I am now busy 9-5, during the week, so I don't have the same time I used to have, to work on VuxByte products, namely the SplitMyExpenses mobile app.
Getting into the groove
Luckily, I wasn't gone for too long from the corporate life, it had only been June 2023 --> October 2024, so right around a year or so, that I had worked at Meta and done all the big tech things in my day to day. Giving a go as a solopreneur for one year was adventurous and tumultuous, but, thankfully, I did not drop any relevant skills I need in the modern tech workspace. I feel at home during meetings, 1:1s, making decisions, alignment, leadership, navigating large codebases, etc. all the things I didn't do too much on my own. I was slightly worried I'd have to re-learn a few things, especially working with others, but I snapped right back and am feeling quite at home in my current role at Snap!
Investing in my career
The career journey of a Software Engineer can look vastly different: big tech, startups, fin tech, you name it. Mine is also unique: not many people I know have left their cushy job to pursue their dream. While I was bummed to have to do a job search after 12 months, I knew it was the right thing for me, and I'm quite happy with where I am today, all things considered. I plan to stay at Snap for many years, so I'm investing heavily in relationships at the company, especially now that I'm in person. Work is so much more than coding, writing docs, and alignment. Enjoying your time is critical, since you spend so much of the year working. I am happy with where I am, happy with what I'm working on, and happy to be in the office to socialize with coworkers, where I didn't get that in my solopreneur journey (although meetings can be a bore sometimes).
I likely want to try going full time on my own gig again in the distant future. The next time, I wouldn't just quit cold turkey with no revenue, but rather do it when that side project is taking off ($$ wise). Until then, I think I'll keep investing my time and effort on nights and weekends when I have energy, but it's definitely not all the time, and sometimes, that can be frustrating to me mentally. On that note, my mental health has improved drastically since being employed, since financial stress was pretty high while I was working for myself. Overall it's been pleasant being employed again, and I traded my VuxByte stressors for a different set of stressors (Snap), both at work and outside of work. No company is perfect, but I've been treated quite well so far and am excited about the future of my work, Snap, and long term VuxByte 🚀