In a recent article in the San Francisco Standard, an anonymous Facebook employee shared the horror that is tech work right now. And the horizon doesn’t really look a whole lot brighter.
How are you holding up to the constant pressure to do more, the non-stop change in focus, the angry and unfeeling comments from management, and the realization that the work you’re doing is actually hurting you, your community, and society as a whole more than it’s helping?
If you’ve managed to hang on in the tech industry this long, you have to know your job is on life support. Will you keep showing up until they quietly deactivate your badge, leaving you stranded at the front door, or will you do something before it’s too late?
There’s no going back. Not to a tech world where we worked together with a diverse set of colleagues to solve real, consequential problems for real people. Or to one where we didn’t agonize over the ethical quandary we find ourselves in because we’ve allowed our identities to be shackled to fat paychecks, company stock, gated communities, elite grade schools, and luxury cars.
Meanwhile, there’s never been a better time to go home. Across the nation, small and medium-sized cities have been anxiously waiting for us to pack up the skills we learned in our tech jobs and bring them back to our hometowns. Towns that have been gutted from the inside out by corporate greed and extraction of wealth and talent.
Our small and medium-sized cities need a big investment. But not necessarily of money. Sure, money helps, but what they really need is people. People who care and want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. People who want to do something productive and supportive, something that gives back instead of taking away.
The easiest way to do this is through small business ownership. What service or skill does your community need? What was once supplied by a local tradesperson, then was gutted by private equity or big business, and now is no longer available in your town? Funerals? Flooring? Sewing? Books? Floral? Hardware? Travel? Cleaning? Septic? This is where we should focus. With our expertise in understanding products and their markets, we are uniquely qualified to identify the niches that can be served better locally than they can by Amazon and the big box stores, organizations that have gotten too big and lumbering to truly serve their customers.
So let’s bring back the locally owned and operated small business. One where the money stays in our communities, builds lasting relationships, and healthy families.
It’s not too late to go home. In fact, it might just be the perfect time.
If you’re ready to kick your tech job to the curb, I hope you’ll consider joining my next cohort of Career Nirvana. Let’s “Refactor your Job” (and your community, too).
nicolederr.com 