April 17, 2026
Last week, I quit my job at Meta without another job lined up. My plan is to take at least 3 to 4 months off to rest, explore my interests and reflect on what excites me before looking for a new job that will match those better.
My goals through this piece are:
I’ll make this case by answering some common concerns I’ve heard from friends and family, and by offering a different perspective on each of them.
Yes. I wouldn’t recommend this to someone with limited savings, or hard constraints like visa uncertainty. Those factors matter a lot. I happen to be in a privilege position to have neither of these constraints, so I won’t try argue much around here. There are things you can do to limit your exposure to both risks, like reducing your burn rate without affecting your happiness but that deserves its own piece. I also think that people overestimate how much money they need to be content; look around at how many people make much less than you and remember than they likely are just as happy as you.
If you have enough savings to survive a couple of months and you’re unhappy at work, then continue reading.
This is the most common and reasonable pushback. I get it. In that scenario, you get the best of both worlds: you get a new exciting job, keep your income, reduce uncertainty and get a short break in between if possible. And to be fair, this does work for some people.
My counter-argument is that this doesn’t work for most people, and that the potential downside is significant — the consequence of which is hurting your current self and your future self.
Let me explain.
Many people, including myself, don’t have the capacity to multi-task here; that is doing a a good job at the our current company and do a good job looking for next one. Both typically require focus, but especially finding a new one that you really want.
That process takes time if you’re hoping to get a job you plan to feel excited about for a few years; you need to find out who you are and what you like (separate piece on that), have something to show, put yourself out there, prep and interview. It can take up to a year for some people. Skip any of these steps and you increase the risk that you land at the wrong job and stay there a couple of years.
And the likelihood that you’ll be rushing some of them is high considering that you’re lower on energy than usual because you’re now balancing your current job with your new job, on top of everything else that happens in life.
If you rush the former, you risk burning out. If you rush the latter, you risk getting the wrong job.
Taking a break solves a big part of this. You’re giving yourself the opportunity to remember who you are and what you want in life, and align these values with the next job you’re looking for. Some jobs will match more closely with your values and goals than others.
The other counter-argument to optimizing for having back-to-back jobs is that you deserve a break. Not because you’re worked hard or not, but just because you’re human. Unlike what this capitalist systems tries to make you believe, your value as person isn’t tied to your output or your job. You deserve love and dignity just because you’re alive, and nothing else. It’s easy to forget this.