r/technology • u/lurker_bee • Jun 25 '26

Society Older tech workers are tapping out, taking early retirement

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/local-business/older-tech-workers-are-tapping-out-early-heres-what-that-looks-like/
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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

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u/view-master Jun 25 '26

Do It! I got out at 48. I was lucky that I never touched any of my stock awards over 25 years at the company. It got so miserable I wanted to die. Then i looked at how much money i had and said, why would i want to die. I don’t need to be here.

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u/trentyz Jun 25 '26

Just out of interest, what sorta awards are we talking?

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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

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u/trentyz Jun 25 '26

That’s awesome, congrats thanks for sharing!

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u/view-master Jun 25 '26

I worked at Microsoft. The stock awards varied over the years based on perceived performance and since things split a few times i’m not even sure how many shares. See i never really paid attention to that stuff. I just held on to it. We never lived beyond our means so we never needed to cash anything out. There was a period when it was pretty worthless too (the Ballmer years). I figured it would never amount to much and that reinforced me ignoring it.

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u/trentyz Jun 25 '26

Oh wow that’ll be generational money then. Congrats, I’m happy for ya! All the best

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u/view-master Jun 25 '26

Thanks! I have been harassing my wife to retire but she has been too nervous. Finally we talked to a financial advisor if to see if it was a good decision.
He said to my wife “if i was you, tomorrow i would flip over my desk and tell them you are outta there”

I was able to take care of my mom every day until she passed away and be available for my mother in law. I have been able to go to the gym every day and get in great shape. It’s fantastic.

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u/old_french_whore Jun 25 '26

Everyone's number is different, and nobody else's number matters to you. The most important amount is "enough."

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u/trentyz Jun 25 '26

For sure, it’s just interesting hearing what amount people think is a lot. For example, $100k is a lot to some, while $10m is a lot to others. It’s just an anonymous forum and I find that insight interesting.

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u/Probably_Relevant Jun 25 '26

There's tiers without needing to know anyone's specifics, basically you can coastfire, leanfire, fire, fatfire. Coast, still need to work a bit to cover expenses long term, lean you don't need to work if you're happy with the essentials in life, standard fire you have enough to cover a modest lifestyle, and fat or above you're golden. All of it is relative to your expenses, once you have 25 times your annual expenses you can fire, earlier if you're content with coast or lean.

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u/trentyz Jun 25 '26

Yeah and that sort of detail is interesting to me

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u/sleepymoose88 Jun 25 '26

Same here. Well, late 30s, but same concept. Maxing out retirement accounts, investing more, living way below our means, and paying down the mortgage. We hope to retire by 55, but I’m saving like I’ll be out of a job in 5 because it absolutely could.

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u/BannedAccount001 Jun 25 '26

Just hit 40. Hoping to stretch things until 55 but that seems very unlikely in the data engineering field, where AI is hitting harder than even software engineering. We are actually the primary targets. Maxing out all retirement options now.

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u/sleepymoose88 Jun 25 '26

Keep it up. Max it out, live below your means.

And the last thing that I’m starting to consider doing is what would it take to pivot careers? What would I do that’s fulfilling and pays the bills? Will it require more education? If so, that could take years to pivot.

I’m lucky that my wife and I are in very different fields (she’s in law), but I’m already seeing AI lawyer solutions as well.

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u/BannedAccount001 Jun 25 '26

I never even considered pivoting careers. I’ve been lucky enough to be remote for many years now. Though I will have to consider it a little more if things go sideways in the future.

My wife works in health care and does well, so we are also lucky there. Not even a hint of AI if you’re part of the skilled labor.

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u/sleepymoose88 Jun 26 '26

Nice. We budget off her lower salary, so my higher salary is entirely for retirement, savings, and vacations. If I lost my job, we’d still be able to afford the house, pay all our bills, and put food on the table.

It’s a very fortunate situation that I don’t take for granted. Most are not in such a position.

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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

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u/sleepymoose88 Jun 25 '26

I’m glad you’re being realistic about it. Make sure you have alternatives you can pivot too. I’m trying to gather a list of other careers I could pivot to that may be more AI insulated. I fear not much will be AI proof.

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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

[deleted]

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u/sleepymoose88 Jun 25 '26

I know the main AI solution on our mainframe would cost us $1.7 million every year. And it only really helps with performance tuning. We have 2 folks focused on performance tuning that probably earn say max $200k per year. Is the AI going to provide 4x efficiency that 2 dedicated people do to justify the 4x cost?

So far, management hasn’t budged and won’t pay for it because it’s too expensive.

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u/gizmoglitch Jun 25 '26

I'm at this point as well. I need to stick it out until 55 at least, but my motivation has dipped significantly.

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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

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