About to quit my job without a new one lined up to take a 6-12 month gap year/career break in Japan with only 2.5 years engineering experience? Am I making a terrible decision? /u/newjacknewme CSCQ protests reddit

Hey everyone,

I’ll save you all the specifics but basically I’m extremely burnt out from my job (software engineer, 2.5 years experience, large financial institution), mostly due to my team’s work culture and feeling like I’m getting bullied/actually getting shouted at by some of the senior members of my team who’ve been at the company for decades. It’s gotten to the point where it’s really hurting my mental health and I’m sleeping terribly. I dread my morning standup everyday. I’m at a crossroads where I’m looking for a new job to escape this current toxic one, or spend 6-12 months working/traveling in Japan on a working holiday visa. This is something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve learned a lot of Japanese over the years (almost conversational) specifically for this and have enough money to last me for the year or even longer. I’d put it off for another year or two to improve my career prospects but I’m not getting any younger and want to do this while I’m still 20 something. The only thing stopping me is the fear of getting a new job once I return to my home country (New Zealand)

My main question for you all is, how much of a hit would I be taking by quitting my job without a new job lined up when I only have 2.5 years of experience as an engineer? How bad will a 6-12 month gap in my CV look? And how difficult will it be to find a job once I get back from traveling? While overseas I do plan to keep my skills up to date by regularly doing leetcode, personal coding projects, online certifications and even still applying for jobs just to get used to doing interviews and seeing how employable I am. I understand that a lot of us are struggling with the software job market right now so this might actually be the worst time to get up and leave when I should instead look for a new that’s hopefully not so toxic while I still have my current one. But the longer I wait the more difficult it becomes to go on big trips like this when I could be tied down with family and relationship commitments once I get into my 30s.

Curious to hear peoples thoughts! Am I about to make the worst decision of my life?

Hey everyone,

I’ll save you all the specifics but basically I’m extremely burnt out from my job (software engineer, 2.5 years experience, large financial institution), mostly due to my team’s work culture and feeling like I’m getting bullied/actually getting shouted at by some of the senior members of my team who’ve been at the company for decades. It’s gotten to the point where it’s really hurting my mental health and I’m sleeping terribly. I dread my morning standup everyday. I’m at a crossroads where I’m looking for a new job to escape this current toxic one, or spend 6-12 months working/traveling in Japan on a working holiday visa. This is something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve learned a lot of Japanese over the years (almost conversational) specifically for this and have enough money to last me for the year or even longer. I’d put it off for another year or two to improve my career prospects but I’m not getting any younger and want to do this while I’m still 20 something. The only thing stopping me is the fear of getting a new job once I return to my home country (New Zealand)

My main question for you all is, how much of a hit would I be taking by quitting my job without a new job lined up when I only have 2.5 years of experience as an engineer? How bad will a 6-12 month gap in my CV look? And how difficult will it be to find a job once I get back from traveling? While overseas I do plan to keep my skills up to date by regularly doing leetcode, personal coding projects, online certifications and even still applying for jobs just to get used to doing interviews and seeing how employable I am. I understand that a lot of us are struggling with the software job market right now so this might actually be the worst time to get up and leave when I should instead look for a new that’s hopefully not so toxic while I still have my current one. But the longer I wait the more difficult it becomes to go on big trips like this when I could be tied down with family and relationship commitments once I get into my 30s.

Curious to hear peoples thoughts! Am I about to make the worst decision of my life?