If you won the lottery, would you keep doing what you're doing?

9bits

Just curious...

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alias454

Really surprising how many would quit their jobs and get out of IT all together. I'm curious about that. Anyone want to elaborate?

Rumblr33

It the jackpot was an absurd amount, I would quit my job and start my own company and/or become an investor in tech startups. The jackpot would have to be more than $400 million, with a take home of at least $150 million after all is said and done.

SpetsRepair

If I never had to work again I would invest it in some large tech companies
Leaving the IT field completely might be on the list. It is high stress and once you see upper management really doesn't care about anything but their bottom line than it becomes pointless to keep working hard, or maybe that is just my current employer

Danielm7

alias454 wrote: »

Really surprising how many would quit their jobs and get out of IT all together. I'm curious about that. Anyone want to elaborate?

Computers are a hobby too, but given the chance to be completely financially independent for at least my life and a few generations down if managed well, why would I keep going to work? I have entirely too many other things I enjoy doing vs driving into work and dealing with meetings and deadlines. I'd be willing to bet a lot of the people that say they'd keep working their regular corp job would suddenly change their tune when handed 100+ million dollars.

xxxkaliboyxxx

I can't speak for the other guys, but I.T. isn't a job change, it isn't a hobby, it's a lifestyle. I been formally trained and groomed by the US Army. With that said, I'm not bright eyed and bushy tailed in my views of the IT field anymore, real life has hit me in the nads multiple times and my sharp edge is more like a chipped dull knife that seen too much combat. I love the I.T. field and being an I.T. Specialist in the Army, I have held everything from network tech, infosec to OSINT. When you make money, being a worker bee is for the birds, let your money make more money! There was no option where I could pick a ragtag crew of outlaw IT convicts and run international covert operations on foreign governments, while I sit back and drink my pina colada in South America, so this is a close second.

Lexluethar

None of the above, I'd use my money and knowledge to setup free training centers to help the less fortunate learn about computers. I'd also setup labs in retirement homes and give free classes on on older people could email and communicateven I think their families.

alias454

@daniel, each of us has our own motivations of course and I wouldn't keep a crappy job anymore than you would. However, I would stay involved in the IT field whether it was starting a company or whatever. I would enjoy a month or two off in the Bahamas here and there too. I just think work(whatever that may be to you) is important to our own psychology and well being as people. I also think about why people like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, or any other wealthy person keeps working. There must be some reason and I don't think it's greed necessarily.

@kaliboy, I think that's where I'm coming from. IT is a lifestyle and I wouldn't choose to do anything else(I'm like the drunk who became a bartender).

I'm not suggesting anyone is making the wrong choice, I just think it is an interesting observation.

hurricane1091

alias454 wrote: »

Really surprising how many would quit their jobs and get out of IT all together. I'm curious about that. Anyone want to elaborate?

I am surprised anyone is surprised by this. Why do any of us work in IT? Because it has interesting aspects, and can pay good. If we could be anything though and get paid the same amount, I'm sure many would pick other occupations. Me personally? Meteorology, sports journalism, etc. If it was as easy to break into those careers and get high up, I'd have done it. I like my job and what I do, but how in the world is what any of us do for a living better than what we do for hobbies? Buying a boat and catching some fluke all day, hitting up beaches around the world, working out, driving crazy vehicles, going on adventures, etc. It's literally a no brainer, why would I care about BGP or EIGRP if I can go tuna fishing all day and come home and fall asleep on my hammock at my bayfront property? I really would be shocked if anyone won 50 million dollars here, and still cared about their jobs. Some say they would, but if I presented you 50 million dollars, could you not find more fun/less stressful stuff to do? If not, give it to me - I've got plenty of ideas! Plus, there's no staying at your job and taking 3 months of vacation. They won't do it. You either quit and build a lab which is cool, but I wouldn't do it. Quit and start a company, which is smart. Or quit and leave it all behind and have fun, which is easy.

Cardboard

I have given this question much thought, mostly when I have $5 worth of Mega Millions tickets in my hand.

If I did win big, say 50 million after taxes, my work ethic would have me thinking of retirement real quick. But then again, I have tried for so long to get into a data center job that I would hate to just up and quit on it after all the work and learning I have done.

I think I'd talk to some DC owner and explain my deal and offer to work for free or minimum wage. Or just throw him $25K to hire me. At least for a month or so, until I had a bad day and said "You know what? I don't need this BS, I'M RICH!!!".

Or purport myself to be a major customer of their DC, renting many racks, but the condition is I get to work there. Then when I get tired of it, cancel the deal and quit.

I could start my own DC at that point, but that is too easy. There'd be no one who could tell me no. Would not provide the job satisfaction.

If I won a small jackpot, say 5-10 million net, I'd buy a piece of land and build some apartment buildings. Then I'd have steady income from rents every month. I figure with 20+ units, I'd be financially free.

alias454

@hurricane Why does anyone work at all(see comment about Warren Buffet and Bill Gates above)? It isn't surprising that people would quit their jobs per se but what is surprising(at least it was to me) was people are saying they would quit AND get out of IT altogether. My assumption, was more people would say they wanted to create a business or do something charitable putting their skills to use in some fashion.

You mention a few other career choices but I would say, IT isn't an easy field to break into and gain rank either, it takes effort and stamina(as does any career choice) to level up. I guess I am one of the lucky ones in that, I really love the work I do. I don't like the BS and politics of it but that is more about the company one works for than the work itself.

xxxkaliboyxxx

alias454 wrote: »

@hurricane Why does anyone work at all(see comment about Warren Buffet and Bill Gates above)? It isn't surprising that people would quit their jobs per se but what is surprising(at least it was to me) was people are saying they would quit AND get out of IT altogether. My assumption, was more people would say they wanted to create a business or do something charitable putting their skills to use in some fashion.

You mention a few other career choices but I would say, IT isn't an easy field to break into and gain rank either, it takes effort and stamina(as does any career choice) to level up. I guess I am one of the lucky ones in that, I really love the work I do. I don't like the BS and politics of it but that is more about the company one works for than the work itself.

Not to rain on anyone's parade and say anyone view is more valid than others. I think you might be seeing the world with rose tinted glasses. Looking at your history, you just got a a new job and a 10k bump, you are still on that high.

We all love or at the very least like the IT field in our own way, I mean we are getting certs, most of us been in the field for years and we even talk about it in our off time a.k.a. forums.

The options that were presented were pretty narrow, most of us I believe would be connected to IT some sort of way, maybe just not at our current jobs.

UnixGuy

@alias:
nice posts mate!!

Out of sheer curiosity, how many years have you been officially in the industry?

hurricane1091

xxxkaliboyxxx wrote: »

Not to rain on anyone's parade and say anyone view is more valid than others. I think you might be seeing the world with rose tinted glasses. Looking at your history, you just got a a new job and a 10k bump, you are still on that high.

We all love or at the very least like the IT field in our own way, I mean we are getting certs, most of us been in the field for years and we even talk about it in our off time a.k.a. forums.

The options that were presented were pretty narrow, most of us I believe would be connected to IT some sort of way, maybe just not at our current jobs.

I have no passion for computers, and am actually a network engineer (which I actually enjoy, but it's like the guy designing highways but not giving a damn about the car used to drive on it). None of the stuff I do at work would be something I would put to use at home, for the most part. I could build a great lab, but ultimately it just doesn't really translate over well. I've got a BFD implementation project I'm leading which will decrease convergence time when primary circuits fail. I am writing a QoS policy for our new VDI environment as well, and I am setting up routers for UNS for their Voice Complete environment. None of that stuff is something I'm going to be doing at my house lol. I've done it in labs to learn it so I can do it in the real world and get paid, and I think it's very cool how it works but unfortunately I don't see a scenario where I'd be doing these things at home for real value, just to learn. Now if you told me your job was building PCs and fixing them, hell yeah you can keep that hobby after you quit your job once winning the mega jackpot. You can build PCs you never even imagined. If you're a software guy, you can write some sweet code to do something cool. But if you're me, you probably could make up work to do, but really when are you going to need a load balancer or QoS at your home lol.

I went to school for meteorology briefly, and I still follow weather models and stuff. I don't get paid to do so, but the weather is something that affects everyone obviously. It might snow this weekend, and I want to know before the news tells me and I want to make a prediction. It's fun to me. So I totally get keeping hobbies, and I really do respect people here who would keep those hobbies. I think each person's current job is different. If you're a printer tech, do you really see yourself buying crazy printers so you can work on them at home lol. I doubt it.

All that said though, I probably wouldn't mind being a part time professor. I actually think I'd enjoy teaching what I know. I actually applied for an adjunct position at ITT Tech, and then then next day they went out of business. Oops.

xxxkaliboyxxx

hurricane1091 wrote: »

I went to school for meteorology briefly, and I still follow weather models and stuff. I don't get paid to do so, but the weather is something that affects everyone obviously. It might snow this weekend, and I want to know before the news tells me and I want to make a prediction. It's fun to me. So I totally get keeping hobbies, and I really do respect people here who would keep those hobbies. I think each person's current job is different. If you're a printer tech, do you really see yourself buying crazy printers so you can work on them at home lol. I doubt it.

I'm a helpdesk guy so I figure I would buy a helpdesk just for my family so they can quit calling me about their printers or why .pdf aren't opening. Also I would call my own helpdesk just so I can ask why isn't my facebook working.

hurricane1091

xxxkaliboyxxx wrote: »

I'm a helpdesk guy so I figure I would buy a helpdesk just for my family so they can quit calling me about their printers or why .pdf aren't opening. Also I would call my own helpdesk just so I can ask why isn't my facebook working.

Buy and own the help desk, and make more money off of it. Smart man.

xxxkaliboyxxx

hurricane1091 wrote: »

Buy and own the help desk, and make more money off of it. Smart man.

To expand on that, I would have the help desk in some remote island with no contact with the outside world. I would train the local natives on tier 1 support and escalate tickets to no where. I would live on this remote island and I picture coconut rum on everyone's desk with little umbrellas and everyone wearing shorts and flip flops.

Hurricane, I like the cut of your jib

alias454

UnixGuy wrote: »

@alias:
nice posts mate!!

Out of sheer curiosity, how many years have you been officially in the industry?

I have been doing computer related stuff since the late 90's when I started working as an intern, doing desktop repair. No doubt, I have had my share of ups and downs since then but much of that was due to poor life choices along the way.

xxxkaliboyxxx wrote: »

Not to rain on anyone's parade and say anyone view is more valid than others. I think you might be seeing the world with rose tinted glasses. Looking at your history, you just got a a new job and a 10k bump, you are still on that high.

We all love or at the very least like the IT field in our own way, I mean we are getting certs, most of us been in the field for years and we even talk about it in our off time a.k.a. forums.

The options that were presented were pretty narrow, most of us I believe would be connected to IT some sort of way, maybe just not at our current jobs.

I tend to think of myself more as a realist with a positive spin if that makes sense. I guess I looked at the poll more as a suggestion of options than a single choice. I think all answers are valid and I am not making any judgments about the choices anyone has made.

alias454

I just saw this. Forget everything else I said...I am buying one of these to store all my Corvettes in http://www.carvana.com/vendingmachine

chrisone

Quit, travel, enjoy life, learn new languages, buy a couple franchises, build a new business.

m1xaylo

Buy an island, build a pyramid ----> became a pharaoh

Danielm7

I think some people are mixing up the "keep doing what you're doing" and never touch tech again. Like I said early, I enjoy computers, I read about them when I'm off. I play with security things too much at home. But, doing that, and "keep doing what you're doing" while you have 50+ million dollars are two different things.

Even quitting and starting random businesses != doing your same job you have now. I could think of charities you could volunteer at, all sorts of things, but your exact same job every day when there is zero financial payoff, no thanks, there is way more to life for me.

Verities

Danielm7 wrote: »

I think some people are mixing up the "keep doing what you're doing" and never touch tech again. Like I said early, I enjoy computers, I read about them when I'm off. I play with security things too much at home. But, doing that, and "keep doing what you're doing" while you have 50+ million dollars are two different things.

Even quitting and starting random businesses != doing your same job you have now. I could think of charities you could volunteer at, all sorts of things, but your exact same job every day when there is zero financial payoff, no thanks, there is way more to life for me.

Everyone forgets that in some states you are obliged to have your photo taken with a big check and cannot remain anonymous. Everyone and their mother (probably your mother too) will try to exploit you for money including the government as they tax the crap out of your earnings and place you in the highest tax bracket. 50 million quickly turns into 25 million, which turns into 10-15 million (guesstimated from impulse buying).

GSXR750K2

Verities wrote: »

Everyone forgets that in some states you are obliged to have your photo taken with a big check and cannot remain anonymous. ... 50 million quickly turns into 25 million, which turns into 10-15 million (guesstimated from impulse buying).

Very true. In my opinion, the first person anyone should call after winning the lottery is an attorney, and a good one since you can afford him, to set in motion protecting what anonymity you can. Plus, LLCs and whatnot would be necessary to spread around and protect that sum of money (and to keep the vultures somewhat contained)...the FDIC's $250k coverage won't help much if all of the money is sitting in a single checking account when the fan gets a brown paint job.

As for the second point, impulse buying is indeed the crux for most "overnight millionaires". Even if someone only won $10M, they could easily pull off a measly three percent return and, voila, they have $300,000 in interest to live off of per year, which I'm sure any one of us could do easily and never have to touch the winnings directly if the self control is present...though I know I'd splurge on a few things myself.

Dakinggamer87

Travel, give to the churches and missionary work, and enjoy life!! I'd still work because I enjoy being challenged and contributing my skills to helping others and improving myself. It would just not be as much in the number of hours..

Maybe buy a car and cheap house.

vanillagorilla3

E Double U wrote: »

If I won once, I can win again. That plan is so stupid its gotta work. It just has to.

I laughed way too hard at this.

UnixGuy

For those who still want to be involved with computers, I salute you! I used to be that guy, once upon a time

Cyberscum

If I won I would tear my pants off and slap my boss in the back of the head. Invite all my friends to Vegas and party like an animal.

U only live once...

cyberguypr

/thread

stryder144

Dakinggamer87 wrote: »

Travel, give to the churches and missionary work, and enjoy life!! I'd still work because I enjoy being challenged and contributing my skills to helping others and improving myself. It would just not be as much in the number of hours..

Maybe buy a car and cheap house.

I would still teach as I do now, just when I want to. I would fill the other time up with establishing a consultancy where my focus would be helping churches and other nonprofits with their IT needs. Of course, that would probably mean that I would have to buy a huge (go big or go home) IT lab and study different subjects like IT architecture and what not. Heck, maybe I would even contribute funds and provide training at various community centers that assist those in need.

alias454

Cyberscum wrote: »

If I won I would tear my pants off and slap my boss in the back of the head. Invite all my friends to Vegas and party like an animal.

U only live once...

You had me at "tear your pants off"