A Journey Beyond Corporate America

For 15 years now, I did what was expected of me—A good job. From side hustles in college and low-balled startup positions to a high-paying job in Silicon Valley, I had gone through just about every possible flavor of software engineering occupation there is.

I envisioned for myself what people call a “career”, just to find myself in a philosophical dead-end. The glorified endeavor that would supposedly lead me to success has led me to a breaking point.

In this essay I’ll talk about the decision to quit my cozy corporate job and why the fear of not knowing what’s next is the best thing that ever happened to me.

Hello, Corporate America

In September of 2016, I left everything behind and moved to San Francisco, California. I had two suitcases, a job offer at the German software giant SAP and a couple thousand bucks to my name.

The following 8 years would become the most exciting and most difficult time of my life. However, the struggles and challenges I faced during that time lead to an immense amount of personal growth. In the process, I developed a passion for martial arts and taught myself all kinds of musical skills (check out the recording studio in my basement).

My job offer came with a work visa, which allowed me to stay in the US for a few years. That permit was conditional though - If you lose your job, you’ll go right back to where you came from. Over the years, I went through many different type of visas until, in October of 2022, I got the golden ticket of the US immigration system - The Green Card. Finally, for the first time I had felt a sense of security. Finally, I could start building the life I’ve always dreamed about, yet somehow deep inside I felt that this wasn’t it - not even close.

Playing the Game

The years spent in corporate America were eye-opening. I learned that personal fulfillment wasn't part of the equation—most people were simply playing a game, competing for promotions and raises. Creativity and authenticity weren't assets; instead, they were often viewed as distractions or even obstacles to the smooth operation of the corporate machinery.

I increasingly felt disconnected from the idea of genuine value creation. Instead of solving meaningful problems, my work primarily served the interests of people higher up the chain. Corporate "values," promoted so prominently, often felt superficial, masking the underlying truth that profits ultimately took precedence over people.

The realization that I was entirely replaceable began eroding my sense of self-worth and purpose. Seeing many people view their roles merely as stepping stones or as means to an end deepened my sense of isolation and disillusionment. The sense of detachment from genuine happiness and authentic contribution grew overwhelming.

A Taste of Freedom

In the summer of 2023, I had decided it was time to clear my mind. Luckily, my boss made it possible for me to go on a 7 week sabbatical, which I used to go on a solo adventure with my motorcycle, 3,300 miles up the US west coast and back.

That trip was easily one of the most transformative experiences of my life. Most crucially, it gave me space. Never staying in one place more than two or three days and staying at campsites and hotels along the way, I was eventually able to fully disconnect from the daily grind back home.

Countless hours on the open road, left with nothing but my own thoughts and the music in my ear, a new perspective started to develop. The vague ideas I had about “freedom” started to crystalize and reshaped my internalized stories about success and my relationship with work.

Have you ever spent weeks at a time by yourself, always on the move, never knowing what will come next? Neither had I.

I returned rejuvenated, filled with fresh ideas and a clear perspective on life. How I felt after opening my computer for the first time, as you might imagine, is difficult to describe. The stream of messages, notifications, issues, comments, requests, alerts, restructurings, missed deadlines, upcoming deadlines and so forth felt utterly alien to me. How could they not, after weeks of uninterrupted exposure to the breathtaking nature of California and Oregon:

Something had to Change

I figured a low-stakes option to forge my path towards independence would be to take a pay cut and go part-time at my day job. After all, that was recommended in all of the Indie Hacker blogs I’ve been reading. So I did that. I used the extra time to experiment. I asked myself: What would it take to start my own business? I had no idea what I was doing.

My background was purely technical and I knew nothing about business development, marketing or sales. ChatGPT had just been released and I figured AI must be the way to go. I wasn’t well connected at the time and the software industry was all I knew. Might as well start there, I thought—build tools for developers. If you try solving your own problems, what could possibly go wrong?

Into the Valley of Despair

Fast-forward 12 months, after countless iterations, sleepless nights and a few thousand of dollars spent on infrastructure and development, I had built what I thought would become the crown jewel of my career—A shiny AI platform for developers, with all its bells and whistles. I’ve used everything I had learned throughout my career to make it happen. The backend was solid, the API scalable, everything was ready to go. There was just problem: Nobody cared.

I posted, I shared, I blogged, I did everything by the book—or so I thought. I, still, had no idea what I was doing. It didn’t work, I had no idea why. I can’t really put into words how demoralizing and utterly ego-shattering it is to feel that you’ve been running in the wrong direction for 12 months without realizing it, so here’s a GIF:

I felt defeated. Later on, I came to realize that I had simply run into the same trap as many other young entrepreneurs: Building a solution without a problem. The question I should have been asking was: Am I building something people want?

Knowing that didn’t make it any easier. It was the lowest point of my journey and I was faced with a choice: Go back to the safety of my corporate job, where none of the scary feelings I was facing would ever haunt me again, or double down and take a giant leap of faith into the unknown.

Around the same time, I came across Alex Hormozi, unconventional business coach and founder of Acquisition.com. In one of his videos, he talked about “The 5 Stages of Entrepreneurship” and explained them using the graph above. Suddenly, my perspective on the path that I had taken started shifting.

I realized that everything I had done lead me exactly where I needed to be—A crisis of meaning. For the first time in months, I felt hope. This was not the end of the road, but merely an important step in a process I had to go through.I was not alone in my struggle. What I was going through was not just completely normal, but expected! What a relief...

I started reading more about Alex’ story and learned how just about every successful entrepreneur out there had gone through the same stages. More importantly, I understood what all of them had in common—The one thing that clearly separated those with success from those without….

Perseverance

If you asked my longtime martial arts teacher and 6th degree black belt Rachael Evans how to become a black belt, she’d simply say “Just keep showing up to class”. As simple as that sounds, it points to an undeniable truth: Success comes to those who don’t give up when things get difficult.

In moments of crisis, you have to find the courage to zoom out, see the bigger picture and embrace the idea that pain and suffering is simply a right of passage. It forces you to closely examine your goals and ask: Am I actually willing to do what it takes in order to achieve them?

Thomas Edison, after numerous unsuccessful attempts—some accounts suggest as many as 1,000—finally invented the practical incandescent light bulb. ​

Steve Jobs, fired from Apple, famously returned to reinvent it into one of the most valuable companies in history.

Jensen Huang, founder of NVIDIA, says “Greatness is not intelligence. Greatness comes from character. And character isn’t formed out of smart people, it’s formed out of people who suffered”

Setbacks, pain and suffering are not merely things to endure on your way to success, they are an essential component of it. This shift in mindset changed everything for me. Everything became crystal clear, I knew what I had to do.

A Leap of Faith

Even with reduced hours, the corporate grind still weighed on me. Despite the flexibility of a 3-day work week, my mental energy remained chained to work that felt increasingly purposeless. I realized true commitment to my own path required severing ties entirely.

As a wise man once said:

I realized that mental clarity and true commitment to building my own path demanded cutting ties entirely. Only by stepping fully away from corporate life could I devote all my energy to pursuing independence and personal fulfillment.

In January of this year, I took another long break. Leaving my shiny, sad developer tool behind, I stopped writing code and started reading books:

• Mastery by Robert Greene

• The MOM Test by Rob Fritzpatrick

• Talking to Humans by Giff Constable

… to name some favorites. I also started to go out and talk to anyone who would talk to me. I talked to business owners and entrepreneurs in my network, just to get a sense of who’s out there, how they make money, what their problems are. I started to understand the importance of asking the right questions.

I gained an immense amount of confidence in those few weeks. Defeat turned into curiosity. Informed pessimism turned into informed optimism. The more I understood the reasons behind my failed projects from the past, the more motivated I felt to start from scratch.

I’m Doing It

Finally, after many conversations, lessons learned and experiments conducted, I am ready. I handed in my resignation two days ago on March 31^st , 2025. I’m doing it.

Is it going to work out? I don’t know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I know one thing that’s for sure though: I’ll always prefer a life of struggle and uncertainty over a life of safety and obedience.

Come Join Me

I’m giving myself a runway of seven months of savings to fully embrace this new direction. The ticking clock doesn’t just create urgency—it sharpens my focus. For the first time, I feel clarity, purpose, and the drive to turn dreams into reality.

My next project leverages AI to craft deeply engaging podcasts centered on personal growth, transformation, and authenticity. It’s a passion project aimed at building sparking meaningful conversations, and driving real change.

Here’s a sample:

But this journey isn’t meant to be walked alone. If you resonate with this pursuit—whether you’re a creator, entrepreneur, or simply someone hungry for meaningful work—I’d love to connect. Whether it's through collaboration, freelance projects, or strategic partnerships, I’m eager to build something remarkable, impactful, and enduring.

If you're inspired by a similar passion, let’s talk. The road ahead is uncertain, but I’ve come to realize that’s precisely what makes it worth traveling.

Reach out. Let’s create something extraordinary.

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