I left early, only 4.5 years in tech. I still make less than my first job but boy am I happier. I work in a nature preserve now.

I left my big corporate tech job last year, working for a small company now and I'm 100x happier with life.

I left work as a CTO, after 7 years, to become a coder again. Pay plummeted, but I'm happier and I feel like I actually contribute with something valuable. Mostly, I love learning new tech things, which I was too distanced from as a manager. If I were to leave the high paced tech life, my choice would not be to become a technical socialist/idealist, which is my take on the article; I would probably try something else, like gardener or electrician.

I fundamentally love tech, particularly scientific computing. However, most products in that space are basically languishing since the 90s. Incremental improvements are well and good, but 3-4 decades without any meaningful paradigm shifts seems like laziness.