I Left Tech To Get My Soul Back

I was a Product Designer at a tech company with a good salary and impressive title—but I was burnt out, stressed, and solving problems I didn’t care about. Years ago, I did the opposite: volunteered on farms in Austria, Switzerland, and Italy, feeding animals, learning Italian, and connecting with people face-to-face. That contrast was impossible to ignore. So I quit the tech industry and now I help small stays and mountain B&Bs welcome international guests and grow their online presence seasonally across the Alps. I make less money than I did in tech, but I have something better: work I believe in, time freedom, and the knowledge that what I do actually matters. If you’re burnt out on corporate work, your burnout is trying to tell you something important—listen to it.