Funemployed

This post is about a new phase of my life but let me preface it with my job history in a nutshell.

Since my teens I’ve been employed by only three companies where the stints have been longer than a year, the most recent lasting 10 years. I’ve been fortunate that the gaps in between have been very small and generally taken up by school, family responsibilities and a bit of freelance work.

I’ve been working since the age of 8 (without operating a single lemonade stand) and I’ve always been occupied with achieving a lifestyle of working every day in order to be successful. I used to think that success didn’t mean I stopped working but rather that I earned a hefty annual salary and lived in a big home. Or something to that effect. My parents are immigrants and from traditional hard-working families so their perspectives contributed to the way I saw success.

Several months ago, my outlook changed. I became disillusioned with the corporate establishment and by virtue of the company’s evolving nature and my newly-enlightened perspective, we implicitly agreed to disagree. Now, I’ve left the big corporate world; I find myself cheerily without employment. In my mind, I had classified myself as semi-retired. That may not seem odd except for two important things: I’m under 40 and I’m not sitting atop a pile of cash (and no future windfalls that I am aware of), although I was prescient for some time about my departure and made plans accordingly so my cats would not go hungry.

My first step was not to update my resumé nor call my friends to check the hidden job market. No, my first step was to see what I would do with all my free time. You see, I wasn’t semi-retired; I had really entered into funemployment. Although I identify with some of what of L.A. Times reports, I am not enjoying my free time until all my money runs out, to “simply live for today” as they put it. Like some, I am taking the opportunity to learn more. Although there was a time when my job encouraged me to take courses and improve my education, it was difficult to balance with work and family. Now there’s more freedom without the pressures of formal schooling (involving exams and assignments). I’m able to spend more time with my family (I see this as an upside) and I am working on some personal projects, such as this blog. This hiatus also gives me a chance to really think about my future. There are a lot of indie developers these days that are sources of inspiration to me and I have built a network of friends and acquaintances through which I may yet find my niche. In the meantime, I’m mostly working on personal projects, learning some more programming, and helping the missus with her own blog.

Funemployment is not necessarily about slacking off until you’re broke. It’s the time you need to take for yourself to relax and eliminate any stresses you’ve built up from your most recent job. It’s the time you need to re-connect with your friends and family. It’s the time you need to plan for your future, immediate and otherwise. And it can still be the time for you to have fun and enjoy life.

Below are my tips to prepare for and enjoy your funemployment, and not get sucker-punched by reality at the end of it.

• If you are thinking of leaving or if there’s a risk of getting let go, no matter how distant it may appear, start saving money. Use a sock if you have to so that you have something to fall back on.
• Apply for unemployment benefits punctually when you’ve left your job. If you’re getting severance, your application may not need to be immediate. If you’re not sure if you qualify for the benefits, get confirmation; there is a small window of opportunity and even if you officially qualify you can still miss out.
• Savings + severance + unemployment (best case scenario) can make your funemployment go a loooong way but it won’t last forever. Consider your job strategy and make plans for finding work before the end of it. Now you can go to interest interviews without worrying about ducking out of work or taking 2-hour lunches.
• Keep your options open if a great job comes up. By all means, be picky and spend more time to consider it.
• Use your time to catch up with friends and family; whomever you never get a chance to see because of work.
• Have a loose routine. Feel free to veer from it but allow yourself to return to it if you start to feel discombobulated.
• Consider doing something productive during funemployment. It doesn’t have to feel like work – it could be catching up on your hobbies or projects that have been placed on a backburner.
• Enjoy your freedom but don’t become a shut-in. Get out of the house and hang out at a coffee shop if you have to.
• This is an amazing opportunity to travel longer than what most jobs can offer as vacation time.
• Enjoy it.