This question's gauche, but: given the prevalence of $400k++ comp packages for ~30-year-olds in Big Tech, why aren't there lots more "gentle[wo]man scholars"? i.e. people quitting to do non-remunerative creative projects
I can think of some, but shouldn't there be thousands?
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Yes, even those comp packages wouldn't permit this as a single earner with a family of four; some people have debt; etc. But I'd still expect more of this?
Most people I know in a position do this tend to instead a) increase lifestyle; b) become founders; or c) become a VC.
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Caveat Tweet: this is a descriptive question, not a normative one! Not saying people have made the wrong choice, just curious why the "gentle[wo]man scholar" choice is not more popular. Also should mention that I am not in this category—didn't stick around Big Tech long enough.
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I think a lot of people disappear into oblivion and you don't hear about them again
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Maybe that's right! Hermit scholarship!
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I have a bunch of friends who've done that path - I think honestly we don't hear about them not because they don't exist, but that part of the early retirement vibe is sort of leaving the internet itself behind when they quit
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There should at least be secret meetings or something, though. A League of Ex-BigTech Gentlemen. (This is sorta what I'm after with gradientretreat.com).
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Speculations, mostly hoping to summon Cunningham's law:
- We celebrate people who use that $$ to then do <startups/vc> not scholarship.
- The person you need to turn yourself into to get to that point is not the sort of person who gentlescholars
- Too much work to reach frontier
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Came here to say something like #1
Need more legible things for gentlescholars to signal their progress over time.
Startups/VC have Series ABCD, all of which is networked optimized (mention your party round on Twitter).
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I did this and I think one of the barriers is a lack of a framework to describe what one is doing. Independent scientist sounds like ~ crackpot. I've gotten a few editors come back to me about a lack of affiliation saying i must have an affiliation. Still managed to publish tho
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there needs to be the equivalent of 'adjunct fellow' at a dc think tank for off the grid tech people
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