How did you decide when to FIRE?

[Ronstar]

We plan to retire when DW turns 57 and gets health care and an increased pension. That will be in 3 years and 3 days. Until then I'm cutting back to part time work and finalizing the 'plan". It will take me 3 years to convert real estate and business assets to retirement funds.

 

[Purron]

I had already done the math and determined DH and I were FI. Work was going good with a great boss and an interesting, high profile project, so I was in no hurry to leave. Then my boss got promoted and the new boss was simply awful. I had worked for many bad bosses before, but this time I knew I didn't have to tolerate another nightmare. Within four months of the new boss arriving, I left along with a collegue who was in the same situation I was. We have chatted since and decided the bad boss was actually a good thing as it gave us the final push to get out and move on.

 

[metabasalt]

OT: Toxic programming

XP (Extreme Programming). Everything is done in teams, with multiple meetings per day. You work in a set of low-walled cubicles. No code ownership - everyone makes changes everywhere. Impossible to concentrate, to get into the code for complex changes. Managers love it because they get a constant flow of status reports. Weak programmers like it because their incompetency is hidden by the team. Good programmers hate it.

This was too big of a change for me. For 27 years, I worked (mostly) in quiet, solo offices with the door shut, designing, developing and maintaining programs for years. I generally knew the code inside out, since I was the only person working on it. On a perfect day, I would get in at 0530-0600, work 8 hours, not open my door all day, and leave at 1330-1400, and I had a lot of perfect days. I could not handle the new 'social' programming.

Thanks CyclingInvestor,

My reactions on reading about XP were similar to yours, though not so strong. But that's probably because I just read about it and didn't have to actually participate.

Your explanation of why it's popular , especially with managers, makes sense. The CIO at my job is high enough up that he pretty much stays out of my hair. But he loves being able to measure things. Let's hope he never hears about the virtues of XP.

Best wishes,

metabasalt

 

[socca]

My reactions on reading about XP were similar to yours, though not so strong. But that's probably because I just read about it and didn't have to actually participate.

I saw the way that the defense contractor (war-monger/war-profiteer) I worked at implemented "Agile Programming". Two software engineers per workstation? Not for me, thanks. I would end up killing my partner

 

[Marquette]

Since we're already meandering....

I was an enterprise architect at a company when they decided to try out XP on several projects there. I met with one of the coaches and asked him for some high-level design artifacts. He said "we don't document with XP, the architecture is what you get at the end". I told him that was fine and all, I couldn't care less about class diagrams, but you need to figure out where your data is and what you're going to run on. Well, they went from running on tablets in the stores, to the registers, to the backend servers in the stores to corporate with terminal services to corporate with Citrix access instead. The project was eventually cancelled.

I have plenty of toxic IT work-environment stories... all from being on a project that went 100% over budget and 100% over time.

 

[retiringat50]

My current immediate boss and I have been butting heads since she was hired 4 yrs ago. This past Dec I decided to stick it out till July when I have 10 yrs and thus some type (even if little) retirement. I left May 22nd on sick leave and will not be returning

 

[rs0460a]

being on a project that went 100% over budget and 100% over time.

That sounds about right . My "terminal j*b" before I retired last year was an IT Project Manager.

Amazing to see what happened in the IT (formerly DP, or when I started in '66 with unit-record accounting machines, "Tab") arena.

When I started in '66, XP would be considered wiring up a 5-pocket drop on a 188 (let's see who can interpert that one ). Can you say "jackplug "...

- Ron

 

[kumquat]

Several things came together at once:

1. I was asked to start a new area in megacorp, high priority, CEO, CFO handpicked me. Area S-Ox, gotta keep them outa jail.
2. 1st year, no problem, I'm a star. Unlimited budget & perks.
3. Second year, no problem, I'm overhead.
4. 3nd year, why did we create this position and staff it with a loser.
5. 3rd year, BIL died unexpectedly, 6 months before his ER date, he was already FI
6. 3 weeks later, the light came on! Why am I here?

 

[Bikerdude]

Six months after I qualified for a pension I retired. I gave my notice 3 months prior to my retirement date. The pension and health benefits were the last links in my plan. As CFB said, after so many years being retired you don't even want to think about going back to that life.

 

[firewhen]

Thanks everyone. I know one day it will come. For now, work is not that bad, we are on the younger end of this even for ERs, and of course that extra padding of the nest egg is always welcome.

I am planning for 3 or 4 years out. Of course if there was a major change in the corporate environment, it might accelerate my schedule!

 

[Deadbeat]

Last summer I was working another 80 hour week and while I was sitting at my desk one night when I was hit with a bad case of vertigo. I could not walk and thought I might be having a stroke.

We've had our expenses covered with rental houses and other investment for quite a while and talked about retiring for a few years. We own a lot in the Bahamas and planed to build a house there to live in five or six months a year.

The vertigo / stroke thing done it for me. I gave notice a month or so after that and left in January this year.

We sold the 'nice house' and moved into one I was fixing to flip; It is paid for. I sold my nice car and bought a little pick-up truck.

I had a great job making too much money and hated leaving it, but the thought of being found dead and carried out by the cleaning lady was what it took for me to call it quits.

I'm 54, my wife is 53 and still working. She plans to quit when I get the Bahamas house built. We are going there to get things started this month.

Our plans include moving from city to city and country to country every few years until we get too old to enjoy it. We will be buying and fixing houses as we go, leaving some behind as rentals.