I don’t do well with daily routines, specially if that daily routine includes sitting in traffic just to sit in a cubicle in front of my laptop (which works just as well at home, or in another country as it does in the office). I don’t deny that there is value to routine and in-person work, but there’s more value in working for the life we want than there is in living for the work we have. A life with the freedom to choose where and how we work is better than a life that shaped by our work.

For some, in-person work provides the work-life balance and the means to an end, if not the end itself, for the fulfillment that they desire. For me, any job that prevents me from spending “enough” time with my family or gets in the way of finding fulfillment can only be a means to survive until a better means presents itself. It is a shame that my interests lie in work that typically demands in-person work. I cannot deny that it would be easier to work in a robotics company if I could see and interact with the robots themselves, or that the conversations that happen around the office coffee machine can be a catalyst for collaboration and innovation. With many of the companies I follow wanting their employees to return to office, I know that if I only wanted to maximize my chances of working on a project I enjoy and getting paid handsomely to do so, then the optimum move would be to pack my bags and move back to California. However, I know that such a path will guarantee that I will regret not having spent “enough” time with my grandparents in their lifetime. This is why I left Google after my grandmother passed away during the covid 19 pandemic. Being near my family was significantly more valuable than showing up to an office to work by myself.

It’s a long flight from San Francisco to a funeral in Puerto Rico. When family and friends are content with what they have, it’s an expensive way to realize you could have been too.

Since life and its needs are fluid, so are the expectations and requirements one puts when evaluating any sort of career change.