Saturday, October 3rd, 2026, 7:11 pm
Looking Back at the Reasons I Quit Sirius (Half a Year Before I Actually Did)
Filed under: That has aged well (the reasoning)
OUR years ago I made up my mind about leaving a 12-year employer because the managers had collectively broken a camel’s back with a “last straw” – the suggestion we should all get a “smart” phone and another rather major issue (fake address for the company, which I confronted the CEO about, only a day later).
It all added up and soon after I quit the CEO also left, along with several others. It was chaotic. I was trying to locate the post where I envisioned this outcome (me leaving to do better things). It took me about 4 minutes to find it because right after I had published it (July 2022) I immediately published about 7 more posts to hide it from colleagues. I didn’t want them to know I’d be leaving, as they might inform management in advance.
To reproduce some sentences: “Over the past few years I thought about part timing, as I’ve worked full time for nearly a decade already (maybe a full decade this summer) and I’ve been at the same employer for 11.5 years (milestone coming soon, some time this summer, August 12 being the exact date if I recall correctly).”
“I still wish to more extensively focus on freedom-fighting activism in the digital realm. It’s a lot more important, not from a “legacy” point of view; it’s just a lot more satisfying and personally rewarding than working for clients. It’s a community effort rather than a corporate objective.”
“This post isn’t a “Why I Left Sirius” post (or “Leaving the Job To Do Techrights Full Time”); I still need a job, I need to save money, and my wife does too. I’m not resigning. But I might have more free time.”
“But we both made a decision earlier this year; whatever the outcome, we need to focus on our sites, notably Tux Machines (just turned 18) and Techrights (turning 16 this year). Those sites are important for many reasons, to a lot of people. These people want to emancipate themselves from proprietary shackles, not working for proprietary software companies (or with proprietary tools) all day long.”
“Meanwhile, my workload associated with personal projects has increased to the point where I can hardly travel (too many activities require physical access inside the home). We still need to renovate the sites (upgrading things in the process), I want to sleep better, I need to become more active in and around IRC, and I wish to produce more articles and videos. I used to aim for a dozen a day, but when working full time it’s just too difficult to maintain that as a daily pace (as opposed to occasional “bursts” or “marathons”).”
“When I started writing in the non-personal sites, third-party sites, and this site (and in various other sites) I was still a student. Then, I was partly employed. Over the past decade it has been full time work, so a lot of potential (e.g. to write) was not fulfilled. I left social control media almost 5 months ago, freeing up a lot of time. The next stage might be reducing the number of hours per week that I work. Maybe a long overdue change. Maybe not even that… the decision is not purely mine.”
