Bye bye 9-to-5

The job market’s been tough lately. It’s usually dead silence for the applications I sent out, but there was one in a government Ministry that’s been near-perfect fit to my CV, the job is interesting, I get to set up my own design team from scratch, and compensation (S$12k/m!) on par with expectations. Best part - I actually got interviewed and got through all the way to an informal offer.

Through all the interviews, I realised I’m not against 9-5 per se, as long as it works for the lifestyle and career mix that I wanted. I want to be able to feed the family, so it has to match my compensation expectations. I would love to be more present at home, so having some work-from-home arrangements would be nice. And last but not least, some freedom to dabble in products and businesses outside of my job. I accept that there needs to be some restrictions, that they didn’t pose at conflict of interests to my job. Ultimately, it’s about being pragmatic, and especially for the family.

But in the end I failed the “Outside Activity” checks, because of all my products. Government rules. It was either shut it all down, or sell/transfer it all away and have zero daily involvement in business ops for every product. I basically can’t have anything to do with my indie products anymore. I probably got to tone down my social media presence too.

Sad.

All the blood, sweat and tears for the past 5-6 years… I would have to give it ALL up if I wanted the job. I would have to shut down this site Lifelog. The thing is, I always saw my future in indie hacking, not government or design. So even if I took the job and resigned a few years later, I would have to re-start my indie products from scratch again, if I can even do so. By then I would be near 50. Can I really restart a new career at 50? Besides… the heartache of shutting everything down is too much. I don’t think I can bear it. Not just for myself, but also all the customers—and friends—who are using my products.

So I think going back to full-time employment in government is no longer an option now. I’ve always said, well if indie hacking doesn’t work, I can always go back to doing my old job in government. That path is no longer viable. The door bolted shut permanently, sealed up with a blowtorch. And with that, any hope of solving my financial situation with it.

So… Bye bye 9-to-5.

(But thankfully, just as a door shuts a new window opens. The new window is as a frontend developer. The universe works in mysterious ways.)