Why I Quit
In the past year since I started Cascade Create, I’ve had a lot of roundabout conversations that started out with that old “So… what do you do?” Usually within the first or second followup, there’s a “Wait what? How did that happen?” Along the way, I get a lot of puzzled looks.
So why did I quit my “real job”?
I’m sure many people are immediately like, “Oh ok, I know this one, underprepared millennial decides to abandon the corporate world after the COVID-19 pandemic made him rethink life priorities. Cool. See ya back in the cubicle in a few months.” To which I’d say, “Maybe? … I hope not.”
To be honest, my corporate jobs were pretty rad as far as mechanical engineering careers can go. After all, I spent my first decade out of school designing and building spacecraft, and the last few years working on robot airplanes. No offense to the folks working on porta-potties (sp?) all day, but I think my gigs were on the cooler end of the spectrum. Plus I was well paid, stable, and had benefits that enabled me to live comfortably. In those fifteen years, I worked across the lifecycle of products from proposal development to items that were in service for decades. I designed parts, helped get them built, assembled things, tested systems, resolved anomalies, managed teams, led huge projects, drove new business, and leaned out cost on pre-existing items. Not to say I’ve seen it all, but I’ve been around a fair bit.
Wherever I was, I always felt the need to try to do the most good I could in that environment. I’d befriend the people around me, and that would push me to try to improve the state to make work-life more fun for all of us. However, I’d constantly feel like my efforts were eerily familiar to old Sisyphus, and changes that needed to happen were too far out of reach even if most of the leadership around me agreed. I remember telling people “We’re not that big. We can fix it.”
As time rolled on, the wear and tear of that fight came with a gnawing feeling that I could do more good, learn, explore, and teach others what I’ve learned, all with less resistance if I had full control over my work and my destiny. While I deeply appreciate everything I learned and the opportunities I had, I just had to find out what would happen if I took all of that knowledge and experience and channeled it into something that was uniquely mine.
These inclinations brewed for years, but I finally got a major kick in the ass when my daughter was born. If I was going to be the all-in dad I wanted to be, something would have to give. I still love engineering, product development, teaching, and making things. I needed to find a way to do less of the things I didn’t love about work to make room for my new passion.
Soon after, I took the leap and founded Cascade Create. Fraught with peril and uncertainty, but delightfully open-ended, I began the journey of finding balance and figuring out how to be the guy I want to be for both my family and myself. I’m thrilled to be able to embrace new possibilities not just in what I do but in how I choose to live.
