Some Tips Upfront

Clarify your priorities
Set goals
Create a budget (or, get your finances in order)
Connect with experts
Do it!

When I left academia in 2015, I had spoken to a number of friends and advisors that I respected and admired. Many of them, aware of the economic debt, institutional toxicity and stagnant job market, encouraged me to pursue my dreams elsewhere. I was burnt out and stressed by debt, working 20-60 hour weeks for $1700 a month. Often I had 5-6 international students in my English writing courses (where most had only 1-2) whom I spent extra time with beyond office hours. The university loved international students, who paid 4 times the tuition (if not more) that U.S. students paid, but forced them to enroll in “required” classes like writing, when they often needed basic English language classes. The curriculum and criteria were not designed to set them up for success, so the onus fell on instructors to ensure they were prepped to complete all their writing assignments, including a research paper at the end of three months. In my cohort, there were white and male instructors who encouraged and picked up the racist rhetoric of the “blind leading the blind” that the University Writing Program and its faculty leaders eagerly espoused when discussing international students.

This was just one example out of many that showed me how the institution was exploiting its students as well as workforce. I began experiencing chronic fatigue, which was a combination of burnout and depression. My therapist recommended that I see a psychiatrist for prescription medication. At least 50% of the graduate students that I knew were on prescription medication, or self-medicating through alcohol abuse and drugs. As I pushed myself to complete my thesis so I could at least graduate with a Master’s degree, I felt myself suppressing anxiety attacks - and knew I was making the right decision before I worked myself towards a nervous breakdown.

Clarify Your Priorities

In this case, the priority presented itself: my health. I was not going to wait to find something better to take a break. I took a month off to enjoy being human - seeing friends, attending summer events and traveling to New York. I used the last bit of savings to recuperate and rest before I began interviewing again for odd jobs like tutoring. I made a list of what I desired next and they fell into three buckets: Health, Wealth and Happiness.

Set Goals

Using these as my north stars, I set goals. For health, I quit smoking and taking medications, which reduced my appetite (I was only eating one meal a day) and gave me insomnia. I began swimming again. I gained weight, but had a healthy support group through friends and family who encouraged me to take steps towards a healthier lifestyle.

For wealth, I began to interview for full-time and higher-paying jobs, which is how I ended up in San Francisco in tech. Few roles paid in LA as well as SF, though I would find out quickly it was because of the living costs (my first room in Noe Valley was $1400) and the size of a large closet. And happiness? I didn’t know exactly what it was yet, but I needed to get out of debt first. I had worked for four years under the neoliberal capitalistic guise of “doing what I loved.”

At the end of 2015, I was making more in a week than what I made in an entire month - and doing similar but less work (purely content design, without facilitation). Tech has its own challenges, but personally, the lack of women of color in academia (and the very little recourse that seemed to be available for graduate students in cases of harassment, etc) made the industry far worse for me. And while money will not buy happiness, it will remove a lot of barriers to achieving it, including giving back time and energy for recuperating mental and physical wellbeing.

Eventually, when I left Facebook, I began to review that last factor: happiness. How do I carve a path of passion with purpose? How will I get paid what I deserve so I can truly be free to do what I love? These are all questions that I continue to pursue as I work on my art and design business.

Create A Budget

In my mid-twenties, I paid little attention to my money because I had so little of it! So I didn’t really balance my 401k and made negligible returns on it when I left academia four years later. Also, I was in debt - something that I abhorred on an emotional level. I adopted a mercenary approach, quitting and working for the highest-paid gig even if I knew the workplace would be toxic. Once I paid back my student loans of 20k (the 5-7% ones first, and the rest later - in 1.5 years), I began to read up about investing for retirement.

My whole life, my parents worked, relying on Medicare and Social Security to keep them afloat when they retired. I am a big fan of I Will Teach You To Get Rich by Ramit Sethi because its written from an immigrant perspective and also breaks down so many fundamental terms, like how expense fees work and robs-advising platforms like Ellevest, which I currently use.

When I left tech, I rolled over my 401k and Roth, as well as started an IRA to recoup retirement losses until my next job, and another account for starting my own business (which I should’ve done earlier, but oh well). These were partially funded by a bunch of FB stocks that I sold off - I made about a 25% return (all during the pandemic).

I had saved up a substantial amount, enough to keep me afloat, I carved out a budget for my personal expenses first. Later in the year, I attended the Uptima Freelancer Bootcamp, where I learned how to create a business budget, including setting service fees that aligned with my costs and desired salary. I was simply doubling my hourly rate but the final rate was closer to 3x that amount, as freelancers have to compensate for things like holidays and time-off (if we don’t want to be working 365 days a year). The biggest loss was equity, which would bring my rates up 5x, and I just couldn’t see anyone being willing to pay that given the current market.

Connect With Experts

When I decided to work in tech, I reached out to all of my connections who worked in SF for 1) referrals and 2) advice on interviewing. I had many coffee conversations (a very Facebook thing to do). When I switched to art, I attended art talks and events to learn from established artists and connect with peers. I read books and reached out to friends in the industry for ad-hoc conversations or questions. I attended mentor roundtables to pick up art lingo. I even joined a studio to create larger works and get a sense of what the institutional art world looks like.

After over a year in the industry, my favorite ways to learn are to:

Attend exhibitions to marvel at art and artworks, which have their own aura (as Walter Benjamin notes) in person. Seeing the work at scale will reveal technicalities like spatial logic that cannot be understood through pure theorizations. Especially with paintings, brushstrokes will reveal the imprint of masters and give a trace of the processes, like color layering, that lead to a finished work
Listen to talks and interviews; these have given me the courage and confidence to pursue my dreams, especially as the journey can be incredibly isolating. I also love listening to artists outside my genre of painting - digital artists often give me ideas for new technologies or installation artists for materials and how to work with them
Reach out to a mentor (preferably an established artist, so there’s no competition) when I’m at a significant roadblock - like transitioning to a new series or rewriting my statement for a proposal that needs a referral from them

(Just) Do It

I actually began painting in 2017 as a way to process my thoughts, selling and showing through Instagram and eventually live shows in 2018 and 2019. I see a lot of Internet articles recommending that people try out their passions as a side-gig until they’re “ready” to switch (meaning, they’re making enough as a full-time job), but I’ve also read a lot of artist and creative interviews where people took the leap before they were financially secure. For me, the emotional and intellectual rewards came first, allowing me space and attention to think and learn deeply.

So many entrepreneurs talk about taking that leap of faith - which can actually last a lifetime. When I switched from academia and tech, I knew that I was deeply unhappy with those fields and, like a bad relationship, just needed to break things off. Note: My academic advisor, who had many a “quit academia” conversation in his life, noted that the decision was not an “on or off” switch. He recalls students who find their way back to academia, albeit in a more soul-aligning role.

As an artist and freelancer, I am always encountering new challenges. All I can ask is: Do I want to take on this challenge? Whether it’s yes or no, the autonomy to choose is really all that I can come to expect - and desire - from the freedom of pursuing one’s dreams.

If you switched careers, how did you do it? What tips would you add?