The moment I knew corporate life was behind me

The moment my baby was born. It sounds clichéd, but something in me changed, and I realized, as one of my dear friends said, "2025 is the year to admit that there is no going back" — truly the motto of the year. While on maternity leave, I found myself scrolling through some forums for working moms, reading post after post about the brutal job market. It was during that moment I realized I didn't want to go through a degrading recruitment process made worse by AI on both sides or settle for scraps, another high-stress job while also trying to raise a baby; the latter was challenging enough as it is. Earlier this year, watching talented colleagues scatter to new opportunities after organizational changes in my old company was a turning point. I found myself wishing I had something of my own where I could bring these brilliant minds together again and do work we'd be proud of. That feeling of helplessness – of not having a company of my own and the ability to create opportunities for others – hit me harder than I expected. In March, my time at the company also came to an end. I both celebrated and mourned the last three years of working together, but also saw it as a moment of relief and opportunity, as I felt nowhere near ready to go back after six months and daycare wasn't an option either way until the baby is at least one year old. That's when my partner and I decided to do something about the situation. We're currently building a software consultancy and an app of our own. We want to continue making software, but hopefully software that lasts. We're fortunate to have plenty of personal runway and don't spend much outside core necessities, so we figured we will try. If it doesn't work out, we will be back to the same old, but in a new configuration as our baby grows up. But right now, having our own company feels like our best shot at creating a business around the lifestyle we want with our child, as well as having a place where we can eventually find and hire other interesting people to be around. The process was also about admitting to ourselves that we are creative people who need to see *stuff* in the world to feel good. I had a similar conversation with a former boss and mentor who trained as a sculptor but founded a creative company instead. All of us felt like we are of a different generation now – one that wants to see things in the world, but wants them to *last*. Not forever, but certainly more than a few hours. The world we are in now values increasingly superficial things, even compared to when we were younger; from fast fashion to 24-hour news cycles and other trends and fads. Most of these are in stark contrast with what we want for ourselves and our kid. I often feel like I don't belong in this world; it tires me out and feels like a game I don't want to be playing. I can't tell if it's because I'm not so keen on the industry anymore or if I'm just resisting something inside of me, like a reinvention waiting to happen. But either way, starting something new felt like the only path forward after becoming a parent. If you also launched something completely new during what might objectively be considered one of the most challenging phases of life, I'd love to hear your stories about how you managed these life transitions. You can reach me using any of the contact options listed here.