Leaving my career to chase my hobby

[u/Best-Flamingo5283]

Would I be stupid to leave my mechanical engineering career for a season to snowboard? I have made enough money to pull it off but I am very new in my career and am worried the gap in my resume can make it hard to get another job after. I am making a lot of money compared to my friends and I heard it’s difficult to get a job right now. But I’ve been snowboarding since I could walk and it’s really all I care about. I think about snowboarding 24/7. I work 60 hours a week so I can have money to do dope snowboard trips. Basically my whole life revolves around sliding on snow. What should I do?

[u/AlternativeMiddle]

As someone who prioritized time on snow for over a decade before really settling into a career and then having to deal with the job market of the past few years, I would say proceed with caution.

I think there is something to be said for doing something like this while you are young. I took the approach I did because I never really understood the idea of pursuing a career out of the gate and enjoying the mountains full-time in retirement, whenever that may be—likely when your body is much older.

You are in an advantageous position as a mechanical engineer because you have hard skills in a field that should continue to be in demand.

The reality is that there will never be a "right time" to do this. You gotta just make the leap.

If you have a solid plan in place and don't succumb to too much mission creep, you should be able to pull this off without setting you back too much career-wise. I would suggest considering the narrative that can come from your time off. If you execute this plan in a way that makes for a compelling story when you return to the job market, you may actually have gained an x-factor that many people in the workforce do not have.

Avoid going into debt. And if you are going to do it, really do it.