People who took a pay cut to escape a high-stress job — was it actually worth it, or do you regret it?

Are you confident that the new company you’re planning to join will actually be less stressful? If you are, then go ahead. Think of the pay cut as the price you pay for better health after leaving your previous job.

A big challenge in life is learning to know when to stop or slow down in terms of work commitments. You can always do 8+ hour shifts but it will obviously come at a cost, even if you love what you do.

Relationships suffer, so does health very often. It's going to ultimately shorten your life span and reduce quality of life in the long run.

I didn't choose high stress jobs ever, but i did start a business and my salary/income basically went back by 10 years.

The autonomy, freedom and growth i have today is still not something I'd trade in exchange for a higher salary from a job. It's been 4 years since I went all in full time , and it's been way better for me personally.

Not everyone can manage entrepreneurship though. Plus i have the benefit of being a second gen entrepreneur.

Nothing can replace inner peace, i took 30% pay cut to escape toxic culture 3 years ago, I never regret the decision that I made,

Wlb only exists in permanent wfh.

A 30% pay cut isn’t the same as a 30% hike in reverse.

If you drop 30%, you’ll need ~43% hike later just to come back to your current salary - that’s not easy and can set you back financially.

Instead of jumping straight to a pay cut, explore more options. There are plenty of companies offering better work-life balance without compromising heavily on pay.

Also look beyond just CTC, consider total compensation (bonuses, RSUs, flexibility, remote work, growth, team culture).

If mental health is suffering, change is absolutely valid but try to optimize both peace and pay, not sacrifice one completely.

Bro if you are ready to take pay cut then instead of doing by switch let them put you into pip do a minimal work 8 to 9 hours max (only assigned jira tickets), don't work extra, set boundaries put OOO, lunch break, tea break etc schedule in your slack/teams/Gchat. And join meditation classes / gym with preparing for switch at target company which pays well and good WLB like Microsoft, Nutanix, Netflix etc Do this until they put you in pip or layoff if they do you can get any good job in your notice period

Double check if what is promised is what you look forward to. Peace is a shifting requirement. I respect this choice. Losing salary feels nice for now but haunting term takes another 2-3 job change to get back.

Peace will give u strength to find a better one... Stressful money will kill u...

Your age group or younger generation does have a better choice and more freedom in relative sense to older folks. So definitely do it if you’ve the option as we have already figured out no company is loyal. But you need to be 100% sure it’ll be peaceful compared to your current. Health is a long game and if you’re not financially constrained or eager to “retire” value it over short term financial gains

bro same here I would love to get low salary and good sleep got and 20LPA package and now there is not a simgle day when I dont think about work