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I quit my job at Google to follow my dream of making electronic music
I quit my job at Google to follow my dream of making electronic music As told to Tim Paradis You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email. Mackenzie Young left his job at Google to pursue a career in electronic music. Courtesy of Mackenzie Young 2026-04-29T09:35:01.310Z In 2025, Mackenzie Young took a buyout from his job working as a software engineer at Google. He liked working in software, though over time he grew interested in pursuing a career in music. Young, now 26, attended an electronic music festival and thought, "This is what I want to do." Mackenzie Young, 26, lives in White Lake Township, Michigan, and quit his job as a software engineer at Google in May 2025 to pursue a career in music. Business Insider has verified his identity. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity. Coming out of college, I was really gung-ho about what I was doing in software and was excited to learn more. Then I got involved in the electronic music scene and fell in love with it and the people.Growing up, I played piano, violin, guitar, and other string instruments. I had this preconceived notion about how music works. Electronic music completely flipped that upside down.Electronic music is you making sounds with your computer. You're beep-booping. I went to an electronic music show in Tacoma, Washington, called the Thunderdome by Excision, and was like, "This is what I want to do." So I started taking steps toward that goal, spending more time on it and involving myself in this community.I love software, but music's been a huge part of my life, even before software. My decision to quit Google came as I wasn't really putting in the time I needed with software, so something had to give. Taking a buyoutEventually, there was a buyout offer with a nice severance package, so I applied. This felt like a good opportunity for me to leave gracefully.I'm like, "I'm 26. If there's a time to go for something very difficult that I'm passionate about, now is the time."I had a unique opportunity: My dad, who lives on a farm, has extra space, so I moved in with him and saved a lot of money. That's a huge privilege. More importantly, it was this idea of spending more time with my family.Software is still something I enjoy and my trade. I worked on it when I moved home, implementing software solutions to problems my parents had in the family business. At the same time, with how fast AI is moving, coding is becomin...
When to quit your dream job - thepurse.co
Over the past few years, I’ve had countless conversations with journalist friends and coworkers about our potential longevity in the field. As we watch the traditional news industry seemingly implode, with countless rounds of layoffs, outlet closures, and declining cultural relevancy, we’re all grieving the death of our dream jobs, even as we more or less continue working in the field. (Or, you know, try to work in it.)Even without those external forces hammering our industry, most of my friends are now in their 30s, at what feels like a natural point to wonder if it isn’t time to try something a little less stressful and, perhaps, a little better paying. I hear a similar sentiment from acquaintances in other creative or vocational fields.“Vocational crisis is very of the moment,” writes the journalist Ann Friedman. “If you know anyone who pays their bills by conducting research, teaching, community organizing, making art, fostering diversity, or providing care to an underserved population, you know this already. It usually afflicts people who are somewhat established, though still financially precarious and already burned out, with many working years left ahead of them.”Whether you’re a journalist, actor, or teacher—anyone whose profession is inherent to their identity—how do you know when it’s time to go? At the same time, how do you give up on something you can’t imagine your life, your being, without?It’s a tricky topic to write about because quitting is mired in negative connotations. No one wants to be viewed as a quitter, and popular culture loves the stories of people perceived to be fighters, the scrappy upstarts who never give up. I certainly don’t want to be responsible for telling anyone not to pursue their dreams, and I don’t plan on pivoting from mine just yet, despite the many reasons I should.But the difficult truth is that staying laser focused on one goal or way of being can mean neglecting other opportunities. Rather than thinking about quitting as an ending to your one and only dream, it can be helpful to reframe it as providing an opening to untold possibilities.Moving past the discomfortAt 9 years old, Maya Shankar was such a prodigious talent she was accepted into a precollege violin program at the Juilliard School, the prestigious performing arts conservatory in New York. Shankar staked her identity on music, studying under virtuoso Itzhak Perlman and spending untold hours practicing.But her dream of being a professional violinist e...
I quit my tech job because I worried that AI was going to ... - Yahoo
A data analyst quit their tech job over concerns that AI would replace them and about disillusionment with the industry in general.
From Hobby to a Hundred Songs: My Journey as a Part‑Time ... - LinkedIn
As I continue creating, I'm stepping into a new chapter, one where AI and electronic music composition become part of my creative toolkit.
