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Many younger people in tech (often 20-somethings) frame their careers around…

2026-06-23 · 21:37 UTC ·@mhdempsey ·2 min read

Brief

Michael Dempsey (@mhdempsey) (2026-06-23) observes that many younger people in tech rush career decisions, measuring opportunity cost over 12–24 months and fearing they’ll miss out as peers "kill it." He quotes a boss about plans giving way to "survival," urges patience — craft a career over time — and insists he won’t rush his own "life’s work."

Why it matters

Many younger people in tech (often 20-somethings) frame their careers around opportunity cost and short 12–24 month horizons, rushing moves because they fear missing a "sliding door" while peers are "killing it."

Key details

  • Dempsey recalls his first boss telling him, "i hope you get what you want, but you know, you have all these plans for life and then it just kind of beats you down and you learn to enjoy survival," highlighting how plans change.
  • He asserts it's acceptable to not know your life's work in your 20s or 30s and argues that if something truly is "your life's work," there is no need to hurry — concluding, "It’s my life’s work. I’m not in a hurry."
Source evidence

I've met many (often younger) people in tech recently who, while discussing their careers, reference their opportunity cost as to why they feel the need to rush into their next thing.

I am in some ways reminded of a conversation I had with my first boss who, after hearing how I thought about the next 5 years of my life, smiled and said "i hope you get what you want, but you know, you have all these plans for life and then it just kind of beats you down and you learn to enjoy survival."

And in many instances, I get it. This moment in time feels unique. A life you've imagined, in a future that feels inevitable and out of your control, feels like it could slip away at any point and you'll miss it and forever wonder about the sliding door you didn't walk through and the moments of what could have been while everyone around you does better than you.

Because all around you are examples of other people in your cohort who are "killing it" and why should you not be one of them? And why is that data point you have not as good a proof point as ever that you should do the thing as you see fit right now?

And how could one in the face of all of this absolute uncertainty and also total certainty possibly make the choice to wait, to let whatever feeling you've been sitting on, simmer and just be in the months or years between when you think time is slipping away and when it is actually slipping away.

Perhaps one could say a cliche like "life is long" and that to cite opportunity cost and measure it at the age of 20-something and on a time horizon that is 12-24 months feels off.

Perhaps one could say that to not know what you want your life's work to be at the age of 20-something (or even 30-something) is also okay.

Perhaps one could say that time doesn't really slip away if you truly approach your professional life as a craft for a long time.

At some point in the conversation, I often then hear about how people are quite certain that this is the most important thing for them to do or that it is eventually what they will want to do no matter what.

And I then repeat the point that if it is your life's work, why would you be in a hurry?

Michael Dempsey (@mhdempsey)

It’s my life’s work. I’m not in a hurry.

— https://nitter.net/mhdempsey/status/2020561586721554674#m