FWIW, I left my full time job some years ago to do my own thing, in part because pushing back on bad decisions was not really doing me any favors for my mental health. Glad to report I'm in a much better place after finding the courage to get out of that abusive relationship.
Some might argue the risk of not pushing back is far worse.
I was a contractor/consultant between 2020-2023; I have a problem w/ authority so it suited me. But work/life balance was awful--I have 2 kids now, and I can't do nothing for 6 weeks then work 100 hour weeks for 4 weeks. The maximum instability my life will tolerate is putting the kids to bed at 9 instead of 8:30 lol. I'm also in the Netherlands so there's also other benefits. Worker protections are very strong here, so it's highly unlikely I'll be fired or laid off; I can't be asked to work overtime; I can't be Slack'd after hours; I can drop down to 4 days a week no questions asked, when the kids were born I got a ton of paid leave, etc. Not to imply I work at some awful salt mine; I like my current gig and coworkers/leadership.
Anyway, this is a collective action problem. I don't take any responsibility for the huge plastic island in the Pacific, nor do I take any responsibility for the grift economy built on successive, increasingly absurd hype waves of tech (web 2.0, mobile, SPAs, big data, blockchain, VR, AI). I've also worked in social good, from Democratic presidential campaigns and recounts to helping connect people w/ pro bono legal services, which is to say I've done my time. There are too many problems for me to address, I get to pick which, if any, I battle, I am happy if my kids don't meltdown too much during the evening. Maybe when they're both in school I can take more risks or reformulate my work/life balance, but currently I'm focused on furthering the human race.
