Leaving the Corporate World for a Vegan Blockchain Startup

I recently quit JP Morgan Chase as a software engineer. It was one of the more meaningful decisons I had made in my life. If you ever worked for one of the largest corporations in the world, you'd understand how trapped I felt in the New York City corporate life. I saw the "status quo" in its most grotesque form. I remember the CEO (Jamie Dimon) emailing the entire company, right after the infamous, and highly flawed tax bill passed congress, saying it was "the biggest progress made in the last 30 years". You do not have to be too intelligent to realize that progress for JPMC is inversely correlated to the well-being of the average person. And I was spending the prime hours of my day and years of my life to essentially assist evil and corruption.

So when my brother founded VeganNation, a decentralized nation united around common values and a shared economy, I knew I found my calling. Funny thing though, when I announced I was quitting, the overwhelming reaction I got from friends, peers and some family members was highly discouraging. They told me I was risking too much too fast, or being reactionary to my dislike of JPMC. I ignored all of them because I know what 'advice' really is.

Advice is a peron's subjective opinion as to what they think you should do. So the people who were discouraging me were really reaffirming to themselves their own decisions and ideals. My friends and colleagues in NYC did not want to recognize that my decision was wise because it would have forced them to reconsider their positions, life decisons, etc. Which is why sometimes it's better to not ask for advice and do what you believe is right. Treat others' opinions as data points in a research you are conducting, but not as the conclusion.