Why do you want to escape 9-5?

I want to go groceries and do the most mundane stuff 2pm on a Wednesday without having to notify anyone or give excuses.

I love working my own hours.

I'm also a fellow SWE. I recently took a step forward in escaping the 9-5 by quitting my day job to work on freelance gigs instead. This gives me location freedom, but the ultimate goal is to have asynchronous freedom too - work where you want, when you want!

Escaping the 9-5 grind means freedom—to pursue passions, spend more time with loved ones, and reclaim control over your own schedule. It’s about finding fulfillment beyond the confines of traditional work hours and embracing a lifestyle that aligns with your values and aspirations. This is my biggest motivation.

a few reasons for me

1. i hate fake work. a lot of working in a big company comes down to playing the game, not doing something real. e.g. projects defined by higher-ups which don't affect the bottom line, get canned before being shipped, building something no one wants, random tech debt work which looks impressive for the sake of promotion

2. it's demotivating working with people who are there to collect a pay cheque. nothing wrong with working a job for a pay cheque, but i like working with people who are there to build a product/business that succeeds

3. i don't like the idea of trading my time for someone else's profits. if a company can afford to pay me x amount per year, they're most likely getting more than that amount out of my time/productivity. i'd rather earn 100% of my time/productivity than something like 50%

I think the reason for the majority of indie hackers is "freedom".

I agree with a lot of what others have said here, namely finding freedom. One thing I have noticed about myself is that I think I am addicted to the chase. The excitement of trying to figure out how I could possibly some day part from my day job, which for me definitely also implies being very financially successful (otherwise wouldn't have quit day job), is exhilarating.

The inverse of the chase is that it's kind of depressing facing the reality that this freedom I am after is likely never going to happen. I believe it CAN happen and I am trying all sorts of things to get there, but I also know it just straight up is unlikely and I am not currently remotely close to it.

Given all that, I prefer to shoot for the stars and hang onto hope.

I like several income flows. Standing on more legs than only one.

I try to have more revenue streams, but on the other side keep in mind to live on as minimal lifestyle as possible. Not to overspend!

Never be fully dependent on a single customer/employer.

That's my drive!

Hey Morgot,

I'm a 36 year old brand marketer and graphic designer. I've been freelancing since 2010 but when I was working a 9-5 (not that I wouldn't accept an offer if it was extended by the right company with values I believe in), I wanted to escape it simply due to the management structure and their personal ideals and attitudes. That was a huge one as well as having the freedom to structure my day the way that I pleased. If most people found a 9-5 they honestly enjoyed, I doubt so many would be talking about quitting.

That's a great question! To me, the desire to break away from the regular 9-5 grew exponentially stronger after the almost inhuman way companies laid off their employees. I do get that companies have to put shareholders first and downsizing is often a reality. But these are multi-trillion and multi-billion dollar companies that in my opinion could have done the morally better thing by sacrificing profits, but keeping employees, especially during the last couple of years when support was needed the most. I feel could have probably done better. In contrast, I've seen smaller companies (~100 employees) who took on the resolution to not lay off any employees even if it means $0 in salaries for the founders/top management.

So for me personally, I want to get away from the 9-5 because:

1. I don't want to contribute my time to improving the bottom line of companies that just don't seem to care for their employees.

2. I increasingly feel people think that earning your income is a zero-sum game. That you need to be in the tech industry or raise millions of dollars in VC capital to be able to make a lot of money. I want my work to be the antithesis of that.