I'm targeting June 2021 at age 44.
After a year and a half of crisis mode at work (aerospace), I needed some light at the end of the tunnel, so I picked a date. Several factors aligned: 2021 will be my 15 year anniversary at work; stock will be fully vested (probably worth $0, but who knows); and my daughter starts school that fall, so daycare costs will go down. My wife is back to full-time work, so now our savings rate is back up to 60% and we are on track to hit our target sometime in 2021.
My work has been increasingly stressful over the last 18 months. I said yes to a big opportunity, and was committed and stretched and worked nights and weekends and traveled. Said yes to extra opportunities that involve sonic booms :) but also travel away from my preschool daughter :( Then there was a re-org, and my job changed again to include personnel management, which was new to me. As an introverted engineer, my ideal day would be 80% focused, creative, analytical work. Instead now I wake up at 5AM so I can get 1 hour of uninterrupted time in the office before meetings and email storms begin each day.
My team is great, but it kills me when I can't get them the support they need. I waited out a leadership change to see if demands would become more realistic; negative. I tried three ways to convey that expectations were unrealistic and we weren't going to hit our targets based on bottom-up data and recovery plans, that we needed relief and 1-2 clear priorities instead of 5, but was told to deliver all 5 on time.
I finally lost faith, didn't want to play the game. Magically, our company rolled out an internal mobility policy. No longer could my manager veto a transfer out of the program. So I started talking to other managers with open positions, gave my manager the heads-up, and he offered to let me define my role if I would stay. Now we are interviewing internal candidates to take over my current role. Soon I'll be out of the management game! I'm looking forward to enjoying the next two and a half years at work, to do real engineering again, to learn from great people, and to hopefully hop on some fun projects.
It feels strange to be a 'lame duck' while we find my replacement. Maybe more strange is saying no to increasing advancement and stepping off the ladder, but I know this was never my intended path. I know I need to dial back the stress to preserve my health, to have enough energy to be a great parent for my daughter and to be a great husband for my wife.
Setting a date and making this career change feel like the first two steps of the end game :)