I quit my Job! OMG!

[Music] hello again everyone and welcome back today's video is actually quite possibly my favorite video that i've ever done in the history of this channel it's a very special video for me a very personal video and i feel like i don't get the opportunity to make personal videos very often because you know i'm busy making tutorials and doing reviews all the things that i love to do but today i'm going to talk about my career and the whole basis for today's video is the fact that i literally quit my job now i know that this is actually a very surprising thing for a lot of you because i've talked many times about the fact that i work in corporate i.t and i've worked in corporate it for quite a long time in fact my day job in this youtube channel was often like two jobs like i'm working two jobs but i was always hesitant to call learn linux tv a job even though yeah i put a lot of work into it it's more of a you know passion project if you will i have a lot of fun doing this i have a lot of fun with my day job too but the fact of the matter is i'm only one person and i can only do so much but i never really knew whether or not this channel would become its own thing or my only business i mean that is the case it's so cool i'm going to walk you guys through you know how i came to that decision in just a moment but it's just surreal to me because um i started this channel so long ago as just a hobby i really enjoyed making tutorials i love teaching people things and that was really the basis and that still is the basis now there came a point where i felt like i just want to make this channel bigger i want to put more work into it at one point it was just like you know i would do videos every now and then i didn't even have like so much as a schedule i didn't upload every week but i would come out with a series of tutorials every now and then and it was fun it's still fun and then it kept growing and growing and growing as i learned things i bought better cameras over time better microphones over time i've moved studios a few times and it's just fun to look back at the channel and how it got started and literally as of today today being october 4th i'm actually recording this on september 30th but one thing i've learned about youtube is that sometimes processing takes a very long time so i do my videos ahead of time but as of today it's actually my second to last day at my day job tomorrow is my last day and you guys are going to be seeing this on the first day that i am solo on october the 4th which is when this video is going to go live so um as i'm talking to you or as you're you know as you're watching this today's my first day going solo learn linux tv is my only job this is so amazing i just can't believe that this is happening now before i go into the history of this channel because i kind of feel like that would be a lot of fun to talk about i just need to thank you guys because i am able to do this because of you guys you guys helped me do this this like every single one of you that are watching this video you played a role in this okay i don't i don't want to sugarcoat that i don't want to um you know pass that off as unimportant it's extremely important because you guys helped me get to this point you know i of course i do other things i write books and things like that but you know the audience on my channel you guys buy the books and um people that discover my books first they watch my channel so i consider the audience one in the same regardless of how you are consuming my content i feel like we're one family this is a community that was created and you guys helped me achieve this and i can't thank you guys enough you guys are amazing in addition i also want to send a special thank you out to tom lawrence who has been very helpful to me over the years i really appreciate his help and his guidance especially considering that i must have asked him like a zillion questions about business and all kinds of things and he's had some really great ideas and i really think he's helped the channel a lot and i feel like i've given him a lot of great ideas so it's been mutually beneficial but i really appreciate that and tom's channel is awesome by the way if you're not already familiar with this channel you should definitely check it out now i've talked about the history of this channel before i don't remember in which video i might have done that because i have like near 800 videos on my channel as of the time i'm recording this video oh my god i can't believe 800 videos like really is that even true and that's not even counting any videos i might have deleted because there were some earlier ones that um got lost or were deleted for some reason but not many so around 800 as of the time i'm recording this video so i talked about the history of the channel before but just to make sure you know for those of you that don't already know i'll talk about the history of the channel and how it got started now the first thing to understand about me is that i t in general is number one for me that like computers technology i don't think that's a secret i think everyone knows that right um if i didn't like technology i wouldn't be doing this channel so that was the root of everything for me and also i love retro gaming i just it's just another hobby completely unrelated to this channel it's why i do retropie videos on this channel every now and then um but oddly enough it was my retro gaming hobby that started this linux channel believe it or not it's true so how this channel got started was i decided to make this emulator box with um you know games for retro gaming and i'm a collector i have physical copies of games i also i also like to have the digital copy too because i like to you know have be able to back up the save files and things like that so i bought this old uh actually at the time it wasn't old but it was a dell xeno it was before until nux were a thing and i made this emulator console kind of thing this was before retropie even existed and i hand coded the menus and built it on linux because i've been studying linux for you know many years before i did this video and i'm like hey look at this thing i made it's a cool cool thing running on linux it um i was running i think super mario world on it and some other games and um i think that i don't think that was my first video but it was one of them that was kind of how it got started i think my first video was retro gaming related but i don't think that one is still on my channel but then i did some follow-up videos on it and um of course people ask how did you do that exactly like it shows how you did it okay i'll show you guys how i did it and you know did some tutorials on that um another thing that was happening around the same time as i was finishing up my degree and i was taking some java programming classes uh java's fine i'm not gonna make this video a programming language debate or anything but i was reading this book the textbook i thought oh it's just dry i it's boring like the author didn't even have a sense of humor um i think a sense of humor at least sometimes in a book is important keep you know keep you um entertained i didn't feel like the book really matched software development in real life i don't even think like git was talked about for example version control but anyway i went on youtube and i found some tutorials and um there was a channel the new boston i think it's called i watch some uh java videos and for whatever reason i'm like this is this is easier for me like watching training videos is is just easier than reading and it's not like the content that was being talked about in the video was all that different than you know compared to a book because they're all teaching you the same thing but for whatever reason the training videos were easier for me i got it just like that i was able to get up to speed with java passed both classes and i thought that was pretty cool now before i watch those videos it never really occurred to me that youtube was like a place to find out how to do stuff i think you know before that like a lot of other people i was watching these funny cat videos and just seeing what kind of shenanigans kitties are getting into and you know it's fun times and and you know outtakes from uh news reports that's always been one of my favorite things news bloopers i just love it so i was watching these comedic videos i never thought of youtube as like this platform that um i could learn something on but then after the new boston of course and watching java there's other channels out there that i watched and like wow pretty much anything i want to know how to do there's a video for that like i i saw a video about you know how to change an electrical outlet um i'm not saying anyone should do that i don't want to be in trouble if someone gets zapped but um the thing is there's content out there for people to find out how to do things and then at this point i was like you know i'm i've been learning linux for the longest time and i was already obsessed with it i've read a ton of books and i've been running it for years like i could probably do some linux tutorials so i went to walmart i bought a 15 microphone and i went to a local flea market dixieland flea market of all things in here in michigan and bought a very cheap used laptop that was old at the time very low budget very low income at the time and i used that microphone and that laptop to record the first tutorials for this channel and you have to be honest when i go back and watch my older content i find it dreadful no offense to myself i just feel like things have improved so much since then that i think even some of these videos had this horrible electronic hum in the video that um drives me crazy nowadays but i didn't know any better i didn't know how to get rid of that nowadays i know how to edit things i know how to edit audio um at that time every tutorial video was done in one take every time believe it or not no editing at all and if i made a mistake i started all the way over from the beginning i was that naive i didn't even know how to edit anything i just did the video in one take i hit the record button i just uploaded it raw exactly the way it was i you know again no editing nothing i just put it up there on youtube and um you know you have to start somewhere right i think that's important for people to get started to just get started just put some content up there that's what you should do if you want to start a channel and then the rest you kind of learn as you go but then later on i decided to make it a bigger thing i felt like you know i could really do something with this i want to kind of see how far this can go if i really push it and the difference is really huge compared to when i started and now not just the production quality which i'll get to later but um you know at some point i started turning a profit it was never about that though i was never like oh i want to be rich no you know um yeah some people are rich from youtube but let's be honest that's few people and that's not what it's about i want to teach people things that's what i find joy in if i teach somebody something and it resonates with them and have an impact on their career that's awesome so that's what i want to do but then you know at one point i was you know getting a paycheck uh like 70 us dollars it was less than 100 i don't know how much it was and um i would joke around with my friends and family because they said oh you're rich you're on youtube no it's not about being rich i don't want to be rich and no i'm not really making much of a profit either but i did get like 80 or something so i bought myself a new video game so i would joke that the money was video game money just i'll do some videos and every now and then i might get some revenue to go buy a video game so that's cool it's not why i'm doing it but you know i guess it's an added bonus i'll take it and then from there the channel just started to grow i started buying new equipment so when the revenue increased i would just put that revenue you know right back into the channel and buy a better camera and then when i could afford a new camera a better one than that one i would buy a new one sell that one and then just keep putting money investing money back in the channel at one point i upgraded to 4k which was a lot more challenging than i thought especially when it comes to storage and over the years it just kind of started to look better and better and better even to the point sometimes where i would redo a tutorial series because i wanted someone to have something that's on par with the current quality of the channel not like it was back then even though there's probably nothing wrong with the older videos i think they're still perfectly valid and then you know the reviews have been fun i look back at some of my distro reviews and one thing i realize now is that it's like a time capsule so this channel's been around for so long i could look at some of my older reviews for linux distributions and i could remember yeah that's what it was like wow you know that was gnome 2 back then and that's an older kde release i mean remember when linux mint had a kde edition it was great it was awesome until they just shut it down but i have videos you know you could look back at these and then you could see what things looked like back then i think that's just so fun to look back at the evolution of linux over the years which is kind of one of the things that this channel offers because it's been around for so long is uh horribles i think so my older reviews were before i even started editing videos for the first time um you could just mute the video honestly and just watch the video you don't have to hear me talk because the audio is um you know kind of bad but you know that being said um it's a time capsule i think that's really cool now the question is of course why did i quit my day job um obviously i'm doing well enough to where the revenue from this channel is going to support me but it's not really all about that it's also about mental health too because my company is awesome the company that i was working for i don't really have any complaints i'm not going to turn this into a rant about the company or anything because it's a great company and that made it harder to leave because when you're being treated well how do you leave that you know like how do you leave a good job um and i didn't want to honestly i i was i felt like this channel has grown to the point where it is a job even though i do it for um fun but i'm also getting older and i can't really do like two jobs forever i know at some point i'm gonna have to choose one and i kind of i've known that for a couple of years now that i'm gonna have to choose and that day is going to come and it's not even really a choice though because it's like do i choose corporate america or do i choose the platform that i built that you guys helped me build obviously but that was built that i started and you guys helped build um i can't i can't let that go i mean you just can't i mean what if that opportunity never happens again and this is it um i'd like to think that there's plenty of opportunities out there but we don't really know do we uh we don't really know what's coming our way so i feel like if you have an opportunity got it you have to take it you have to do it if there's a possibility that something is going to work out it's scary to take risks it's scary to leave your day job but if you do the math and it it works out and you know you can support yourself and everything's going to be good then you can do that and you should give that a shot um obviously um but it's scary and i talk to many entrepreneurs and they all say the same thing like when they make the switch it's it's just um it's exciting you know it's awesome but at the same time you know there is a risk um i can't lie and say that there's no risk there's a risk here and i am taking a gamble with this but i do feel very strongly in this community and this channel and everything that i'm doing here and and you guys too because you guys have helped me so um i feel like it's definitely a the way to go and it's also the only way to go because like i said i'm getting older i can't work two jobs i'm getting tired you know it's the amount of videos i do on this channel i mean i'm nearing 800 that's that's a lot um the momentum i can't keep this going with also a day job there's going to come a point where i'm just going to burn out you know and i know that's going to happen if i don't take advantage of this and i don't go down to one thing and just kind of consolidate and i think that's kind of what it's more about is is just doing what i love you know linux is my number one hobby and making content it's not all i do right because i also have uh consulting that i do for people and you know i'm not secretive about that i think everyone who follows me or has followed me for a long time they know that there's different profit streams there's books there's consulting there's all these different things so um some people when they first heard this news because i've mentioned it on other platforms that this is going to be happening they'll make the content like you're doing youtube full-time well yeah yeah technically but also kind of not um the youtube thing is going to be stronger now and it's going to be a bigger part of what i'm doing than it already is and you guys are going to benefit by getting better content because i'll have more time to put into it but there's still other other things i'm talking to my publisher about writing another book already so you know there's other things here but the youtube channel is going to continue to be a focus it's not going away and um it's not going to change either i'm not going to say yeah i'm doing all x y and z now none of that other stuff um i don't i don't even think you guys are going to notice a difference at first at all um honestly because the content that i'm going to be creating is the content that has been on my list for a long time i mean my backlog is huge i have people asking for a tutorial on this and on that and all these other things but um it's probably on my list already because my list is so thick it's going to take me a long time to get through it so honestly um i think it's going to be business as usual for the most part but what i'm hoping is going to be the case i think i know will be the case is that i'll have less distraction i'll be able to focus on what i need to focus on and um some of these videos were like very last minute because i'm just like right up to the minute sometimes when i'm uploading something and something is supposed to be out i told you guys this is coming out and um you know i'm rendering it that morning because other things got in the way of my day job or whatever kind of slowed me down a bit so i think it'll allow me to be more proactive as well because i'll be able to get things done ahead of time i'll be able to analyze things like what you guys want more often respond to comments more often respond to messages in the forums more often i think that my availability is going to actually increase which is the whole point and immediately either this week or next i'm going to start doing more live streams that's something i wanted to do anyway there's no reason not to do it now because i have more time so overall i think that everything is going to um going to improve from here on out and i'm so excited to see what this next chapter will actually bring for the channel and for my career now there's one comment that i want to address that was mentioned a few times in variations on the podcast because i mentioned this on the podcast i just wanted to do a dedicated video about my decision but um there the variations of this comment were um some sort of surprise that somebody would um work their way up in corporate i.t just to let it go um and and believe me i do understand the gravity of this decision and um i don't feel like this means it's the end of my corporate i.t career i mean just as a quick background i've worked my way up from you know help desk bottom level i built my career up to it director where i'm managing people and building teams and things like that in in leadership so um that was a lot of work building my career up like that and um it's surprising to people that someone would build that career just to kind of you know okay it's time for that to go i'm gonna do this other thing so i want to you know talk about that too now the thing is i don't feel like my corporate it career is a waste i don't feel like that i'm actually letting it go because you know this is a company learn linux tv is a company um in full disclosure but um the difference is it's it's my company and you guys helped me build it we have a community it's a it's a community-based company i guess is what i could call it and that's different than you know like your microsoft's and your red hats and all that other all those other companies um but the thing is i could still add value to corporate i.t i just don't feel like i need to work in corporate i.t to add value to corporate i.t so one of the things that i want to do and i don't know when i'm going to start doing this but it is a plan is to do more like career development videos like um for those of you that are um you know wanting to get started in it or um you want to i don't know um get higher up in it and learn some things i get a lot of career development questions because i've been on both sides you know like i've i've had interviews done i've worked my way up but also i um i've given interviews and built teams and i've been through the hiring process on both sides so i feel like i have a lot of value to add here and there's nothing new for me to learn in corporate i.t because once you get to be like the director and you're managing people and building teams where do you go from there right yeah you can get raises you can get better job titles but i don't want to say there's nothing new to learn because honestly there always is but i don't have much i mean i feel like i'm i'm hitting a ceiling here and what i want to do now and i feel like is more important is to coach you guys on this stuff because i've done all that i built the teams like i've said i've done the interviews like i've said but um that helps the company and they're grateful for it but what has that done for you um some of the videos i've done have helped you out you know helped you out a lot but but um career development wise yeah i think i've helped you in that too but not on the level that i could so maybe i can help you get a job maybe i can help you understand the process on both sides to understand how this stuff works and how to apply how to interview and things like that how to get your foot in the door how to um you know get you know improve your salary or your certifications or whatever those are things that i can definitely help you guys with and i want to do content around that if you guys want me to and i think you will because i get that question a lot so i think i have an opportunity to um coach you guys on that so um you know this video is unscripted honestly i just wanted to to get this out there to let you guys know what's on my mind but i'm hoping to do more vlog videos and things like that kind of keep you guys up to date on what's going on more often i do feel like the first week possibly two but at least the first week where i'm solo i'm going to be super busy so i don't feel like i'm going to be like more responsive immediately but i think it's gonna happen pretty quick um once i you know tie up all these loose ends that i have to tie up and things like that um get through my backlog a little bit more then i think everything's gonna open up and you're gonna start to see um you know the changes which are going to be subtle career development videos for example are definitely going to be a thing getting through my backlog that's really important so um wow i just i can't believe this is happening this is surreal to me and the time has come learn linux tv is my only gig right now and um i i'm going to make that the case forever because this is what i want to do and now because of you guys i'm able to do it so thank you so much oh my gosh for all your support i really appreciate everything you guys have done i have some awesome content coming very soon as always some things i'm editing um you know it's kind of funny like here i am recording this video and all the videos i'm going to be editing and uploading were all done before i quit my day job so um the new me will kind of circulate probably by november in the content because i'm usually like a month ahead or so but um yeah it's coming new content is coming i can't wait and i'll let you guys know more as time goes on but like i mentioned thank you so much i really appreciate it it was awesome uh of you guys to support me like this and i look forward to the next stage and the next mission so to speak which is to just elevate the content to a higher level thank you guys so much [Music] you [Music]

Channel: LearnLinuxTV

Views: 26,006

Keywords: Linux, Tutorial, Review, Howto, Guide, Distribution, Distro, Learn Linux, open-source, open source, gnu/linux, LearnLinuxTV, quit my job, ubuntu, learnlinux.tv, learn linux tv, jay lacroix, it career, youtube career, youtube story, i quit, career development, career path, youtube job, youtube earnings, youtube profit, youtube company, full-time, youtuber, content, producing content, quitting my job, quit your job motivation, quit job, why i quit, career advice, i quit my job

Id: 4bjv14iXa4o

Length: 24min 7sec (1447 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 04 2021