Why I’ll Never Go Back to the Corporate World

Jon Clemence
7 min readFeb 20, 2023

I occasionally take a break from my normal guitar-related content to share pieces of my story. This article details my experience leaving the corporate world. I hope it helps those of you who are on a similar journey. -Jon

A man with a satchel walks away from the camera.
Photo by Marten Bjork on Unsplash

On the morning of January 15, 2021, I drove into my job as a quality manager for a small manufacturing company. A few hours later, I drove home as yet another casualty of the global Covid economic shutdown.

My fifteen-year corporate career ended that day with a manila folder and a long drive home. This singular event led to drastic changes in my life and career — way more than I could cover in a single article. But one of the main threads in my story since then has been my opportunity to change careers.

Burnout is real, and it sucks

At the time I was let go, I was incredibly burned out. I never intended to have a career in quality management, but like so many things in life, an opportunity fell into my lap when I needed it. I took the job because I needed the money; I never thought it would turn into a career. So for a decade and a half, I did the corporate thing as a way to make money and provide for my family.

But after the first 10 years, I began to experience the effects of burnout: the sense of dread on Sunday night…

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Jon Clemence

Medium needs more guitar-related content. I. Am. That. Hero!