Linus on Live Stream (I've been thinking of retiring)

[renchy_is_sketchy]

If you want to retire, do it.

He has helped me become , dare i say, addicted to technology and seeing it advance makes me feel a different sort of way.

He has helped me get all of the knowledge i needed for building my first computer (which i put together just recently and found out that the RAM was too slow for the R5 , from one of his videos actually) ,he inspired me to disassemble and reassemble one of the computers we had at my house at a very young age. 

He is also the very reason i am going down the IT route for my career choice.

Thats my personal story and i bet that thousands or even millions have the same story or an even better one.

I'd say that mostly him and some other tech youtubers have inspired me to make my name known , perhaps for doing something about the fact that the earth is dying, and i feel like this video has sparked that dream to an even bigger size.

 

Thank you Linus , do what makes you feel right and healthy, whatever it takes.

[Kilr00y]

2 hours ago, THraShArD said:

Congrats on the 10mil mark. That is a major milestone.  Take a break for 2 months and travel while checking in on the road

Scrapyard Wars - Holiday Edition :D

[Badger906]

Man that was a hard watch. I've been around since the super early NCIX days. Unboxing keyboards and mice in a back room or in the damn carpark on a bench lol. 

See the channel grow from one young man's passion to a company of passionate people. 

Was bad enough when luke moved to float plane. That handsome bastards passion for things made videos I didnt even care about worth watching.

I get the impression some people will be like "boo hoo I've got kids and a job.. what's the big deal here".

But I think the pressure to succeed is something non of us understand when in the spot light of the media. Nobody wants to be the multi million sub channel at fails. 

 

Just hope linus finds his happy place. No matter what it consists of. 

But god dammit man.. this time last week I had my cat put down.. that made my January suck.. now this.. 

But have to wish everyone ar LTT all the best. I know the company isnt going anywhere. But linus is the face of that. They're going to feel it too

[RaZz85]

As many before, I created this account, simply to say this. I hope he reads it, if not, no matter.

 

I've been struggling with burnout for a couple of years now, and finally crashed back in april. I'm back at work since januari 6th. After months of self reflexion I've come to some insight that I would like to share.

 

Linus, you should do what you do because you like doing this. Not because you feel you have to, because you feel responsible, because people depend on you, etc. Feeling like you have to do something is the quickest way to stress and to exhaustion. 

 

The second thing I want to say, take care of yourself. If you feel like you need a day off, take it. If it's longer, same thing.

Your fans will not go away, look at all the people still asking about Luke. Also, you've got a great team with you, they'll take care of you. Make sure to give them the chance to do the same when they get in these kinds of moments in their lives. This is something that a lot of employers seem to forget, you have a chance to make a difference.

 

And lastly, look at your life and try to see what is important. Spend most of your time at what you enjoy most. 

[Jz1]

Still watching the video, but I wanted to see what others said, as I was not expecting this.

Been watching Linus Content since 2012 or 2011... I ventured into Tech a lot because of him. He always made the reviews very interesting, and I could tell from the beginning this guy had passion for what he did. 

 

I bought a lot of things because of Linus. The most memorable one probably being the Ducky Shine 3 with Cherry Blues when mechanical keyboards were becoming mainstream, and that was 7 years ago.

Linus influenced me to build my first rig in 2012 when I was 12 turning 13. If I remember correctly, it was a 2500K with 8GB of DDR3 1600mhz memory. I had a Z68 Gigabyte Motherboard and a GTX 560 DirectCU from Asus. I remember playing Skyrim on it and using console commands. Later that year, I also bought a 120GB Intel SSD for like $200 lol. I couldn't believe the speed, and yes I got it because of Linus.

 

Nowadays I don't praise tech as much as I did back then, but dam I loved the era when the HD7970 came out and Linus would make all these interesting videos about comparisons with the 680, also I remember all the TITAN builds, that was fun. I like the new content don't get me wrong, but there was something about the older videos that the new ones don't have...

 

I could say Linus was like a tech role model for me growing up as a tech-savy kid, and I was glad to have all the content he provided, along with the forum.

 

PS: Slick was Awesome and made LTT even better, it was sad seeing him go into FloatPlane too

 

 

 

[BakaPetra]

Basically I learned a lot of things about computers from your videos, and then I went to a middle school where I studied computer science because of your inspiration. I don't regret it. Now I'm an IT engineer, programmer, system builder, because the 14 year old me seen one of your videos and started showing  interest in computers.

 

THX for everything man.

[Video Beagle]

It's been said by others, but I''ll repeat...what Linus is going through is normal. He's hit a point where he's questioning where he is in life and what he's done. He sees the world getting worse and it hits him as both a young idealist, but also as a father of young children, and it makes him consider what he's accomplished and is it good or bad. (His experience with Make A Wish, I'd say, both gave a real sense of what he means to strangers, but also the "frivolity" of what he does in the face of big issues, as well as a reflection of mortality that affects him both as a younger adult and, again, as a father).

 

It's left him with a lot of questions, and no answers, because of course, there are no answers. That's what life is...finding the answers.

 

But, at least from my POV, to his question of the worthiness of what he does...stripping away the sillyness and the tech and youtube etc...Linus is a communicator and an educator. And really, that's the most important thing you can do to make the world better.  It may seem simple and even meaningless, but just the act of passing on knowledge to those seeking it, makes the world better in untold ways.

[IdlePX]

Sounds a lot like major burnout. Take care of yourself, Linus. Thanks for all the videos. I very much hope you're able to reclaim some life from your career.

[RasmusDC]

you reach a point in life, where things just change. 

 

telling others what to do is nothing people can do, they have to make a choice them self, personally i am caught in the void.

 

being 41 years old, having worked at high levels the last 10+ years as a high level specialist, my point of view differs, i´ve sought what linus has, self control, there is nothing worse than living in a company world, where management see you as an important tool, but also as a danger, because you are honest, so i have been thinking of stepping down for a long while.

 

having been so stupid to "broadcast it" to my peers i started something that is hard to stop, they fight to keep me in the game, both as support, but also as power plays, putting me in situations politically that has taken a toll on my personal life, and also my sanity.

 

to be honest, personally i have had the feeling to say, fuck the world in many years.. i do not see the value of working for other people, building shit for them. the egoism in this world is so extreme today, that you loose so much of your self.. 

 

the fun part is the "SUPPORT" i get, is trying to get me to play the game, so it would help me fly further into this "world" that i hate. to "file down" my edges, and to make me a bit more political, and "symbiotic" to the management.

 

the grass might not be greener in another area, but atleast linus can set his own setup...

 

and try to change the status a bit, so why not buy yourself free time, why not loosen up, and make it a fun place, i know entrepreneurs, they love the creation, but they also kill everything around them, because the believe they should have the same passion, and drive and time consumption into their creation.

 

i´m a sucker for the Valve model, i don´t know it it works in Valve, although they sell it as such (valve employee handbook for a bit of context).

 

maybe a bit of restructuring, and trying something else, will build something better, and stronger. i don´t know. i´ve learned though my years, that trust, creates speed, but also that it is important that you build a setup of actual specialist that can deliver the goals you aim for.. if you get that working you will be able to lean back, and see something great happen...

 

you are not the center of the world, you are a catalyst, and that for me is something great to be..

 

sorry i might just be rambling.

[HandzUp95]

Linus, you created such a great company with talented people. You don't need anymore to be in front of everything. Take some time, enjoy your family and you'll be enjoyed to start again what you always loved.

[tech.guru]

Linus, seems little like a micro manager he wants to control everything.

He needs to stand back and focus, and also set boundaries.

 

he needs to limits on hours he puts in work, when he had those voice problems early in this year you can tell his stress. he needs step back and if he needs to take time off he should.

 

he sounds in the video like his relationship is suffering with his wife.

he is a workaholic and he shouldnt think that another job would be anything is different.

 

there will be always be demand, for time and attention. he really needs to set boundaries.

delegate and allow others to oversee and take charge. 

 

[kelvinhall05]

I mean you gotta feel bad for him. He has a really fucking tough decision to make: continue working his ass off and running a *business* and pleasing ten million people, or living a semi-normal life with his family. At this point he probably can't even go to a Walmart without someone harrassing him for a picture.

 

Linus, if you aren't enjoying this anymore, just don't do it. YouTube won't be happy, but they never are. We support you. Happy family Linus > depressed LinusTechTips.

[RaZz85]

1 minute ago, kelvinhall05 said:

I mean you gotta feel bad for him. He has a really fucking tough decision to make: continue working his ass off and running a *business* and pleasing ten million people, or living a semi-normal life with his family. At this point he probably can't even go to a Walmart without someone harrassing him for a picture.

 

Linus, if you aren't enjoying this anymore, just don't do it. YouTube won't be happy, but they never are. We support you. Happy family Linus > depressed LinusTechTips.

This, exactly this!

[Spotty]

Coincidence that LTT tweeted today looking for a Linus impersonator? I think not!
 

[Qub3d]

Hi Linus, if you happen to read this thread, I just want to stop by and say thank you.

 

I found your channel when I was in high school, and your videos helped me build my first PC.

 

I would say that your videos helped foster in me a desire to not just blindly use tech, but know it. It lead me to my current stage in life, where I am a software engineer that helps other companies design new IoT products.

 

This video hit hard, because I think we all wonder what's the point deep down. You just have the unique problem of not being able to hide behind the excuse of needing money like the rest of us.

 

If you do decide to retire in the near future, just know that I'm rooting for whatever you do. Your personality will drive you to do something, it's in the nature of successful, hard working people to keep working somehow. And I'm sure you'll be amazing.

 

Whatever you do, do it for YOU. You don't "owe" us anything—you never did, and you have already given us so much.

 

Best wishes @Linustech, and thank you.

[iionas]

5 hours ago, Mister Woof said:

dude is hitting that midlife crisis. I'm right there with him. This shit 8-5 job is turning me into a zombie just so i can afford my lifestyle, which is spending 80% of it at work, preparing for work, and missing out my life and kids and family. I have another 17 years of this to look forward to. At least Linus can make a lot of money and actually contemplate retiring at some point in the near future.

 

I'm a slave to my mortgage for the next 20 years, and no real way out of it.

Right back at you bud, I feel you. 

 

If only it was better for all of us. Least we have things to enjoy I guess. 

[iionas]

And yeah this video hit hard for me too, I like the whole thing hes done since hes started, made me feel like normal human in more than 1 way due to how nerdy Iam about tech.

 

Hang in there bud. 

[tech.guru]

well looks like that make a wish had an impact on him. he saw how others looked up to him and he looked at the age of his kids and probably thought have i been a good dad how will my family remember me.

he probably thought if i my kid went through that, would i regret the time i was away with work and didnt spend with my family.

 

i see these as healthy thoughts, because he does need to allow himself to enjoy time with his family.

I know he feels blessed and indebted for all the success, but he also needs to enjoy life with his family.

 

so, re-balance and set boundaries. hes used to do everything himself and he cant its gotten too big.

these are one of the videos you kind of worry about the guy. i dont think he ever had formal business training and now trying to run a fastly growing company with a lot of demands and this is his real struggle. he really needs help.

[MandoPanda]

@LinusTech

 

Linus, 

First off, Thank you. It's the understatement of the decade but I’ve always been comforted by the fact that I could always geek out to one of your videos at any point in time for the better part of a decade. I've watched you, your team, and your family, grow and change over that time. It really feels like I’ve been a part of that family. We've loved and supported you this whole time and will continue to do so no matter where fate takes you from here on. You have sacrificed so much of your time and your life for others, especially for us, your community. I'm deeply moved by your passion and commitment to what you love, and I’m inspired by your drive to share that passion with others. You have touched the hearts of many. You have worked tirelessly over the years to create a company and a community of like-minded individuals that have been brought together and it’s hard to wrap your mind around the far-reaching effect that you have truly fostered. Your accomplishments amaze me. 

You have been an inspiration to me personally. Watching you for these past seven years, I have seen a lot of your characteristics in myself and I've looked to you as a role model. I've appreciated the effect you've had on me and my passions as well. You’ve touched my life without even knowing it. 

Indeed, you have sacrificed parts of yourself and worked arduously for so many people, but now I think it’s time you focus on your family and yourself. We love your work ethic and the parts of you that have brought us all here but, in the end, it’s not worth it if you sacrifice your soul. Take some time off, pull back your hours at work, focus on what makes you happy. Spend time with your wife and kids, and make sure to take some time for yourself as well. We congratulate you on the 10m, but it shouldn't be an obligation for you in any way. If something causes you stress, it's not worth doing, especially if it’s supposed to be a joyous occasion but ends up being harmful. My suggestion is for you to pursue what gives you joy. We will love and support you no matter what.

I can’t say I won’t be sad if you choose to retire. I just hope you’ll stick around for WAN show, even if it’s just to chat. Where ever life takes you from this point on, I wish you and your family blessings and peace. 

Thank you.
 

[MinemenPvP]

Hey Linus, if you are reading this, you made a huge difference in my life. When I was first introduced to you almost 3 years ago in 7th grade, I felt like I finally was on the right path for life. I grew up as a kid who had a simple dell prebuilt that I would play around with every day as young kid, around 4, which gave me more happiness than anything else, and finding your channel helped me find that happiness again. I used your advice in order to save up enough to upgrade from a bulldozer laptop to a brand new fully functional desktop that I could say I built my own in the matter of a few months. You helped me find my curiosity back and made me a better consumer in the process, I cant thank you enough for the tips you provided. Hope when you do retire you can find the happiness you desire. Long Live LTT!

[Cyberspirit]

As much as I like Linus, I would be happy if he were to retire and just chill out with his family because, at the end, that is worth more than anything.

Also, if he ever feels like he's bored, he could jump back as a guest anytime.

[WereCatf]

All I'm hearing, personally, is that Linus has made the same mistake a whole lot of people do when they're running their own company: they haven't delegated enough stuff to their employees. It's really easy to get burned out if you are not willing to let go of some of the reins. Once you're burned out, it's a lot harder to come back from it.

 

At this point, Linus should just go "fuck it" and go take a 6-month to 12-month complete break and delegate literally everything to others. He'll be a nervous wreck about it at first, but the buttercup's just going to have to suck it.

[nightwasp]

Linus can't retire and hope that the linustechtips channel will continue.  He is the channel.  Unbox Therapy minus Lou equals dead channel.  Paul's Hardware minus Paul equals dead channel.  Jayztwocents minus Jay equals dead channel.  Bitwit minus Kyle equals dead channel. Marques Brownlee minus Marques equals dead channel.  Gamers Nexus minus Steve equals dead channel.  Linus hasn't built a linustechtips brand, Linus Sebastian the person is the brand.

[MystikIncarnate]

I completely get where Linus is coming from here. he's been at this for what 10? 20 years? I'm not entirely sure. It's a tough career to keep going for that long.

 

IMO: Linus, you need to start delegating more. you need some middle-management who can handle the day to day stuff, so you're not a REQUIREMENT in the office.

 

I also want to comment on not wasting things: I have one of the oldest "gaming" rigs: it's a Dell Precision R5500 with dual Xeon L5520's and 24G of RAM with a GTX 650 Ti.  It still holds together as long as I'm not running AAA games on medium to high.  I generally still play older games, and do office stuff on here, but I haven't found reason to get rid of this old rig, even though I pay for my own power and it's a non-trivial amount of power, given that modern single-CPU systems are more powerful, while being something like 1/10th of the power draw.  I still love this rig though.   This idea of reducing waste is why I liked scrapyard wars so much.  It's fun watching the team go through the motions of trying to piece together a 2-3 generation (or more) old build that can still play relatively modern games, relatively well.

On that note: there's so much more to system performance than having a new CPU, lots of RAM and a good graphics card.  System busses, bottlenecks and latency issues all drive forward the issues of speed (or lack thereof); I find the whole thing fascinating, and rather than just throwing money at the problem, it's interesting to me to try to find the slowdowns and see what I can do to fix them without scrapping an entire system for the reason of needing to go faster.

 

Bringing it back to the point, I feel like Linus needs time off, not a vacation, but day to day, more time off.  Spending less time in the office, carrying the torch of LTT, and trusting his team to handle that task for the most part.
Take care of yourself, and your family.  You probably don't need to retire, but you need more "life" in your work/life balance.

[BarackOBatman]

"And if you feel you got everything you came for
If you got everything and you don't want no more
You've got it, just keep on pushing and, keep on pushing and
Push the sky away"

- Nick Cave