Software Engineer Leaves Microsoft After 22 Years of Service, Becomes a Goose Farmer

Feng Yuan, a software engineer who went from working at Microsoft for 22 years to becoming a goose farmer, has gone viral on social media. As netizens discuss his remarkable journey, a user took to X to share an image with the caption, "Resigned from Microsoft after 22 years just to become a Goose Farmer". Since the upload, the post has fueled widespread discussion as well as praise for Feng Yuan's career choice.

The image in the post is a screengrab of Fen Yuan's LinkedIn profile, which takes the readers through his extensive tenure at Microsoft that spanned over two decades. As per the profile, he was responsible for many projects over the years and served in key positions. He was an architect for around 1 year and 4 months after which he went on to serve as the Principal Software Development Engineer for more than 21 years. Moreover, he has also contributed to projects such as the Azure Performance Team Office 365 Foundation Engineering and Bings apps development.

Before this, Feng Yuan was a developer at Hawleet where he spent around seven years as a senior software developer. Yuan, who has a Ph.D degree in Computer Science from Nanjing University and a Bachelor's degree in Electronics from Shanghai University, has not disclosed the reason that motivated him to pursue the unconventional career path. 

The viral post has gotten many comments with many lauding his willingness to pivot while others talked about the possible reasons that made him take this decision with some blaming poor work-life balance. "The funny part is that he started working when I was born and I think he enjoyed his corporate life and learned the life lessons. It's okay," writes Shubham while Ganges Post India writes, "I retired from a Fortune 500 company and am starting a donkey farm in India. Nothing wrong with having varied interests, and no work is small. Plus, look at the ROI in Cleopetra's milk. Didn't you know that donkey milk is selling for Rs. 7,000 per liter?"

The post has so far received 240.5K likes and more than 229 comments with most people talking about how people are slowly moving away from corporate life. Many are now moving towards better career options, especially amid the serious layoffs. Kat Clark, a senior manager at Apple talks about how she quit her job to run a nonprofit Teachers in Their Power, via Business Insider. 

"I noticed that teachers' voices were rarely amplified in the media, and I wanted to do something about that," she said, "even if it meant walking away from a couple hundred thousand dollars per year," she told the publication.

Page Webster, a former Meta employee, took a job at a local winery that pays $20 an hour after getting laid off from the company. A Gartner report found that many employees are leaving the organization after feeling undervalued. On top of that, another report by Pew Research Center found that more than 62% of self-employed people reported feeling extremely happy and satisfied.