Life After Tech (printed by Ingram Spark): Redefine Yourself and Discover New Work Opportunities

by Debbie Levitt

After decades of building a tech career, author Debbie Levitt is one of many people with questions, anxieties, and doubts. As a mentor and coach, the employed and unemployed often ask her, “What happened to tech jobs?” and “What will I do next?”

Life After Tech is your personal and proactive journey. Eighteen introspective exercises—plus templates and examples—make Life After Tech a guide and a workbook. Use the "Phoenix Flight Plan" to get grounded, plan, rise, and soar.

Debbie addresses common career change emotions and fears through sensitivity, critical thinking, humor, and vulnerability. She provides fresh advice and perspectives while avoiding the toxic positivity that plagues job struggles.

You are the phoenix. It's never too early to plan what you'll do when you're done with tech… or tech is done with you.

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This topic is so stigmatized that Life After Tech is one of the first books–and possibly the first book–specifically about leaving technology jobs and careers.

Life After Tech is for everybody considering a career or work

Struggling to find a tech jobCan't transition into techJob reduced or replaced by “tech”Those expecting to work many more years in techNon-tech workersThe Life After Tech Discord community, membership website, and other resources make Life After Tech more than a book. It's a support system that welcomes everybody no matter where they are on the ever-changing working in tech/not working in tech spectrum. You can also find the PDF, EPUB, and audiobook on our website.

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Problem Working in technology has become stressful and difficult, if not impossible. Jobs are increasingly hard to find. Layoffs are so common that most of us have lived through at least one, or fear the next one. Many salaries are lower than they used to be. Workplaces feel increasingly toxic, and appear to have abandoned quality, values, and ethics. Experts predict that AI will reduce or eliminate tens of millions of jobs in the coming years.

AI The only AI used to make this book is Grammarly’s spelling and grammar correction. There are brief, credited quotes from Claude.ai and Google’s “Career Dreamer” in Chapter 9. All other text was planned, written, edited, formatted, and checked by humans.

158 pages, Paperback

Published August 27, 2024

About the author

Debbie Levitt, MBA, is the CXO of Delta CX. She’s a Customer Experience (CX) and User Experience (UX) strategist and change agent who specializes in setting houses in order in record time. She has nearly thirty years of experience but has been advised to mention only fifteen years on her résumé and LinkedIn.

Debbie is an experienced leader with a track record of building and leading diverse research and design teams, shaping product vision, influencing strategies, and driving initiatives. She has many years of experience in CX and UX strategy, research, information architecture, interaction design, prototyping, testing, and more.

Clients call her “Mary Poppins” because she flies in, improves everything she can, sings a few songs, and flies away to her next adventure.

Debbie is a career and life coach helping people with work and beyond. She loves being a catalyst, pushing boats out, and ensuring people know how to row them.

Debbie’s 2022 book, Customers Know You Suck, is the customer-centricity how-to manual. She’s proud of the book and knows it can help companies that care about improving quality, value, and business and customer outcomes. However, companies mostly want the business outcomes while skipping the quality, value, and customer satisfaction or delight that would get them there.

Debbie’s 2024 book, Life After Tech, is (possibly) the first book about leaving technology work. She addresses common career change emotions and fears through sensitivity, critical thinking, humor, and vulnerability. “What happened to tech jobs?” “What will I do next?” Life After Tech is your personal and proactive journey. Eighteen introspective exercises—plus templates and examples—make Life After Tech a guide and a workbook. Use the “Phoenix Flight Plan” to get grounded, plan, rise, and soar.

Outside of CX work, and sometimes during CX work, Debbie enjoys singing symphonic prog goth metal, opera, and New Wave.

Reviews

[Seth Finkle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sharing personal examples, hard-gained wisdom, and a psychologically sound approach to career transition, this book is a life raft for anyone drowning in the stormy sea of a challenging tech career. Whether you're struggling as a developer, designer, researcher, or project manager, this is a must-read. Debbie's easy-to-read prose validates your frustration, joins you in your disillusionment, and gives you a clear, achievable plan to take back control of your career, your autonomy, and your soul. It was a privilege for me to serve as a content editor for this book, and I know it will be a beacon of hope for anyone seeking life after tech. Do yourself a favor and read it. Today.

[Ekta · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is quick to read and easy to digest, but I recommend spending quality time with the exercises. These exercises provide deeper insights and greater value, making the book not just a read, but a tool for meaningful self-reflection.

Having changed my career once, I can relate so much to the book. I had to find my way in a convoluted way and wish the book existed back when I was considering career change. It would have been such a huge help.

If you are considering any kind of career change, please read it because it has a lot of good and practical advice to offer.

[Sarah Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tech is constantly evolving and so are you. Reading Life After Tech is like talking to a trusted friend who says “listen, accept the reality of the situation and do something about it…and here is the outline for your next steps.” Practical activities provide self-help for finding a new direction that will work for you, alongside a gentle acknowledgement that you are not alone.