Roshan Gupta left Google to move to Portugal.Gupta wanted to pursue a better work-life balance in 2022 and start his own business.Gupta said it's important for those going into tech to be aware of the industry's demands and pace.This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Roshan Gupta, a 46-year-old business owner who moved to Portugal with his family in 2022. Business Insider has verified his former employment and identity. This story has been edited for length and clarity.I'm the traditional Silicon Valley story. I grew up loving technology, went to MIT, studied computer science, and got my first job at a startup.My last role was at Google leading the Messages team. I had a big team of product managers, and it was a 300-plus org with a nine-digit budget. It was awesome. I loved the company and I loved the team, which is probably why people thought I was crazy for leaving and moving to Portugal.When people make big changes, often there's this sort of big moment. But the truth is, it's a collection of all these other moments and the catalyst that finally puts you over the top.My wife and I, and eventually our two sons, like to be adventurous, but we were also on the path you're supposed to take, which is to get a job, earn a paycheck, work harder, and climb the corporate ladder. The adventures we had been taking would be like moving from California to Austin and then to Seattle.During COVID, we kept thinking: What if we made a bigger change?The catalyst was a tough work-life balanceWhen you enter a field like investment banking, you know it's going to be a grind and often, you get in and you get out. I graduated back in 2000 when the internet was booming. Mobile phones were just coming online. I was the first generation to be connected 24/7 and I don't think we've seen the effects of that yet.My wife and I both worked in tech and we found that the more we did and the more success we had on paper, the worse our quality of life was getting. We were doing well from a career perspective and financially but time for family, self-care, and community wasn't happening.One option was to work like crazy for 10 more years, earn a crazy amount of money, and retire. But I didn't know if I could make it 10 years working at that pace. You don't know how much time you have left.When I was running the Messages team, I had teams in the US on different coasts, in Zurich, and in Asia. I would wake up, pick up my phone, and start working. I would get the kids out to school, and by 7:30 or 8:00 a.m., I was in my seat taking calls.I was in Google's Seattle office, but my teams were all over the world, so I would commute for 45 minutes to get on a video call. There are pros to being in the office, but there are also cons. So much of my work was on a video call talking to teams all over the globe.By 6 p.m. or so, I would force myself to get off because I had to pick up the kids. Then I would give them dinner and pop them in front of a TV, or try to spend some time with them, but I was already spent.Then I would get a flood of emails because Europe is waking up. By the time I got on top of that and was about to go to bed surprise, Asia wakes up. When I wake up the next morning, I have all the stuff left over from there. Then the US is waking up, and you repeat.Imagine repeating that for years.At a previous job where I wasn't a product leader, I still felt overwhelmed.We'd all try these tips and tricks like not checking emails after a certain time or scheduling emails to send in the morning, and then a month later, it would all go out the window, and we're all back to grinding.I'm still busy in PortugalAnother factor for moving was I wanted to try building my own business.I have Type I Diabetes and I felt I could never be an entrepreneur in the US because it would be difficult to afford healthcare for myself and my family.In Portugal, I was able to start a company called AmplifyPM, and I help senior product managers become product leaders and I teach them how to scale and handle the increase of responsibility in a sustainable way.I thought if I came to Portugal and took a break from work and started my own business, I would suddenly have oodles of free time.I still feel busy. The difference is the pace of work.Working with companies like Google and others felt like drinking out of a fire hose. You sit down and the amount of work you get done in that same amount of time is off the charts crazy.When you get promoted, you likely get promoted because you have the capacity to handle more. At Google, I loved the team, the company, and what we did. That let me handle such a large amount of things because I found meaning in my work, but it was not enough for us as a family to keep going in that direction.In Portugal, I'm spending that time at a more sustainable pace.I don't want the lesson to be that if you have a career in Big Tech, the only way to thrive is to leave. This career unlocked so much for us and I don't regret it.It is a culture that keeps pushing you, but if you go in with awareness and understand how it can be, it can be great.I loved it and I may even go back one day but this is how I chose to restore balance for now.