What other commenters have not mentioned is, are you in a financially safe place to do this? Is your idea big enough to keep you intellectually stimulated as a

What other commenters have not mentioned is, are you in a financially safe place to do this? Is your idea big enough to keep you intellectually stimulated as a full-time gig? I feel strongly that you should leave where you are now. You're not enjoying it, and more important, it sounds like you are not learning or being challenged. I'm sure there are other interesting jobs in Dallas, but it sounds like you need a bit of time between jobs, which is fine. I'd give yourself a 6 month plan. You're going to work on your side project for 6 months. The first thing will be to set out what you can accomplish in 3 months, and prepare yourself that after 3 months, you should start interviewing seriously. During your first 3 months, you should spend a bit of time networking with the dual goal of promoting your project and keeping in the loop with the tech world so that when the time comes to get back into the work force (if the time comes) you still have connections. Employers will likely appreciate the time you took, the reasons why and the effort you made with your passion project. Best of luck.