6 years industry, 5 years prior to that doing academic development & grad school (M.S.C.S); now as a SWE in a SRE team. Hobbyist for > 15 years. I'd have start

6 years industry, 5 years prior to that doing academic development & grad school (M.S.C.S); now as a SWE in a SRE team. Hobbyist for > 15 years. I'd have started and finished at the same university; moved to SF in 2005 immediately post-graduation; generally I would have taken on more risk. This would have essentially allowed me to semi-retire by now.