Having a mid-career "stop/pause/sabbatical" is a really good idea if you can afford it. You don't realize how much of your daily life is done in autopilot unti

Having a mid-career "stop/pause/sabbatical" is a really good idea if you can afford it. You don't realize how much of your daily life is done in autopilot until you stop and have time to think about your priorities, specially your career priorities. In my case it helped me to focus on what I wanted to do the next 10 years (DATA), and get more confidence on what can I do as a developer (15+ years without serious coding). Just one suggestion: during that time play every contess/prize you find about your career. This forces you to work on deadlines and speeds-up a lot how you learn.