I had friends tell me I was taking an unreasonable risk by quitting my job at Microsoft early in 2009, but I couldn't take it anymore and left anyway. I took a

I had friends tell me I was taking an unreasonable risk by quitting my job at Microsoft early in 2009, but I couldn't take it anymore and left anyway. I took a couple months off to work on a Burning Man project, spent a year doing contract work and messing around with electronics, then got a job doing firmware. It was fine. I would have made more money if I'd stayed, but not enough to make the experience worthwhile.