Yeah there's no way I could have done this five years out of school. I remember contemplating getting my pilot's license just a few years out of school and afte

Yeah there's no way I could have done this five years out of school. I remember contemplating getting my pilot's license just a few years out of school and after looking at now much I needed to study I was like: Hell no. But 20 years out of school — This was ideal for me. Walking across New Zealand sounds awesome and if my kids were older I'd do it, but honestly I'm really happy just reading books, watching videos, and tinkering with different ways to program. After decades in the industry I can't say enough about how awesome it is to not have a schedule, boss, meetings, performance evaluations, 1:1s, deadlines, people counting on you to make the right decisions (though I guess my wife and kids would argue that they still depend on my decisions).