>First, I moved into contracting/consulting, which meant I could work shorter gigs that let me run at full speed for a few months at a time, then down tools for

>First, I moved into contracting/consulting, which meant I could work shorter gigs that let me run at full speed for a few months at a time, then down tools for a while and recover completely before doing it again. Normally said recovery would involve the better part of a year traveling through interesting parts of the world, which was a pretty big upside in itself. I tried this for a few years and did ok, especially with crazy tax deductions (in the US you can aside a lot more for retirement than an employee, and a lot of people don't know a part of your mortgage in certain cases). But I did 12 month contracts I found and negotiated painfully through recruiters, who kept 40-50 pct at least of what they billed me out for to clients. I wouldn't mind so much, but I found it hard and similar to FTE job hunting when the gigs were ending. I always dreamt of being some reputation-lead consulting person who others sought out. Instead I was doing rounds and rounds of interviews like an FTE. Silly given how insecure contracting is. But is that possible to avoid without a social media presence and marketing effort?