Finally, a question that I am an expert on. I'm currently working around 1-2 hours a day and getting paid $700/day. I share the same goals and thoughts of work

Finally, a question that I am an expert on. I'm currently working around 1-2 hours a day and getting paid $700/day. I share the same goals and thoughts of work as you, i'm trying to do as little work as possible so I can spend 80% of my time on my own projects and startup. As mentioned by others I think the sweet spot is a large company with lots of process that is also dysfunctional and profitable (the unicorn). This seems to breed individuals who get beaten down by the processes and eventually succumb to the realisation that it can't be changed so why bother trying - just enjoy the gravy train. Ensure you have knowledge about a specific area and that you can be be helpful to others when they ask questions. Try to pick the low hanging fruit when work does come up and over estimate the effort and time involved. The dysfunction of a place muddies the water for who is responsible for what work so you can easily direct peoples requests to other teams. Contract or perm? I've personally always been a contractor and it's worked for me, but maybe perm role would make it more difficult to them to fire you. But really, I wouldn't want to be in a job where they wanted me gone. Which area of tech? I don't think this actually matters too much, it's more about the company and culture.