I knew an awesome software architect who retired early. He was back at work a few years later. I asked why. "Turns out I'm kinda shit at my hobbies, but I'm qui

I knew an awesome software architect who retired early. He was back at work a few years later. I asked why. "Turns out I'm kinda shit at my hobbies, but I'm quite good at this." I think I'm the same way. I like the sharpness that comes of working on interesting stuff, and I've devoted the prime of my life to becoming good at tech. I like the work, but often hate some of the boss bullshit. I like the person I am when I'm focused and working on interesting work. I started doing contract work just swapping a boss for a customer changed almost everything. I'm also free to fire the rare customer who won't listen or can't get out of their own way (and I try to provide radical candor about what they can do to fix it during my exit interview). An agency has emerged around me and now we have 15 people doing the same. Email is in my profile if anyone is interested. We ask people to work at least 20 hours a week (otherwise it's not worth the trouble of onboarding). We favor competent, senior, independent people who like to build things. I don't think I'll ever retire, but I'll shift more and more into "work I love, conducted on my own terms". That being said I'm also considering a move to a rural area and want to construct a pole barn workshop. Crazy how much overlap there is here for this particular interest. Maybe it's something in the zeitgeist.