I am at the end of my career (already stopped working for someone else, just working on my own projects now) and as I look back at the various jobs I had; the o

I am at the end of my career (already stopped working for someone else, just working on my own projects now) and as I look back at the various jobs I had; the ones that were engaging were also the most rewarding. I had two short stints with government jobs (one working part-time while in college and once for a major defense contractor) and they were terrible. Strict rules prevented anyone from doing things that were fun and productive. At the end of the year, we once ran out of 'funded projects' and we were forced to work on trivial matters while tracking our time in 30 minute increments. It was painful to find a way to clean your desk for 2 hours. We would have a long meeting where nothing was really discussed just to have a few hours to charge to some check box item. This went on for several weeks. The best jobs were the ones I had freedom to build what I though the customer wanted. I would sometimes work until 10pm not realizing that quitting time occurred hours earlier (I was still single at the time otherwise my wife would have interrupted). Startups can be some of the best places to let your creative juices flow. They are not the most stable for guaranteed income, but they can be very rewarding in other ways.