I too had a similar experience. I had been working with a company for 11 years. Started off as an SoE, ended as a VP/Dir. It was a great career. Awesome pay

I too had a similar experience. I had been working with a company for 11 years. Started off as an SoE, ended as a VP/Dir. It was a great career. Awesome pay, awesome benefits, awesome people. But for the past few years I was just getting less and less happy. I'd come home exhausted, lethargic. Kind of felt like I was perpetually stuck in traffic... just slow and annoyed. In the end I just outgrew it there. 6 months ago, I too took the plunge. The way I looked at it was... this is an investment in myself. If after a year I am waddling, not learning anything, not generating (or on the path to) income... well... it's easy for a geek to become a W-2 worker just about anywhere. I could go on about what I'm doing... but what's most important is that I feel I have grown and experienced more in the past 6 months than I could have imagined in the next 6 years at my old career. And to top it off, I'm energized, I'm happy and I'm in control of my happiness.