> destroyed any belief I had in job security your story exactly parallels mine. living in cold, harsh reality for the past few years has really opened my eyes

> destroyed any belief I had in job security your story exactly parallels mine. living in cold, harsh reality for the past few years has really opened my eyes to a lot of things, including many philosophical questions about what society is, how it works, and how it's broken. it has also taught me to respect a wide variety of professions that i once thought were bullshit. basically, a lot of these societal 'truths' (about jobs, marriage, school, money, housing, government, etc.) that we accept as really just projected ideals that dress up reality for mass easy living. these ideals (they're myths, really) have worked for decades and are beginning to unravel. just look at the state of employment, gender relations, inequality, debt, financial shenanigans, civil liberties... it's a circus of epic proportions. yet people are so afraid of breaking out of established tracks until they're forced against a wall. it's a complete mind fuck. kind of a dark take on it, but really it's just a transitional phase, it's not the end of the world. i think a lot of people feel a general anxiety even if they can't articulate the concern. this, even though the economy is ostensibly recovering. having said all that, i would never take another tech job ever again with anything less than $10M in the bank, a very small (but real) possibility. my tolerance for bullshit from any superior would be exactly zero. sorry, can't do it. and as i'm sure you know part of 'seeing the truth' is realizing that your business could fail in a matter of weeks - you sound like the kind of guy that is also mentally prepared for that. if everything were to go south for me tomorrow, i would rather work as a bartender or whatever somewhere warm and cheap and just live out my days being a beach bum. i don't need a company or employer to work on my own hobbies. truth.