[paul7986]

At 31 I took my savings for my house, quit my robotic customer service job and started a startup. I worked on my 1st startup for three years and along the way taught myself front end development and design. Which I now do for a living.

I say startup and if it fails like 80 to 90% due you gained an in-demand skill that you can use to make a nice living.

[martijn_himself]

Would you have any advice especially on how to master design skills and how to deal with pressures around personal finance when starting out on your own? I'm about to quit my job in 'enterprise' software development because I am bored to death.

[paul7986]

Save up a lot of money, ask family & friends to invest and apply to incubators that provide seed capital. Also move back in with family if that's an option.

This is what I did and it allowed a three year runway to try and make it happen.

It didn't happen in terms of a financial success but it was a lot of fun! Way more then working for the man in any field!