[toocool]

Not necessarily. If you would otherwise earn X in a fulfilling job but by resting and vesting in an unfulfilling environment you make 3X because of the vested equity, it might make sense to stay a few years in the latter and try to not completely waste your time by, for example, keeping learning other technologies not related to your actual tasks with the hope of remaining somewhat competitive. It's not "never work again" money, but it certainly can make a difference towards an early retirement.

[tluyben2]

Fair enough but would it not make sense doing something on the side which makes you learn new things? I guess I cannot imagine sitting still.

[muzani]

Also in some cases, you are morally bound to work on the startup when you've recovered and not waste time programming some side project. But too burnt out to code at all.

So, what many do is neither of the above - they read books, play games, have meetings, or some other time filling activity.

[toocool]

Agreed. In my case the side project was preparing 4 months to interview at the big 4 companies, and I interviewed with 3 of them and luckily got 3 offers :)