[TAcoding4fun]

(created throwaway for this)

Thank fucking GOD I find myself in this position right now! Through some random luck and the sell of an old startup I am now able to take a few years off and just like think and sleep all day and have inappropriately long lunches.

At present I am writing crypto currency trading shit just for fun, having a blast, and most importantly, not having to worry about any meetings or struggling for progress on the HUGE PILE OF UNIMPORTANT BULLSHIT THAT WAS MY TODO LIST.

A forgot password form? Gimme a fuckin break. A build script??? HAHA.

I recommend it highly.

[godot]

Since you've made a throwaway for this, I figured I'd ask more intimate details: How much money did you make off of that sale that you consider it good enough to take a few years off but not retire completely? $1 mil, $2 mil, more, less?

I ask since amount of money needed to live without work for a few years in silicon valley/bay area (assuming you're in it) is typically enough money to retire forever in a place like Thailand/Chiang Mai, and so would follow up and ask why won't you do that :)

[TAcoding4fun]

About 2-3 times my yearly salary (which was pretty comfortable as it was). I have a lot of room to slash my expenses. I'm just looking for some breathing room to get back to what I love about computer science.. I don't mind working again in a few years! :)

[pinguinFromY]

You don't really have to be rich (> millionare) to do that. I currently work at a company that was once a freelance project, bought by some huge tech company and I was lucky to be one of the first few developers who joined before it was bought and enjoy every minute of writing code and I still have the energy to work on my own projects every day (I'm quite young, that might explain). It depends how lucky you are and the paths you've taken to be happy and make you not give a fuck.

[TAcoding4fun]

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply I was rich. Just that I was able to work for code without needing to worry about money, or what that code has to do for cash, for the time being. I think having nothing to do all day is the ultimate wealth - the richness of leisure.

Wish I had known this years ago and just focused on building my own shit rather than making the already rich slightly richer

[pinguinFromY]

"I think having nothing to do all day is the ultimate wealth - the richness of leisure." I can bet that after a week of doing nothing you'll get back to your daily stuff. It's like nicotine, once you are used to work all day you can't just stop. Even if it's not something you're used to do, something else might interest you. Our brain needs new stuff all the time, can't just put it to sleep inside a lambo.