[pizzaparty2]

I quit a couple weeks ago. I've been a developer for about ten years and I could probably do a lot of different types of development jobs if I really wanted. These last three years though I just loath working on development teams. I decided if this next programming job didn't work out I should quit programming. ...thats was TWO jobs ago, lol.

After that I took a break and lived day to day. I worked pretty much all day and night for months and it felt so much better than working in tech. For example, I would flip cars by buying broken ones and fixing them, I built a table and sold it at a flea market, I drove for Lyft, I drove for Doordash (which by the way was great for getting me out to see new places since I'm a bit of a loner. I'm serious, it was good for my mental health). I started work on a patent for an invention I intend to sell. I learned how to use Blender to create 3D models so I could 3D print a case for the afformentioned invention. All while being high as a kite whenever I wanted (and it was safe, of course).

So when this last job didn't work out I wasn't nearly as afraid. You know, I've basically been pretending anyways. Like that meme of the dog in the house on fire. But being a programmer and making more money doesn't magically make me happier.

Right now I'm flipping cars again. After I flip a few I'll drive for Lyft. My long term goal, the only one that matters, the only one that is going to get me into the life I want, is completely unchanged. In fact, hustling like this lets me optimize for bootstrapping a business with my invention. I'm not afraid of failing. Ill get up and try again. There's no point in pretending anymore. I want a better life than this. Programming is not going to get me there.

[deanmoriarty]

May I ask a bit more details of what you didn’t like about development teams? I am feeling very similarly to you in the sense that I see Uber drivers and grocery store clerks and feel truly envious of them and am considering taking one of those jobs once I reach a certain level of financials (disclaimer: I have done plenty of blue collar jobs in my youth so I know what it feels to do manual labor).

[pizzaparty2]

I hate how knowledge matters less than social standing. I could read ten programming books and work hard at improving myself as a programmer but it wouldn't ever matter. The only thing that matters is the heirarchy on the team. Plus it's a pyramid. Fight it out at the bottom until a hand reaches down to you from above and pulls you into a senior dev or management position. No thanks. I hated having some other person tell me what my skill level and self worth were. I know my skill level and self worth and rarely as a developer did I ever get to live up to my potential because either I was in a feature factory or I was on a project with constraints that forced me to write terrible code. I hated looking through other people's god awful code and being judged because I had a hard time understanding it. Like they always measured and judged me with the wrong metrics. I hated going into meetings and being an expert (or at least best in the room) on some topic and having other people not listen to me. I hated not being listened to when I was trying to improve code or feature quality. I hated code reviews where the only point was to make the reviewer feel like he'd accomplished something by forcing me to make some inconsequential change. I hated the little bs politics people play about what comes back as a bug. I hated not being respected as a human but just being the stupid programmer who turns all of our genius ideas into reality. I hated not being able to use my own brain eight hours a day because I was renting it to someone else. I hated two hours a day in rush hour traffic. I hated sitting inside in a dead quiet room on a beautiful day. Perhaps more than anything I just hated working in a terrible code base.

If you wait until you're financially ready you might be missing out. Part of dropping the golden handcuffs for me was living with less. I wasn't living sustainability anyways and it was better I dealt with it before I got too old and found myself unable to deal with the change.

Good luck!

[mrfusion]

How are you going to make money from your invention? I’ve got promising idea s and prototypes but no idea what the next step is. I’m too shy to go on Kickstarter.

[pizzaparty2]

I don't know exactly. I'm just going to try it and see what works. If it fails I'll just try another idea. The basics steps I imagine are:

- getting local supporters. This will be useful for bootstrapping the Kickstarter

- gorilla marketing. Basically just think of how to promote the product in low cost high impact ways.

- traditional marketing like google and facebook. Maybe a couple expirements and demographic research before going all in on a campaign

- do the Kickstarter. It'll be a modest Kickstarter. My goal at this phase is to have a successful Kickstarter, not to make money.

- if Kickstarter succeeds fulfill the orders

- Turn it into a business or maybe just a passive income. All I'll have to do is order more boards and cases if orders for the product come in. Plus, the patent itself will be worth something.

What do you think? Does it sound doable? Too shy for Kickstarter? That seems like too small of a thing to hold you back.

[mrfusion]

Sounds like a good plan. Drop me an email if you feel like chatting. I’m always interested in this stuff.