[muzani]

I sold a company, bought an Alienware, a proper desk and chair, wrote up a bunch of Java templates, learned Kotlin, found that templates were not worth the effort. I bought an expensive ergonomic keyboard, realized that my typing style was all wrong and spent a month correcting it. I took on freelance jobs that were well paid and impossible, then returned the money when it was clear why nobody else took the jobs. I tried to learn JS and Node but didn't. I tried to start a startup with an accelerator buddy salvaging old tech from the startup I sold, but it became clear why they "survived" for 4 years instead of growing exponentially. I tried to help the acquiring company of my startup get into it, but they were busy touring the world, and it became clear it was more of a prestige acquisition rather than a strategic one. The remaining time was spent playing XCOM 2 while my wife was at work, on the fancy new computer I intended to use for work.

A friend needed someone to tour the country teaching programming to educational institutions, so that's how I got back into tech. I picked up JS and Node by teaching it, somehow.

I'm not sure if the break helped my career but I got a lot of stuff out of my system. I also used Kotlin for Android before Google officially adopted it. It didn't change anything but it looks good on the resume.

[captmorrel]

Very interesting, winding road! Great anecdote laying out how things work out somewhat on their own (you did end up learning Node and JS somehow :) ). Thanks for writing it down, loved it!