[blakehaswell]

> Exactly what I did. After reaching top still somewhat technical position at the company I got so fed up and burned out that I quit. Went on my own and been this way ever since for some 20+ years.

I'd love to hear more about your journey. What did going out on your own look like? What type of work do you do? How long did it find you to figure out the kind of work that satisfied you and paid the bills?

[FpUser]

Well, by the time I quit I already had my own product in progress. Since I was paid quite well when I was employed I've saved enough to just finish the product very fast and little by little it had started bringing licensing fee. After 10 years the money coming in from that product mostly dried up but I've started another one by then. This one is doing ok even now. Also while I was employed (we were consulting shop) I've acquired a reputation as the guy who can deliver best solutions for a given constraints. So all along the way many companies who knew me because of my previous work kept offering me contracts to design and build products for them. I am very versatile guy who can do firmware for microcontrollers, enterprise grade backends, desktop multimedia / hw accelerated graphics, middleware etc. etc. Also proficient in electronics and mechanical design. This all helps me to be afloat. In my other life I was a scientist back in the former USSR.

So to summarize: I am a product guy. I design and create various products either for my own company or for clients. I did it all my life and I love it and the only thing that had changed over the time is that at some point I've become ISV and am my own boss. I am 60 now but (keeping my fingers crossed) my brain still feels and performs like I am 30 and also in great physical shape as I do not forget physical activities. There must be something in our family as my wife is also work from home / consultant for the last 15 years and so is my daughter for even longer.