| What has worked for me is to do it as a hobby on my spare time. Of course that only applies to fields you can do as a hobby and place some heavy limitations. For physics / real engineering, you can take classes after-work. For more physical jobs, you can do that in your backyard/driveway/other space. Obviously this place limitation: no super heavy machinery, and the scale has to fit, you can't exactly keep a full-sized plane or ship in your backyard. Provided you have enough money, it's a matter of picking the right budget. Some examples of itches I scratched doing that: - photography (10 years ago, when smartphones weren't that good). I bought an entry-level professional camera and got started. Quickly realized I loathed picking and editing photos, but I now have a basic skillset about that. - electronics. I have a box full of random bits, built a few random contraption that work for me. But getting to a real product requires lots more skills I'm not really interested in. I'm happy just having that box for anything I want to tinker with (and the occasional device repair by changing a blown capacitor, which makes me look like a wizard). - bartending. I have a ~70 bottles bar in my apartment now (it covers a 2mx2m wall mostly) and can do pretty much any cocktail you want. I also bartended in a non-profit bar. I like the actual bartending, but the "bad customer" part is awful. Plus I know full well actual bartending is not well paid and has horrible hours. - auto mechanic. Latest I'm currently in. I bought a 20yo car, rent a closed underground parking spot to keep it and my tools (big city, I don't have a driveway) and do the maintenance, repairs, and try to get it back to factory state. I also work on friends & family car whenever I get the chance. It's not the flashy things you see on Youtube, but it gets your hands greasy and you get to do it. There is no way I'd take that job professionally though: low pay, low consideration, nearly always unhappy customers because you're the bearer of bad news. Anyway, that's my suggestion to scratch those itches without actually changing your whole life. |