| The question itself belies the fact that your career hasn't been that long. The overwhelming majority of people who have been in a career for decades are NOT doing it because they can't wait to get up and do it each day. They're doing it FOR THE MONEY! Ask yourself these simple questions. Do you like: 1) Eating? 2) Living inside? 3) Using transportation? 4) Engaging in activities for entertainment? If you answered YES to any of these questions, then you're going to need money. Unless you're the beneficiary of a large trust, then you're going to have to work a job for that money. It's important to pick a career that you have an interest in, but if you expect to get up 30 years from now and have the same enthusiasm you had on day 1, you're almost certainly over-optimistic. So, look at the practical ramifications of moving away from S/W engineering: Does your new endeavor provide you with a viable livelihood? Is it interesting enough that you can keep doing it AFTER you've lost your initial enthusiasm for it? Of course, you probably won't follow this advice. Because reality is not something that is understood by most people at your age. There's really no way around this. Just keep going for 30 years, then you'll know what I'm talking about... |