[mikewarot]

After 15 years as a SysAdmin I took a job making gears. The pay and commute sucked, but unlike my previous job, there were physical artifacts at the end of the day that I helped create. Some of those gears could still be in service in a century, far outlasting almost everything else I've done.

However, that closed a door on an IT career, and that caused a lot of fiscal discomfort. It's only with a lot of help that I've avoided disaster living in the precariat as a result of my decision.

It was life altering, a strong change I'm not sure I should have taken.

Then Long COVID got me, and here I am out of the workforce for good.

[pfannkuchen]

I thought taking some time doing something else was reasonably common mid career? I think if I saw a resume with this on it I would just think the person was interesting. Why do you say it closed the door on an IT career? Are you sure that it actually did?