| I got burnt out on a job and then spent a year riding my mountain bike. Got into some photography, which I've since dropped. Got into some GIS and map making. After a year, I was ready for coding again. I did some contract work that I didn't really care about, but the contracts were short-term and they paid well, and I could take time off between them. Eventually a buddy of mine wanted to start a company, so we did. And it eventually grew big enough to support us, but even though the work was interesting to start, it got dull. And finally I just couldn't do it anymore. So I quit, and then floated around working on whatever I wanted to work on for a year. I took a few odd jobs. I think I was on track to earn something like $25k that year. But then, due to some programming guides I'd written, a teaching job opportunity fell into my lap. And I always knew that teaching was what I wanted to do. It was a pay cut, but at this point I was more than willing to trade the money. I've since moved on to a State University for even more of a pay cut, and I work about 8 months a year (3 months unpaid), and this is my idea of the perfect semi-retirement for the duration. Not too shabby. Sometimes people still approach me for programming gigs, but so far every single one of them has not engaged my enthusiasm. And even the promise of possible, improbable eight-figure payouts isn't enough. But I always knew what it was I wanted to do. The question is, what would you do if you had a million dollars and didn't have to work? I do recommend doing exactly what you're doing, and getting on figuring it out now. Because when you hit your 50s, time really starts ripping by. And it might take some time for you to figure out. "You know what I would do if I had a million dollars? I would invest half of it in glorious mutual funds and take the other half over to my friend Asadulah who works in securities and--" "Samir, you're missing the point. The point is you're supposed to work out what you--'PC Load Letter'? What the fuck does that mean?!" |