[darkwater]

Reading the description of his previous life, I think there is some background issue/reason that should have been addressed, rather than just go farming. I hope he is and will be happy for a long time now though.

I have an acquaintance - not into IT at all - that did something similar, went to work in a solo eco-farming project (no fertilizers, just let the soil rest, no pesticides obviously, I'm not sure if he went as far as no artificial irrigation either though) and now after a few years he decided he wanted to come back to civilization and he is now working in a factory, in an assembly line.

[TheCapeGreek]

Agreed, I do get the feeling there's a lot more underlying the author's problems than "just" extreme burnout at a deskjob. Software has been a relatively high leverage career path in the last decade; surely there were other paths he could have taken before hitting an absolute wall.

As other commenters have pointed out, this does seem like going from one extreme to another - especially once religion gets involved.

I wish Dylan well, though I do hope some deeper, more moderate self reflection takes place at some point.