[icki]

Thanks for the reply. I'm saddened to hear about the tough job market you're facing, but I'm happy to hear about your garage hacking :) I personally wish you the best of luck. Your GitHub repo's are neat!

San Diego seems like a great city, with much nicer weather than Toronto - I've heard a lot of nice things about it. While the housing prices are equally high, it seems like tech salaries are much higher there, compared to Toronto.

I would like to one day be in your situation, but I feel like starting an independent adult life is harder than it used to be (mainly from accumulating student debt) for graduates in previous generations.

Do you think you could elaborate a little more about your early career?

Thanks so much!

[hwstar]

I have been passionate about electronics since I was 6 years old.

In my senior year in high school, I landed a part time job as an electronics technician. When I graduated, I worked full time for that company for 10 years as a self-taught electrical engineer. I started working on my college degree (Computer Science). I was able to take advantage of tuition reimbursement offered by the company to pay for college. Student loans were not really needed back then as college costs were reasonable. I bought my first house.

I switched companies in 1989 and worked for almost 26 years as an Electrical Engineer. I finished my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science at the second company using tuition reimbursement, and my own funds. I really wanted to do a Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering, but there were not any evening classes available for EE at the time. Sold my first house, bought my second house and my vacation home. Paid off my vacation home, refinanced my first home several times.

I think the main things which got me to where I am today are the following:

1. Think of debt as slavery. It should be paid off as quickly as possible. 2. Have as few children as possible. (I have none). 3. Don't spend frivolously. Live way before your means. 4. Try to do as many home and car repairs as you can yourself. 5. Make sure you are adequately insured. In the US, you need medical insurance to cover medical costs and liability insurance to protect from lawsuits. As your assets grow, you need to adjust your liability insurance accordingly. 6. Invest regularly and often.

[icki]

Thanks again for the reply. It sounds like you've always maintained some level of financial independence, even at a young age, which is awesome.

Have you ever wanted to work on your own startups? It seems like you have some personal projects - why work a traditional career?

If you could do it all over again, would you do anything differently?

[hwstar]

Things I would have done differently:

1. I should have started earlier. I didn't start working towards financial independence till my second job. 2. I should have bought more rental properties.

Regarding startups:

For hardware products, startups involve a lot of effort. You usually have regulatory things to deal with and that is a big burden. Also the capital requirements are more than a pure software startup.