You've reached the end!
Do that. If it gets old, switch gears immediately.
As far as we all know, today could be the last for any of us. Less planning, more living/doing/going.
I did this a few years ago after the layoff wave and it was transformative
- Decompress and seek fun, instead of aiming to "get a project done". Follow whatever excites you. If nothing excites you, step away from the keyboard. Go for a walk, bring a notebook.
- The Artist's Way is great for processing burnout, and self-discovery. One does not need to consider themselves an artist to find the book useful. ( https://juliacameronlive.com/book/the-artists-way-a-spiritua... )
You mention hardware, have you made a silly hardware thing recently? I can recommend running Rust on an esp32, lots of fun.
Questions like “what would you do if you won the lottery” feel too unrealistic, so I would just dream about wild startup ideas.
The “one year left to live” question is better than the lottery question, but thinking about retirement may provide another perspective.
There are small companies/startups that would presumably trade your experience and a desire to not be overworked for a moderate salary.
You obviously can't act like you're looking for a 'chill' job in the interview, but you can be on the lookout for companies that are a bit more relaxed, and if you aren't trying to maximize your comp, they probably will be OK if you don't put in 'startup hours'
You don’t ever need anyone’s permission to file for unemployment but telling somebody, “I need you to fire me” is probably not going to work in your favor.
And isn’t max benefit in CA $450/week? I get that it’s better than nothing but you’re probably earning a lot more than that.
> So, I could just "retire" now and pursue other things. But, I want to lead a productive life
From an outside perspective this is a wild statement. Why not retire and pursue a productive life?
Do you really have a clear personal definition of what a productive life looks like to you or is it 100% defined by “working”?
You might be interested in the book Tiny Experiments. It seems like from your track record you set these big goals and then move onto another before seeing anything through? And you feel like you missed out because you never “achieved” what you thought you wanted?
This book presents a very different approach to life that will probably seem very foreign to you but might be interesting and worth pursuing.
I also recommend Tao Te Ching to everyone.
Or become a consultant?
I’m sure there are things you’re passionate about (doesn’t have to be tech only, maybe you’re a hobbyist carpenter) and know deeply that you can share (for a price) with others.
A one man software business is very unlike being a craftsman; the work becomes a small part compared to having to do marketing, public relations, accounting, management (of external contractors to whom you hopefully delegate some work load). The problem also is that software never ends.
I figured I like being a craftsman, an artisan on well-defined projects that have a start and a natural end; not a salesman that also needs to find time to work on their eternally-growing product.
I always like Neal Stephenson’s approach with his Sci-Fi novels too. Most of them have a central conceit based around a topic he wanted to learn more about (linguistics, nanotech, cryptography, etc…), so in essence writing the novel was just an excuse to obsess about that topic for a while.
devrundown•2d ago
It's hard to give advice on this sort of topic because I think it is very personal and everyone has unique circumstances.
Have you considered just taking some time off, potentially focusing on hobbies or personal projects and maybe after some so called "down" time an answer would be more clear?
ultrasounder•2d ago
devrundown•2d ago
I did a lot of walking, listening to and reading books/audiobooks, hanging out in coffee shops, meeting up with friends.
After my self imposed ban from the computer I started to get the itch to develop again and started working on stuff I wanted to work on and not something I was told to develop.