I can think of two ways you can trade money for time as a SWE:
1) Amazon has started to offer part-time jobs for SWE's (https://www.flexjobs.com/jobs/telecommuting-jobs-at-amazon)
2) relocating from the US to UK / EU gives you 25-100% more PTO and shorter hours in exchange for lower salaries
1. Interesting, except the part where Flexjobs wants you to pay to look at job listings. Primary indication of a scam.
2. Yes, it is super-easy to get a visa to work in the UK or EU.
Re:Buying time promotes happiness
by starbuxman on Tuesday July 25, 2017 @03:41PM
(#14851199)
SkipTheDrive lists remote software jobs, and doesn't charge a fee for job seekers.
We don't get those choices. I tried for YEARS to engineer a long-term part-time career in the software industry, and I couldn't get it to happen. I'm perfectly happy to trade more free time for less money, but there are just no takers out there. The industry isn't interested.
As far as taking unpaid time off -- usually, that happens after you've quit your previous job and before you've started the next one.