So build your own things and do it your own way. I find that is what works best for me. Put food on the table through contracting, build my own things around the contracts to provide recurring revenue. Keep going till it's enough. I hated everything about office culture and have never been happier. Right now for me that's about 20-30hrs per week freelance to make a great income, and I spend 20-30hrs per week working on my own projects.

So, this is something that I would really like to do, mind answering some questions :D?

When you say "freelance" are you contracting 'on location', or 'remote'?

On location, I can't seem to find anything that isn't basically a 40+ hour gig, negating the benefit of 'freelancing', and remote seems to be highly competitive/lowest common denominator.

I'm a decent developer (backend), in a decent tech city and I'm struggling to find a way to ditch my 9-5 in favour of doing my own thing.

Any resources/advice would be appreciated.

all remote.. i scower the web for RFP's and people looking for developers and pitch my services.

Perfect. Now, just solve that problem, and make a billion dollars!