There were many other options to choose from this one I had a bit of a taste from by accident and I decided to see where it would lead. In the meantime I'm firing off all kinds of crazy projects whenever I have some spare time (less so every year due to the service company doubling in size year over year for the last 5 years or so).
It makes good money too, and the customers I have are a lot more appreciative than any of the start-ups (b2c) customers that I had. Also there is enough time left over for a life rather than to be in the rat race all the time. All in all it suits me well, I should have probably done it earlier but apparently I had to run into the wall first before I got the message. I still code, but only when it suits me and I have fun doing it.
--A fellow techie that has done a wide variety of freelancing and consulting the past decade or so; your transition comment caught my eye...
There are two articles on the blog regarding this:
https://jacquesmattheij.com/due-diligence-survival-guide
https://jacquesmattheij.com/due-diligence-survival-guide-par...
Those are already more than 6 years old but they aged quite well.
>Know your business (from a legal, technical and financial point of view)
>If there is bad news get it out of the way as soon as possible, well before the due diligence process starts
>Be truthful and honest
>Don’t fall into the trap of ‘dressing up’ the company, it will come back to bite you during due diligence
>Make sure that those that talk to the people doing due diligence know their stuff to avoid miscommunication
It's surprising to me how few projects - even ones going well - can meet these criteria with a high degree of fidelity.
I stopped being employable somewhere in my early 20's and I still think that is the best thing that happened to me. It made me think of life not in terms of jobs but in terms of capabilities. You can learn new things and you can pick up new marketable skills and change careers. I did it when I was 42, I see no reason why it could not be done at 50 or older. In fact I know a couple of nice examples of people older than 50 that made radical (and lucrative) career changes.
It's really up to you, your appetite for risk and how much energy you can muster. At 50+ you probably have an advantage over 20 year olds trying to do the same except for the energy factor.