I mean, small industry events can be a blast and pay really well. In 2014 I put together a crew who ran production for the Austin Technology Council CEO Awards show, it was a small affair for about 30 startups and the ATC, no more than about 200 people.

If you can get a reliable crew and know what you're doing, it can be kind of fun and rewarding with a great deal of technical autonomy.

As I get older part of me wonders if it makes sense to just focus on small corporate events to supplement the daily DevOps job.