I'm interpreting the "tortoise" comment as slow and steady, not apathetic to the day job.

Personally, I put my creative energy into my 9 to 5 job. Instead of using evenings to start side hustles or to "get ahead" on work, I unwind and get adequate rest. This is so I can be alert and switched on during my regular work hours.

I've found stretching myself thin starts to affect me quickly, and I feel like I'm actually operating at 50% on a permanent basis.

I really tried to dedicate myself to my day job but I work in a large IT corp where most people are apathetic to their jobs. Even my managers told me to take it easy, And that's when I tried my best to accept the culture and save my mental energy for personal projects.

It's also a sign that you might not be compatible with that org.

I recently left management in a large org (where I tried to shelter people like you) and am now back in the startup world. It is refreshing to not be fighting the tide continually.

I'm going to do everything I can to avoid companies that see tech as a cost centre or are super bureaucratic in future. Unfortunately difficult in my mid-sized, non US, city.

I've done this twice:

https://battlepenguin.com/philosophy/perspective/a-tale-of-t...

Once was backpacking for 11 months with only two bags. The second was 5 months in a car. I did learn a lot both times, but I never got fully independent and it may have set me back some.

Still in retrospect, it was a great journey and I'm still glad I made the attempt.

Nice write up. It looks like we did our bachelor's around same time though it seems you don't have any kids yet, right? Having a kid has complicated a few things but hopefully nothing too bad

Thanks! I do not have kids. My old roommate has a daughter and he and his wife lived out of an RV for several years. He got cancer though and had to buy a house near a treatment center (he's find now; full remission for 5+ years) but they still home school.

Another friend I graduated with, still does the RV life. Although they bought a house recently as a home base, but still RV a few months every year. (They're also homeschooling their youngest; oldest went into the military).

I also had a friend who was an English teacher and survived off <500 euro a month in Germany, so even though I had saved up a lot, I've seen people live this way for way less.

There are things that make this kind of lifestyle more challenging for sure (and I'm not about to buy an RV; I do not like driving large vehicles at all), but it's possible if you put your mind to it.

Plan B would be to get a more challenging job for much better pay :-)

Agreed, last few years I have been working in semi-leadership position. At first, I thought I wanted to move to management but it wasn't exactly what I expected. However, my technical skills suffered. I tried to go back to a simple dev jobs but didn't get hired.

So the plan is build products but also focus on acqui-hire possibilities. If that fails, make sure my resume benefits from my projects. While I am already making pretty decent salary but if all those rumors about FAANG salaries are true, I can double my salary easily. So I can easily recover lost paychecks.

Well that's the idea, who knows how it will play out.

Where do such jobs exist?

I’d assume the parent comment is alluding to FAANG or some of the hotter software startups.

I'd be very surprised if most FAANG engineers aren't millionaires after 5-10 years. The caveat being that houses in the Bay Area cost a lot more than a million...

Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Facebook all have significant Seattle-area presence; it's still expensive, but noticeably less so than Silly Valley, and you can live close to work yet have a Walk Score in the double digits. (And in fact a good score.) MS has a non-negligible number of jobs in lower-cost areas of the US (e.g. Fargo, Las Colinas, Atlanta); Apple is expanding in Austin; both Apple and Google have an increasing number of offices in lower-cost cities.

One of my buddies who works at Google basically lives in a hacker commune so he can pocket most of his earnings post tax. Not sure quite what he does with it.

Sits in an account until the day that he gets suckered into marriage and home ownership

After that a messy divorce and funds are in lawyer and exwifey account and back to the commune

Commune will be 2beaucoup after a tech-salary divorce, only solution is evading the lifetime alimony police by sleeping in the desert, where your only friends are scorpions and your only food is the same ;)

MGTOW for life!

FAANG pays well, but not necessarily more challenging

Good luck. It will be more difficult than expected, just be ready for that. But it will be worth it.

Thanks!

How about being a security guard? There are some cozy, chill, nothing-ever-happens places where you can just sit there at night, maybe do a couple of walks but other than that you could work on your projects! This way you have a steady job that will also be beneficial for pension (adds to work years), and you can work on projects that will pay off later. Do not forget to bring your laptop!

> There are some cozy, chill, nothing-ever-happens places where you can just sit there at night, maybe do a couple of walks but other than that you could work on your projects!

Working night shift sucks and is bad for your mental and physical health and reduces life expectancy.

Sounds amazing but it might be hard to focus. In my country, there is no pension. Healthcare is an issue, my wife works for hospital but my health insurance is so much better than hers. We will switch to hers but this pandemic make us a little nervous.

We get healthcare paid by the employer here, so that is not an issue. Focusing could definitely be an issue, especially in the beginning, but I think you could switch to it eventually. I cannot code myself anywhere but my house, not even at my friend's house (when I am alone), but I did get used to it after some days. Probably would have gotten easier over time if I had to stay there.