Depends, but I wouldn’t bet on it. My dad owned a small contracting company, and while he took the odd afternoon off to take me to a movie or cool off when it got too hot, that was more than made up for by Saturday morning client meetings, after work lumber runs, and tons of behind the scenes planning. And even if you do make it to the point where contracting becomes “cushy” job, you’ve very likely destroyed your body while working to get there. I’ve occasionally dreamt of restarting his business and growing it, but then I spend an afternoon with him fixing a plumbing issue or doing drywall and I remember how good I’ve got it.

Well, yes, owning things is definitely the best job, regardless of what industry you're in. It's not the typical path for any job, though.

> Well, yes, owning things is definitely the best job, regardless of what industry you're in.

Unpopular opinion: being an owner is hard. You think it's easy until $80k doesn't come in on time and you have to make payroll by mortgaging your house, or you have to wake up at 2 am because a developer got arrested by INS (even though they were a US citizen), or you have to deal with a $150K medical bill that your insurance wouldn't cover... etc... Or an employee tries to make a copy of your code and launch a competing business...

Life is hard.

I wish I remembered where I read this: "The definition of business is problems. The people who are the most successful are the ones who have the most fun solving them."

Ownership != Control. Most outright owners are in control, but it doesn't necessarily follow. I mean, if you're not in control, you still have to rely on those that are not to mess it up, and there may come a time when you have to do the dirty work to make sure they don't.

Even when you are in control, you really are counting on others to get things done. Putting your name on the paycheck only gets you so far :-)

I know, but I think for most people in this thread, there is an upward path for that.

I often wonder why the other painters working for him don't go off and start their own painting companies. Perhaps a few will. But I suspect many of them would not enjoy or be comfortable with spread sheets, business taxes, work insurance and some of the other things that go along with owning the company.

I suspect my neighbor, like many of us, fond those things to be fairly un-intimidating and so he owns.

But then you’re a business owner and a manager. It’s mostly not golf. As I’m sure anyone who has had a business here already knows very well.

> I often wonder why the other painters working for him don't go off and start their own painting companies

I've got a very good friend who worked as a painter, did the 8-3 5 days a week gig for probably 8 years or so. He had no interest in running a business, managing clients, dealing with costing, estimates, etc. He just wanted to show up, paint and leave at 3.

> and some of the other things that go along with owning the company.

One of the big differences is what happens if there's no work, or if someone stiffs you or if the work required is substantially more than the estimate? In all three of those cases a business owner is in trouble, but the painter doesn't care.

Same thing for software engineers and companies.

I don't really want to be a manager, though. I want to be retired.

Don't we all?

Nope. Some of us are perfectly happy doing what we're doing, and to continue with a balance of work and not work for a long long time.

I'm exactly in this position, yet when I said in another thread that I was quite content with my salary that's mid-tier for Seattle (but fantastically wealthy in a lot of the rest of the country), at a company that's all but certain to be around for at least the rest of my working lifetime, doing work to enable that company to do work that I consider useful (we're a medical practice group), and had no plans to change, I got incredulous replies.

One of the things I legitimately struggle to understand about other people is the willingness to exchange an irreplaceable thing, time, for a very replaceable thing, money, and suffer while doing it when other choices exist. The "when" in that bit is very important. A lot of people do not have that choice, and I understand why they continue; there's no other option. But for people who do what we do and how we do it, why chase the brass ring for so long? You don't have to suffer at Amazon, no amount of stock options are worth it. You will never get back that night you spent working on that one last thing instead of going home to your partner or kids or friends. The marginal impact of another $5,000 when you already make $125,000 in a year is very small.

And, as a bonus, not only are you helping yourself, you're helping the rest of our industry. Since we are largely allergic to unions in this industry, the only leverage we have is if enough people finally realize that it is possible to have a good work as part of a good life.

No, money is fungible, and its marginal utility only decreases when you have enough to retire. Another 5k is another 5k, meaning another 2 months that you don't have to labor. Dollars linearly correspond to future free time.

You really will get back that night you spent working: it likely afforded you many more nights retired, free.

A day when you are younger isn't necessarily equivalent to a day when you are older. There are all kinds of potentially fun physical activities I might have done when I was younger if I had had more time that 40 years later I would not try because injuries have bigger impact and take longer to heal now.

> its marginal utility only decreases when you have enough to retire.

If the only thing you value is retirement and complete freedom indefinitely. Personally I'd much rather have an extra day on my weekend now, and have to work an extra year at the same pace I'm working at now (and enjoy it too) rather than minmax to the point of sacrificing everything for the next 15 years to finally be able to do what I want to do - which is what I have right now.

> A neighbor owns a painting company. He goes around the various job sites in the morning, sees that everyone has their marching orders for the day, returns in the afternoon to check in on the progress. In between the morning and afternoon though? He does what he pleases.

It's no different in Tech. What is hard about being a developer is that you are building. The analogy between your friend who owns and manages a painting company, isn't really that far off. As long as your are primarily responsible for getting the work done... well, the expectation will be closed tickets, shipped features.

I can own a software company and go play golf every afternoon while my employees write the code.