ChristopherM

I quit a job back in 2011, the plan was to create an iPhone game. Six months later the job I quit hired me back as a consultant to rebuild the software team my previous manager drove away. After 9 months I made so much money I quit that and moved to Incline Village (Lake Tahoe) for 3 years, took up skiing in the winter, hiking in the summer, and working on the game. Then, again I was contacted to do some consulting, this time 100% remote. Off and On over the years, someone from my past will contact me with consulting work. I might work 6-12 months, or 3 years and then not work for awhile. Longest stretch is 9 months before I'm contacted again.

I didn't plan this, I never tell anyone I'm looking for work, I don't update linked-in with a status. But it's been so long now, I don't think I could ever work a "real" job ever again. I've now been on my own; consulting longer than my software engineering career out of university.

When I quit that job in 2011, I only had $16k in my checking account. I figured if I had to I'd cash out the 401k from a previous job. I don't have family, put myself through university working a 3rd shift factory job, and still graduated with $40k in debt, in 1999. So to anyone thinking, must be easy when you have a safety net, couldn't be further from the truth. The manager at that last job was so incompetent she was throwing engineers under the bus left and right for her mistakes, I left before I was next.

Quitting that job in 2011 was the best decision I ever made. I know most people can't stand the stress of not having a steady paycheck. I couldn't care less, being free of being an employee was worth it to me. Salaried jobs are no more guaranteed anyway, it's a false sense of security. Since then, I bought and paid off a house in 4 years, paid for SUV. Bought tons of equipment, office furniture, books, computers etc. Over 5 years of living expenses saved now. I'm thinking of pivoting to creating a website, making youtube videos and maybe writing some books. The youtube channel will focus on science experiments; a different approach to learning. Trying to wind down a client I've been working with for 2 years now so I can move on. The last thing I'd do is cover software though, always hated it, just a means to an end, and I'm so good at it I make more in 1 day than most people make in 2 weeks. But money isn't everything, once you have "enough", and you keep your expenses low, you can be truly free...

' Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.' -- Robert Frost

I haven't made a post in years, I'll update my bio. I didn't realize it still pointed to Incline Village.

Most of my clients tend to be Medical Device startups, but I did have a really long relationship with a major food manufacturer. While it makes sense for them to hire full time software engineers for some of the work, they always have a hard time finding device driver experts. Also they tend to attract less experienced engineers, so having me on board helps to manage and mentor their team. And I'm generally the one laying out the architecture and breaking the project into smaller parts so their engineers can implement it.

If you want to break into consulting, you have to figure out which field you want to be in. I'd avoid anything that has a boot-camp available for it, that's a race to the bottom. Then you need to get at least 10 years experience working in the field, preferably at a variety of companies, and make friends and business contacts at each place.

I started "programming" in 1982 on a VIC-20, I taught myself C++ in 1991 and programmed as a hobby until I switched majors in University. Then I moved from Job to Job once I stopped learning/progressing. Along the way I made many contacts at a diverse group of companies.

I started at a medical device company reverse engineering MRI/CAT scan data for a 3D device used in brain surgery. Then I worked for a company that specialized in Bug Tracking and Project Management. Then a company that engineered optical archival storage discs with a 100 year life span. Then I managed a team developing a video keno/poker gaming machine that was available to the Nevada/Montana market. Then I managed a team in reverse engineering cell phones for forensic analysis. Then a medical company that made a continuous glucose monitoring system for critical care environments. After 1 year working on their firmware, I was brought back as a consultant to rescue the Software department as a Director of Software Engineering over product and manufacturing.

Through all these jobs I was well liked and since then have been contacted by people I used to work with for consulting work. And now I'm getting consulting work from other consulting job referrals.

I currently charge $180 an hour plus expenses, but come January 1st will be raising it to $200 an hour because of the inflation and the fact it's not stopping. In terms of stating new increased prices; through the years I've informed clients to have them tell me it's too much. Then 30 days, 9 months come back and just sign a new contract at the new rate. You have to be willing to walk away, you have to have money in the bank so you don't "need" their work, but would be happy to if they pay your going rate. Just be professional, explain that you could be making more doing work for another client and it's "just business".

I specialize in device drivers Windows and Linux, firmware, embedded RTOS and even desktop applications, mostly Windows but also can do some Qt on linux. My favorite language is C++ but frequently use C as firmware and linux device drivers are written in C. I also have quite a bit of experience managing, hiring, extracting and documenting software reguirments, architecting and implementing as necessary.

As for getting new clients, I tend to pick up a client for 3-6 months of work and still do work for them 6+ years later. In the beginning they get most of my time, later I end up sitting in on weekly meetings, reviewing their code/design, mentoring their junior level software engineers, and helping them to hire more as needed. I end up standing in as their CTO/director/senior manager as they usually don't have the funds to hire a full time one.

I charge by the hour and will never change. It forces the customer to focus on getting the requirements right instead of hand waving it like "oh yeah, that's just what I want" and then come back later "I didn't want that, what I meant was" repeat ad infinitum. You see they are paying for my time, not results. If they choose to waste it... doesn't matter to me, it's all billable just the same. I will do my best to steer them in the right direction to save time and money, but you'd be amazed how often they need to learn the lesson the hard way.

I also don't compete, I'm not on any "freelancing" websites, I don't apply or bid for work. My clients always come to me, I get an email, a phone call asking if I'm available. So this race to the bottom nonsense is utter crap. I'm a consultant NOT a freelancer.

I've been doing this since 2011, that's the last time I had an employer. This year I'm on track to bill out between $360k and $400k. If that's "amateur" so bet it. Considering I have no debt, my house is paid for, my luxury SUV I paid cash for, my actual monthly bills are around $2,500 a month. I really couldn't care less what someone who writes an article like this thinks of me. The writer is advocating for the client, they aren't giving me advice that helps me. I also have no interest in scaling, on bringing on employees. I'm making bank, I left CA in 2013, currently live in Wyoming with a 40 minute drive to Park City UT and a 60 minute drive to Salt Lake City.

To anyone reading this article and thinking they are offering you helpful advice, consider their motive. What are they trying to sell you? Are they trying to change the current consulting landscape to benefit themselves as a business owner?

What I'm about to say goes completely against what society and the majority of those engaging in virtue signaling claim is the key to happiness.

I am quite happy at the moment, and it started back in 2004 when I wrote off my family and commanded them to never contact me again. It turns out removing negativity in your life, whatever the source, no matter how well intentioned you may be in helping someone, goes a long way to being blissfully happy. It is said that "you" are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. So consider if your relationships are a positive of negative influence on your life. Remove the negative influences, no one is immune from being removed despite what society tries to feed you about how important "family" is.

In 2008 I went to the CTO of the company I was working for at the time, told him that I was planning to quit even though I had just started 3 months ago and proceeded to explain how my manager could be doing their job better. I listed out how I would run things. A week later I had my manager's job and a $13k raise, several months after that another $20k raise. Needless to say, the student loan debt that plagued me since graduating in 1999 was paid off in 5 months. As were the rest of my debt. Never underestimate how not having any debt can lead to real happiness.

In 2011 I quit the last "real" job I've had at 36. I was not and am still not independently wealthy. I have no family to rescue me if I go broke. At the time I was planning to make an iPhone game, 6 months in coming up to speed on Objective-C, drawing graphics the job I quit needed help desperately I threw out a price of $7500 a week. To my surprise they went for it. So I put the game on hold and worked for 9 months. Accumulating $240k for the year. The money really did make me happy, because of how quickly it piled up. No scrimping and saving and gradually building wealth. Thinking of doing that makes me want to honestly eat a bullet. The old... yeah, save, work 40 years, 2 weeks vacation a year, plus having holidays when the rest of the country does too... die two years into retirement thing. No thanks... Anyways 9 months in and they try to hire me full time as the director of software engineering. 5 years earlier that would have been a dream job. But I really didn't want a "job" anymore. So I quit, took a 10 day vacation to Cozumel with my girlfriend and when I got back spent 2 years working on my game.

I was just about to release the game and then apple announced new ipad and iphone resolutions. So much rework, especially artwork. Then an old co-worker needed help, I told him I would if I could work from home. I was living on Lake Tahoe at the time and no way was I going back to the Bay. Especially since I was on the Nevada side and there was no way I was paying California a dime in income tax (Luckily it was a New York CO so they don't try to tax you out of state until you've made $1 million). The last year I was there I paid $18,600 to California for NOTHING. I got no benefit for that tax I paid to the state. Despite anyone who would argue with me to the contrary. As a note I currently live in Wyoming, and there is nothing more I want from the state, No income tax is glorious.

Anyway long story short, consulting gigs, where I work 100% from home drop in my lap every year or two. I make so much money on those that it pays for 2-3 years of not working.

The key to happiness is not working (for a client or a job, I like to work on projects of my own that have nothing to do with software). While simultaneously having money to do or buy whatever I want (within reason).

I never want to commute to a job ever again. After breaking up with my girlfriend of 5 years I have no interest in getting into another relationship. It's like "I've been there done that" and just don't have an interest anymore. When I'm working on my own projects I get so wrapped up in them I lose track of the time, I don't know what day of the week it is. I might talk to the neighbors or chat with an old friend once a week. I may not talk to or see another human being for a week and it doesn't bother me at all. It might be 10 days before I drive somewhere, it's amazing how long a car lasts when you barely use it.

As a side note, I have no interest in charity it does nothing for me, it's like the part that's supposed to fill me with joy is missing with regards to that. I don't want to contribute to society or do anything that makes the world a better place. And yet my happiness, contentedness, blissfullness has not lessened since quiting my last job in 2011.

So contrary to the frequently parroted "secret" to happiness that involves sacrifice, family, children, being part of a "team". I'm here to let you know, some of us have found happiness doing the opposite...

Hi orbitur,

I too used to suffer from allergies, psoriasis, arthritic joint pain. But I cured mine without any drugs. Doctors were of absolutely no help whatsoever. They have a better living through chemistry approach to "healthcare". I figured out the root cause through many years of suffering and experimenting and trying everything I could think of once I realized that doctors are completely useless for anything but acute medical issues.

Let me give you a short history of my health history so you can understand how I arrived at the solution. At 6 months old, I had severe hay-fever. This continued until I figured out the root cause. At 10 years old I developed psoriasis, first around my anus, then my elbows, knees, later on my ankles (anywhere where there was rubbing, or if I leaned on my elbows, or kneeled on my knees). It would form hard white scabby formations that itched like crazy and would bleed. Later in my 20's, I had patches under my hair, under my toenails (the doctor's thought it was a fungal infection), and on my tongue.

Around 30, I started to develop severe constipation. Had internal intestinal bleeding, and the constipation got so bad I started having panic attacks. My body was in a constant state of heightened adrenaline and I had adrenal fatigue. I was constantly tired, needing constant naps, but I couldn't sleep more than a couple hours, so at night I had insomnia. I had a constant headache, and brain fog. Sometimes I couldn't even remember by friends names.

Throughout my doctor visits, I was prescribed allergy meds. Cortisol for the psoriasis (which I'm allergic to). Coal tar cream did help for the psoriasis, but it just got rid of the itchy scaliness and then it didn't bleed. Later when I had panic attacks, I was put on paxil and ativan. But I couldn't function, I couldn't do my job (software engineering/management). With the severe constipation, not going for 7 days or more. I was told to take laxatives, Metamucil, eat more fiber (even though I had upped it and it seemed to make my problems worse). The last gastroenterologist after doing, upper GI, sonograms, blood tests, etc told me I needed to see a psychologist. Even though I knew my problem was my body was causing stress, not that stress was causing my body issues.

Sometimes it would get better for a while, then it would flare up all over again. My life, my entire life had been miserable. I never smiled, I was angry all the time. But it was my normal, and I never knew that most people didn't feel this way. I quit my last salaried job in 2011. And it was then, that I finally figured it out. I quit to work on an iphone game. And now, without all the structured living (going to a job M-F, living a set schedule, wake up at a certain time, eat at certain times, go to bed at certain times) I began to experiment. I slept when I was tired and could, I worked when I was alert. But I also began to cook a lot. I started making all sorts of breads, muffins, cookies, experimenting to make the perfect pizza crusts. And that's when I noticed that if I ate a lot of wheat products my symptoms would flare up. Sometimes to the point that I would just lay in bed for a week, getting up to eat and use the bathroom, but in constant pain. And to top this off, around 10 I had some rye bread it made me so sick. In my 20's, I had to stop drinking beer, because it made me so sick. Even made my forever stuffed up nose worse and causes a sinus headache. A headache which was the source of the brain fog, which I would realize later.

It was around this time I kept seeing the gluten free diet craze. Which I paid no attention to, because my symptoms were the exact opposite. Celiacs have constant diarrhea, I had constant constipation. But at this point, I was desperate, doctor's were utterly useless. And I decided, what would it hurt to try to go on a gluten free diet? So I went on a strict diet of meat, lots of fat and vegetables, I also eliminated all dairy. No packaged processed foods, gluten is hidden everywhere. After about 6 weeks, I felt amazing to the point of euphoria. My digestion starting working again. And oddly my psoriasis started to clear up, I had not expected that at all. After 6 months all of the psoriasis was gone, completely gone.

This worked for a year or two, but I din't feel as good as I did sometimes. And I noticed all grains had a similar but weaker effect on my constipation. So I eliminated all grains, and my allergies vanished. Over the years if I eat a small bag of frito's my allergies will come back within 24 hours, but after 3-4 weeks they will disappear again. And I can go out and enjoy the smell of freshly cut grass, flowers. Ragweed can be in hyper pollinating mode and I might have to blow my nose a couple times instead of my eyes turning red and burning and having a constant stream of snot running out of my nose.

But my hip hurt, my knees, elbows, and fingers ached from arthritis. And having seen the miraculous effect that food had on my other conditions I searched for a solution. I began to notice that if I had a big plate of potatoes, paprika chicken, hot peppers it seemed to flare up. So I eliminated all nightshades. And after about a month my arthritis went away. I no longer was constantly popping my knuckles, and popping my vertebrae when I woke up in the morning. In fact I can no longer pop them, as they don't get stiff.

I'm going to be 42 this year and I have never felt this good in my entire life. I sleep like a baby, my mental sharpness and ability to quickly and efficiently hold big problems in my head and come to solutions is beyond amazing. Since figuring out the gluten problem, I started my own company. I have a product under development, but I'm so swamped with consulting work that I have not had much time to work on it. I work 100% from home. I am filled with profound joy and happiness. I no longer feel anger, stress. I have no problem striking up conversations with strangers. I'm a completely different person.

Throughout the years since figuring out my problem, I have accidently eaten gluten, grains, nightshades, dairy. And the sypmtoms will come rushing back. But if I avoid the foods (poison), after 2-3 weeks I'm good again. I no longer eat out, I no longer even eat what other people have made special for me, as that is a source of accidental exposure. I make all my food 100% from base ingredients. Unprocessed meat, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits. Lots of Extra Virgin olive oil and animal fats. In fact about 65% of my daily calories are from fat. About 10% of carbs from fruits and vegetables, no processed sugar. I was never fat, but after eating like this I lost so much weight 155-> 131. That I upped my food intake, as I was too skinny. I have to work hard and sometimes force myself to eat an extra meal to maintain the 140 that eventually got back up to. I sit at a desk all day, don't exercise but have 6 pack abs. Every time my ribs start showing too much I have to eat an extra meal for a couple days. So I also discovered why most people are fat.

I have since run across a famous quote, which would have meant nothing to me before, but is a fact of life for me now.

Hippocrates — 'Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.'

If you want advice on how to try this experiment on yourself, send me an email (cmerinsky at gmail.com). After all, what do you have to lose?

I thought my email was visible in my about page... it's cmerinsky@gmail.com

No, the consulting is not a 'day job'. Remember, I work 100% from home, in fact my clients are in other states. Currently the one client I cut it back to is in New York. I may not talk to the clients for weeks at a time. Generally we only communicate via email, and very rarely no one is waiting for an immediate response. I might work from midnight to 7 am and then not work for 2 days (and only because that's when I felt like working). Last year was an anomaly, I decided that renting a condo in Tahoe was a waste of money, so I needed money for a down payment and costs associated with buying a house. When I was working full time on my game, I didn't make any money and therefore it really killed my eligibility for a home loan. So last year I ramped up the consulting to not only make a 30% down payment, but to build up $150k (after tax in the bank) for when I go back into full development mode again. Since I have a good, flexible client right now, if things keep going I'll pay off the house end of this year, so if it drags out a little longer it seems like a good trade off. With a paid off house I can live on $1500 a month in Wyoming. With money in the bank, and what I learned last attempt, I'll be able to launch the product and never have to worry about money.

I understand the point though, most consultants are really contractors that are embarrassed to admit it. They have to show up at the client site every day and put in face time. That's not what I do.

I started a company, by myself, November 2012. I'm still in business but haven't released the original intended product.

1) What was my motivation? I was tired of working for someone else, I'd had it with commuting, working with people that kept bringing diseases from their kids in daycare and hence getting colds and flus mutliple times per year, living in a state with absurd taxes and cost of living. Working hard to afford a "condo" that might be paid off once I hit 65 was beyond stupid. Oh and I wouldn't work in an "open office space" setup if you paid me $1 million a year. I don't do headphones, ever.

2) Is this idea worth my time? The idea was an iPhone game, I did complete it, but never released it. They released new phones, new ipads with new resolutions, so I was in the process of adding that capability when a consulting opportunity arose (work 100% from home). I could get into why I abandoned releasing iPhone and Android apps, but have decided to redo it in HTML5 and free myself from the rules the stores impose and cut they take. But ultimately I had decided even if my product only generated $30k a year that was good enough. To own and control my time and product was worth that drastic cut if it came down to it.

3) What have you done to validate this idea? I did research into the potential market size, I used to play a similar game on yahoo games before it was shut down and they would have 10's of thousands of players every day. I looked at similar games on iTunes that were pathetic weekend hacks that left much to be desired and they had downloads, so the market existed. And I really liked the game, still do, I play my game on an ipod touch that I hacked to an older date so the certificate never expires. My UI, and the options that I added also made it far more enjoyable to play. I had big plans for multiplayer.

4) Are there real customers for this? Yep, see above. Maybe it won't make me a millionaire, but I could live off of it.

5) Do you have the endurance for the marathon version of your company? Absolutely, I worked non stop for 2 years when I was about to release. I did not make any money during that time, in fact if I had a "real" job I would have given up. A regular job sucks away all mental energy and leaves one like an empty shell at the end of the day (at least that is my experience).

6) CMO (Chief Marital Officer)? Don't have one, did have a girlfriend back then but we lived in different cities so going for a visit was a nice vacation from the work.

7) Is quitting the right next step? As far as I'm concerned you are either all in or it's a hobby that is going nowhere. If I kept working I'd never even had developed a prototype non the less a full working product, with multiplayer server on the back end. So if you really believe in your product, quit the day job. You can't do both, period.

Where is my company now?

Well, I've gotten side-tracked with consulting business. I've never met a customer on site, I work 100% at home. They send me their devices, buy whatever compiler licenses so I can do the work. I work when I want to, so if I want to take a week off to work on a project at home, or take a trip I do.

Last year was crazy, I moved to Wyoming to drastically lower my taxes, even Nevada was not low enough. Bought a house, while taking care of multiple clients sometimes work ing 260 hours a month. Billables were just under $250k last year. Now that I'm settled in the new house, which cost less that just property tax payments in CA, I've cut back the work to maybe $150k this year, which will free me up to migrate my Objective-C app to HTML5. All the valuable code exists on the game server anyway, so no risk there.

Was it worth just quitting and going for it? Absolutely. Did it turn out exactly as planned? Not even close.

If anyone else out there is trying to decide and wants to know more about my adventure, send me an email. I'm happy to share what I've learned if it helps others to escape the rat race too...

I have never been asked to do a technical interview before being offered a gig. They ask about my experience, from there they tell me about the problem they need solved. So far I've always been familiar with their problem, I will immediately follow up with a high level description of how I will solve their problem (this is during the meeting and without doing research).

For example my most recent gig, the client, a start-up, had a product already in the field. However for development and manufacturing testing they did not have any tools to test the device. They wanted a tool to manually control the device, if possible they wanted a custom script environment added, and they had some device driver issues. Because they already had working code for all of the functionality of the device I explained that I could port the existing code over to the test application. Based on the scripting requirement I recommended using IronPython, Scintilla .net for a nice context highlighting text edit interface, and for their device driver problem it was a matter of walking the device driver stack to make sure the intended device was selected as they had multiple identical devices attached. The hardest part was that the device was written in C++, but they wanted the tool written in C# using .NET. So I had to translate the working device while I was creating the tool. They did not question my ability after I quickly followed their explanation of what the device was, how it worked and what they wanted. Within a couple of days they emailed me a contract, and about a week later they shipped their hardware as I work from home and in another state.

I have turned down gigs because I don't "work" in California, I refuse to pay the ridiculous taxes and deal with all the paperwork. I live in Nevada where there are no state income taxes, one less headache to worry about. Telephone, email and Skype are all that are required to communicate.

As for doing a technical interview? If asked I would never do one, I am a professional. No one asks a Lawyer to solve some legal problems and write example contracts, no one asks a doctor to do some sample examinations and provide a written diagnosis. I have references, I will talk about past work as long as I am not giving away any confidential information. If that is not good enough than I don't need to waste my time with the client. They are free at any time to have me stop working for them if they are not satisfied, considering that recruiters charge 15-20% of a years salary to bring someone on board it's quite a bit cheaper to have me do some work and decide I'm not living up to their expectations (that's never happened).

I have always billed hourly, daily or weekly. I would never offer a "project" price. The client never really knows what they want, they just think they do. In order to properly estimate a project you have to know everything that needs to be done, then you have to draw up an iron-clad contract that prevents the client from claiming something new was, or should have been included in the price. It also gives the client no incentive to be economical with your time. By billing hourly their incentives are aligned with yours, they will want to waste the least amount of time possible in order to keep their billable hours down, they will drop features they really don't need, they will be unable to deny payment claiming the project wasn't completed. After all they are paying for your time, not for the result. The caveat of course is that you really have to deliver, and as you do they forget about the hourly billing. As long as they have problems and you keep solving them, they will just focus on getting their pain points taken care of.

Something else to consider, if you want to make real money you are a "consultant" not a freelancer and certainly not a contractor. Also create an LLC or corp, I have found that clients don't flinch at all when I am a real business, nor do they try to offer me a job instead of a consulting gig. For 5 years I could not pick up a single side gig because the potential client would always offer me a job, but refuse to offer me the gig they claimed I was coming in for. I would always explain to them that I needed to make "real" money, trading one low paying salaried job for another slightly higher paying salaried job did not help me one bit. I needed the ability to make 2-3 times what the typical senior software engineer makes. They would get offended, I would leave. Funny enough it wasn't until I quit my salaried job, with no gigs lined up, no plans to get another job that the gigs started to happen.

The company I spoke of did have a yearly review process, I also waited for that yearly review to come up before I objected to the pathetic raises which barely tracked inflation. When one starts out at entry level, one should quickly gain significant raises commensurate with ones skills and abilities. This company clearly tried to get away with doing as little as possible, I also happened to know that senior software engineers at that company in Colorado were making $120k+. Had I kept my mouth shut, sure, in a decade or two I also would have been making $120k+ but in 2020's dollars not 2000's dollars. The actual salary doesn't matter as much as what those dollars can buy.

As for Microsoft, I have no idea how their process works or if they even reward ambition and results. I did work for a larger company later, 6 months in they gave me a $13k raise and 6 months after that another $20k raise when they made me a manager. I never once brought up my salary, what I did do was point out what I thought was being done wrong and then proposed how to fix it. In this case I went to the CTO as my manager really wasn't managing the product at all, I thanked him for hiring me but told him I didn't think I was going to stay. He asked why and I described what it was we were doing and all the problems it was causing. I then followed it up with a solution of how to manage the product. I did not expect, nor even go in there with thoughts of taking over my manager's job. It was just an honest assessment of how to fix and drastically improve the efficiency of the group. One week later the CTO came to see me, privately. He told me they were very impressed with the work I was doing and they wanted to give me the opportunity to manage the product and the engineers working on that project. The first 6 months were probationary, after that I would be made full manager and get a salary increase. At that company, I never needed to negotiate my salary. They were always generous, they listened and were very proactive in keeping their employees happy.

In general though, my experience has been more like the first job. The companies, while having a yearly review process are very stingy. When it's time to hire a manager they bring in someone from the outside as they don't want to hire another engineer and retrain them.

As for Ben Horowitz's article, I would have quickly left any company that followed his advice. Telling me to wait, the company policies etc. I would see them for what they are, a stalling tactic. I would recognize that I was being "handled". With me I voice my opinion, I lay out the facts. If they are ignored, I don't complain, I don't bring it up again. I just quietly look for a new job, and any counter-offers after that point are immediately turned down. As things have gone according to plan, I don't even have to deal with this anymore, because now I have my own company, products and clients.

This is horrible advice, men and women both must push for a raise, companies will absolutely under no circumstances just give away raises because "it's the right thing to do".

Case in point, I am a white male. When I started working at a company over a decade ago I also started at the same time as another white male. I started at $55k, he started at $52k I negotiated for an additional $3k from the start. The first year I assumed they would give me a good raise since I was hired at entry level wages, I got a $2k raise. I was livid. The next year I made a huge deal about the tiny raise, I ended up getting $5k, now up to $62k. Year after $3k, again not happy. During that year there was a "salary freeze", I told my boss that was unacceptable, if I didn't get a promotion I would be leaving. So I got another $5k during the salary freeze. The next year still not happy, I made the same ultimatum, This time $10k. Up to $80k, I ended up leaving a couple of months later for a management position.

In contrast that other software engineer? He got $2k per year, except for the salary freeze year, they made it up the year after. He left after 5 years making $62k

Me -> $55k, $57k, $62k, $65k, $70k, $80k

Him -> $52k, $54k, $56k, $58k, $58k, $62k

So, apparently by being the squeaky wheel I ended up making an additional $18k a year by the time we both left. Plus all the additional money I made the preceding years.

Lesson here? Make yourself very valuable to the company, and then make them pay. They won't do it of their own free will. Look at it from their perspective, if you don't say anything why would they do anything? Obviously you are happy if you are not complaining.

The problem for women is that, in general, they don't speak up, they don't negotiate for salary increases they just accept what is offered. What we really need to do is to teach women how to understand what they are really worth, and to negotiate from a position of strength.

You're starting a job? Good, so your education is just beginning. It took about 5 years for me to feel comfortable, and really become proficient at software engineering. The job is not an end.

Years 5 through 12, I developed my skills in project management and people management. Being able to code is one thing, being able to plan out a project takes it to a whole new level. Instead of a 5-10k line of code project you are now working on 100-500k LOC projects.

In my late 30's I am now off on my own, started my own company and I am close to releasing my first product. The keys to making this happen are the extremely valuable experience I acquired by "just being an employee", also I saved about $200k before I quit "working for the man".

Getting a job is not an end, like I said it's the beginning. How much you learn from the experience is up to you. If you really want to eventually do something big focus on making every situation a learning opportunity, also don't get sucked in by the lifer's. Don't waste money on fancy cars, don't buy a house, don't get married. If you tie yourself down with debt and responsibilities you may very well find yourself working for the man until you retire.

If you need that push to jump into learning something completely new, like programming. A bootcamp can certainly get you started. Although I would consider it to be a very expensive way to get started. My other concern is the false sense of confidence that one now has a thorough understanding of the subject.

What languages, frameworks do you now have experience with? Ruby on Rails? Are you primarily interested in web development? Software development is a huge field with many specialties. Web development is completely different from native application development, server development is completely different from GUI applications. Firmware and device drivers yet again are very, very different from the already mentioned specialties. Then there are specialties like algorithm development, encoding, artificial neural networks, encryption, compression, game logic AI, etc. Pick one thing, because you will quickly lose your focus if you keep bouncing from topic to topic.

I'm currently finishing up my first app for the Apple Itunes store. Things I had to learn to accomplish this: Objective-C, Cocos2D framework, openGL, Adobe Illustrator, Quartz 2D, Cocoa Touch, XCode, Git, FreeBSD (to host my custom game server), TCP/IP, UDP, mono. And that's just the programming stuff. I had to create a very intelligent algorithm to handle the computer player AI.

Prior to taking on such a monumental project, I had over 20 years of experience with x86 assembly, C/C++/C#, desktop application development experience using MFC and .Net, firmware development for ARM processors, device driver development on windows, simulator development for an engineering shop, manufacturing operations and testing software with database backend, reverse engineering of cell phones for forensic analysis, software development management, and the director of software engineering for a medical device company.

What are you most intersted in? The topic you are MOST interested in. Start there. If you tell me more about what you are looking to do, I can certainly point you in the right direction.

I would see participation at a bootcamp as a negative, if you can't pick up a couple of books and use online resources to figure it out; how are you going to manage once you get into a work situation that requires more than trivial common patterns and solutions?

If you want to further your education. Build applications, websites or whatever thing makes sense for your field of interest. Proof of your abilities is the application. Other than prior work experience it is the only thing that validates your knowledge.

A bootcamp is nothing more than a vocational school, it teaches just enough to be dangerous but will never make you a serious software engineer. That requires a much deeper background which would allow you to pick up any language and any framework that might be required. After going to a bootcamp you will have to spend years "practicing" and learning on your own to even be considered a junior developer as far as I'm concerned.

Easiest solution of all, don't have a co-founder only employees. My work experience is software engineer and software development management. Having started my own company, I find I really enjoy handling the business side of things, forming the company, the paperwork, market research, designing logos, product vision etc etc. I really dread and despise any actual code development I have to do. Writing code is mentally draining, handling the business side of things is fun and energizing. From personal experience, if you are writing the code, you are working harder.

If you must absolutely have a co-founder, then I would find someone else who is technical. Their skillset should complement yours, i.e. if you are a GUI developer they should be a backend developer. Of course finding a developer who is serious is another matter. Most people talk big when it's just an idea, and they are fantasizing about the success like one does with a lottery ticket. It's quite another thing when you have to keep at it, like I have alone for almost 2 years.

Commodore VIC-20, I was in a "gifted" program in the 2nd grade. Every Wednesday I was taken out of the normal class and put on a bus, where all the other smart kids from different schools were taken to a special school. Our teacher was writing one of those text based adventures. He taught us how to write loops, conditionals, printing output, gathering input, arrays. I have to say I was immediately hooked. Soon after my parents bought a TI-994A, I would spend hours typing in code from those old magazines that had simple game programs in them. I lusted for years for a commodore 64, my friends had them though they had no interest in programming them. It wasn't until 1990 that I got a real computer a Hewlett Packard 286. It wasn't until 1992 that I got a real compiler, borland turbo c++. I had no help, no internet, just one book. And I was on my way...

I think you completely missed my point about making money in a black market. If I'm working 40 plus hours a week trying to scrape by on minimum wage, I wouldn't have time to carefully execute black market transactions. With the entire week available, I can focus 100% on it. I can deal with people I know personally who would have bought the legal products from a store anyway. I wouldn't feel the least bit guilty or wrong about what I was doing either because I would feel that the rules I have sacrificed for my entire life were tossed out the window and I completely wasted my youth.

Another thing, it really doesn't take that much money to live. With some caveats, you have no debt. You live a simple life. Or like me, you already own all of your toys and luxuries. The thing is, I am talking from experience. I consulted in the bay for $30k a month back in 2012. Even so, I rented a room in a house with other people renting a room. I shared one bathroom with 3 other people, I got 1/2 the top shelf in the refrigerator. Was it worth it? Damn right it was, $750 a month everything including high speed internet. I wasn't there much anyway. I ended up quitting after 8 months. That's right, I could have made another $90k before they would have let me go, but it wasn't worth it. I did not come from money, I have no family whatsoever. I worked a 3rd shift factory job to put myself through college. So don't get any ideas that I am operating and behaving from a privileged position.

As for nonstop party, this is a huge problem for language. You see everyone doesn't have the same definition for the same words, so when two people discuss something using the same exact words they may have very different pictures in their head AND they assume the other person is thinking the exact same thing.

My idea of a nonstop party is sleeping in, taking a nap whenever I feel like it (I do that now). It's having the freedom to decide I really want to cook an interesting meal and just doing it, as in I have nothing else on my schedule I have to work it around. It's buying a $299 ski season pass in Incline village and going skiing since I live 0.5 miles from the lift. It's the freedom to research and learn about any topic I want to, and I don't have to stop because of other obligations. In fact there is so much interesting stuff out there to learn and read; knowing that I had an obligation to "occupy my time" would be a living hell. It was, that's why I quit my job.

I have no idea what they would pay as a living wage, I don't think $15k would do it. Keep in mind I am 100% against the idea to begin with, I just wrote a comment about what I would do if it came to pass. I am very, very good at adapting to situations and exploiting them. I'm also very good at figuring out how to opt out, if you really didn't want to work, you too would find a way to do it.

I'm not sure if this helped you understand my point of view, but I will finish by saying "One man's heaven is another man's hell". If you really want to understand how this will play out you need to realized that not everyone is as responsible as you are, their idea of a good time may be totally different than yours, it might be cable TV, a carton of cigarettes and a case of beer.

* I'm living pretty damn well on Lake Tahoe, $24k a year, I drive a Land Rover. I ski, bike ride in the summer, hike. And I'm currently working on a product. I have never been happier.

Well, considering I haven't had a paycheck in 18 months...

I would quit working on the product I've been slaving over, a basic income means horrific taxes. I didn't work hard so they could be confiscated.

Now that I've got a basic income I switch gears, I start growing food, fishing, hunting. So that I can sell for untraceable, untaxable cash. I also start tutoring at the local college in math and computer science, once again cash only.

I convert the cash I keep stockpiling into precious metals, gold, platinum, palladium. They take up little space, and will be easy to transport once society descends into chaos. I expect it will take at least 20 years. At first most people will keep working, but when they start seeing other people who seem to be happy not doing anything they will start asking themselves how stupid they are to keep funding everyone else's party and they themselves will drop out.

Before things get too bad, I slip out of the country. Most likely a sailboat out of Florida, the story is I'm heading to the Caribbean, except once far out at sea I head for my real destination, never looking back.

(Part 2)

What I have is not "gluten intolerance" or "gluten sensitivity", it's a GLUTEN ALLERGY and a quite debilitating one at that. I find it absurd how casually people act about it, like it's NO BIG DEAL. Restaurant personal who can care less, some I believe even taint the food because they think it's funny and that people are faking it. I avoid going out at all costs, unless there's a good sushi or thai place nearby. I always make sure they don't add soy sauce and don't even mention gluten. I'm tired of the eye rolls, I'm tired of explaining it, I'm tired of not being taken seriously. This isn't the minor inconvenience of lactose intolerance, I can't just pop a benadryl and muscle my through this. I get food that's contaminated and there goes a good 2-3 weeks of my life. I never find out until about 1 - 2 hours after eating the contaminated food. I suspect it is once it hits my intestines.

I through stupid luck and 35 years of suffering figured out what was making me sick, had I never gotten worse I never would have even known there was a problem. I would never have known how much better it is to feel "normal". I never knew what normal was. My normal was miserable.

I forgot to mention, my pollen allergies are incredibly mild now. No itchy eyes, runny nose. Just need to blow my nose a couple times a day when the season comes around.

This was much longer than what I intended, I think I wrote this because it would be nice if it helped someone else who went through what I went through. Most doctors will not help you, period. They just want to give you some pills and get you out the door. They don't want to fix the root cause just treat symptoms. 99% of doctors know NOTHING about nutrition and food allergies. If you don't swell up like a peanut allergy it must not be real as far as they are concerned.

Great... more fuel for the "it's just in your head, you want to feel special, you want to take part in a fad" fire. (yes, I did read the article at the very end it admits it may be a real problem, but tries to diminish it as a real thing)

I could write a book about my own personal experience, how worthless most doctor's are if you don't have an acute condition they can easily diagnose, and how society itself had convinced me that I was the problem. I suffered in silence as I hate doctor's and don't like attention, even when I'm sick I try to pretend as much as I can that I'm not as I don't want any sympathy.

I have had allergies since I was 6 months old, mostly pollen. I developed psoriasis at age 9. By the time I was 15 I felt like I was walking around in a fog all of the time. Because of this I didn't like to interact with people, I had to work hard to concentrate. Around 17 my sinus's constantly were clogged, even though I didn't have a runny nose. It was like cement that no nasal spray or drug could clear. It was like breathing through needle sized holes. I also would throw up in the shower every morning, as I would feel so nauseous. Despite this I only went to the doctor a couple of times for the allergy part and kept the rest to myself.

Even at an early age, I got really sick when I ate rye bread. In college, beer always made me feel sick. Wine, potato vodka, tequila, cognac... no problem. For me though, when I am exposed to any gluten containing products I don't get diarrhea, I would get constipated. The thing is, I never knew any of this was weird because my entire life 3 meals a day I would eat something containing gluten. In fact I loved the taste of bread, pizzas, hot dogs, hamburgers, pasta, pretzels, oatmeal cookies, carrot cake. These were my staples. These foods are cheap, readily available and quick to make at home.

Fast forward to around the time I turned 30. Quick to anger, quick to fight; It's a good thing people who crossed me always ran away. I most certainly would have killed one of them, and being highly intelligent I don't fight fair back then I would fight to win at all costs, even if it meant injury or worse to myself. So I'm 30, and out of nowhere I'm hit with panic attacks. It didn't make sense, I was not stressed, everything in my life was working out great. The company I worked for had a salary freeze, I told them if I didn't get a raise I was gone, I wasn't even going to look for a new job first. Boom $10k more a year, within an hour of telling my boss he told me to give him 3 days and he came through. So because of the panic attacks I go to the doctor, he finds out my heart rate is erratic and hovers between 90-110 when I'm completely relaxed. He tells me I need to relax, calm down, maybe see a psychiatrist. I try to explain to him that I do feel calm, well I did until I started to fear having another panic attack. There was nothing stressful at all going on in my life, I had just gotten a raise, my manager didn't even manage me, I worked with the other engineers at my company to figure out what tools they needed. There was no pressure, about the only time I saw my manager was for the golf league and we never even talked about work. He told me my adrenaline was cranked up and it never rested. So he gave me ativan, and an evil drug called paxil. Funny thing about paxil, besides the killing my entire motivation to do anything and weird brain zaps. It also gives me diarrhea. But combined with the gluten I end up with normal bowel movements. This I didn't know at the time.

Not long after, I receive a call about a possible management position. Management is what I had wanted since the beginning, I can write code but honestly hate it. Even though I'm really good at it, which is why I got into it in the first place, that and the money.

So I move to take on the new management position, I'm making a lot more money. So I take up flying... if any of you have a pilot's license or tried you'll know that taking paxil is an immediate rejection for an FAA medical. I'm devastated, flying has been a dream of mine forever. So, I taper off paxil and quit completely after 3 weeks. I feel depressed, I can't concentrate at work they hand me a severance package. Going to the doctor's for depression is the last thing I will do, as they created the problem to begin with. I sit at home and play Lord of the Rings online for 2 months straight, I had the luck of getting into the Beta. After those 2 months I'm feeling well enough again to start looking for a new job.

This time I decide to move to California, go where the money is. I land a job, within 6 months I'm managing a small group at this company $40k a year raise. Life is rolling along great. About 1 1/2 years into this job, I start having the worst constipation of my life. 7 days could go by with nothing, I tried eating more fiber (whole grain breads and pasta) it seems to get worse. I noticed when my digestive system seizes up I start to get panic attacks. This time though I seem to be able to suppress the panic attacks when they start. But my insides, especially right side feel raw, on fire, incredibly sore to the touch. I go to a gastroenterologist, upper GI, blood tests, etc etc. Tells me he doesn't see anything, tells me to eat more fiber, take metamucil, oh ... and to see a psychiatrist. I may have looked depressed, but I didn't feel depressed just unbelievably miserable. It's funny (not haha) how incompetent most doctors really are, to them all patients are stupid, they are liars and they are just looking for drugs.

I gave up on the doctors, it had already cost me over $2k even though I had "really good insurance". About 2 1/2 years into this job, even though I had kept my opinions about how the company was managed to myself I finally had had it, and wrote how I truly felt, well it was also what many other engineers in the company felt to in my yearly review. Within hours of upper management reading it I had a nice severance check and was being escorted out the door.

Now I had money and time on my hands. The constant intestinal troubles led me to take up smoking again, it had been 10 years since I had quit. Funny thing about smoking for me, it helped to clear my head (focus) and got my digestion moving again. Like clockwork, as soon as I had my first cigarette in the morning I could go to the bathroom.

I spent months learning, Adobe Flash, Adobe Fireworks. I learned parallel programming on CUDA, even created a working RC5 brute force cracker that would work in 2 minutes. Played with back-propagation neural networks, tried dozens of new ideas for compression. I took a trip to Budapest Hungary for 5 weeks, to learn bespoke shoemaking ( by the way one of the best things I've ever done, I love working with my hands ). When I get back I decide to work for 1 year, live really cheap and then I will try to create a product. Everything goes according to plan, I have tenants about to move out from the house I still have in Colorado. So I move back as it's cheaper than renting an apartment in the bay, that and no noise from neighbors. A nice quiet, sunny working environment.

Now that I have time, I start cooking all kinds of things from scratch. Homemade breads, homemade pizza doughs, cookies, cakes, muffins. I'm starting to feel really awful again, I never really got better but I had gotten to something I could tolerate. So I cut back on all the homemade stuff and while not "better" it gets tolerable again. Then I start cooking again as I love the homemade stuff, plus I like cooking. I get hit hard again.

It's at this moment that it dawns on me. Maybe it's the wheat? But, I thought celiacs gives you diarrhea? That's why it never occurred to me. I'm feeling so bad, I think to myself "Cut out all wheat, while inconvenient I have nothing to lose".

The first week, no big change. It's like when I just cut back on all the home cooked breads. Second week, feeling a little better. Third week, I feel euphoric. I have never had such crystal clear thought in my entire life. I don't feel anger, I feel extroverted I like talking to new people. My nasal passages are wide open, if only I could breathe this easy in high school I would have done sports. With my new concentration, focus, memory recall. The things I could have done in college if I wasn't handicapped with the gluten allergy. It still took 6 months for my intestinal pain and soreness to heal. And something quite fascinating happened. My psoriasis completely disappeared. When it first appeared I had psoriasis at the exit of my anus, and on my tongue. Later elbows, knees, ankles, knuckles.

It's been a while now so I try some oatmeal cookies, because I love them so much. Within about 1 1/2- 2 hours I'm slammed, sinus's clogged up, intestines in knots, brain fog. I couldn't have a bowel movement for 5 days. It took 2 weeks to start feel o.k again, not great just o.k. I decide to swear of gluten completely, I don't need a doctor's official diagnosis to know. It wasn't until I was 35 years old that I realized how normal people feel all the time, and yet everyone complains they have no idea whatsoever how lucky they are.

I try to avoid eating out, but every once in while I do. I've been gluttened about 6 times despite being assured what I was eating was gluten free. Probably eaten about 30 times and was fine.

Tl;Dr "Perception is 9/10 of reality"

This was a good example of how it can yield results when selling your services. It's also very valuable if applied correctly to many areas of life. As an employee, customer, a defendant in a legal case, when you are trying to attract a mate, etc...

The important thing to remember is "how do others perceive me?". Based on that "what can I do to change their perception?" Of course you need to figure out what image you want to project; that image is also situation dependent.

I've wondered about this for the longest time, why not just embed the ads within the content so there's no way to "filter" it out? I've also thought that there is an opportunity for mobile ads, whenever the ads are blocked show a "default" built in ad. Sell these "default" ads to big companies as a block, for example Coca Cola. They never get tired of impressions, it's not like they need you to go to their website and look at an ad. Just seeing their logo reminds you of their product, and that's all they need to happen.

I'm moving to the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.

The Project: I am starting a company (just myself) to produce mobile phone apps (iOS to start)

The Motivation:

1) I hate commuting, I hate not having an office with a door, I hate having to work on a schedule, I hate having to follow someone else's orders.

2) I don't enjoy writing code, even though I'm very good at it. It's exhausting, and it drains me.

3) I enjoy researching/analyzing potential markets.

4) I enjoy documenting the idea, capturing the product story, rationale for design choices, screen mock-ups, use-case diagrams...

5) I enjoy talking with customers.

6) I enjoy thinking about how to market a product. As it is just as if not more important than creating a great product.

7) I can't stand the boring life of a steady paycheck and limited upside, I crave and seek out high risk/high payoff endeavors. (0.2% equity at someone else's start-up? Do I look naive? Do I look that stupid?)

8) I'm the boss, 'I am the decider' (I'd rather make 30k a year as the boss than 150k a year as somebody's bitch)

9) I would rather work hard for a couple of years to create a recurring revenue stream, than work leisurely and be stuck working for the next 30+ years.

10) Freedom, especially time is more important to me than possessions. A small home, in a small town that is cheap is far more valuable to me as I will then have money to travel and pursue my interests and hobbies. (That's right, I'm leaving you California at the end of this month. NO MORE STATE INCOME TAX :) NO MORE RIDICULOUS COST OF LIVING. NO MORE CARRYING FREELOADERS WITH MY HIGH TAX PAYMENTS (18k just to CA last year just for income tax) )

The Product:

1) I decided to pursue my current product when I searched for it on the App store. The existing apps just suck, horrible interfaces, horrible computer AI (I noticed most of the AI cheats, and is predictable) and no multiplayer, this game is much more fun when you play with and against other people.

2) I researched the market, there are at least 5 million people in the U.S. that play this game regularly.

3) I researched how best to monetize the app, in game ads with the ability to purchase credits to play without ads (why limit the revenue to one pathetic $.99 sale? recurring revenue from the same customer is the ONLY way to make real money)

4) While my competitors quickly whipped up and shipped a very poor product, I will ship a polished well thought out user interface. I will steal their 'customers' and dominate this market.

The Fallout:

1) Even if the product fails, I will and in fact have already learned far more than I did in the last 14 years of being someone else's employee.

2) I feel much better being a doer rather than a talker. I got tired of sitting around talking with other salary slaves about how I was going to do something 'someday'. I'm doing it, and 10 years later they are still talking about it.

3) The IP and server infrastructure I'm building has the high potential for reuse and may even be a product that I can sell to other companies that are interested in multiplayer or even capturing app use metrics and allowing for real time ad configuration.

4) I'm putting my money where my mouth is, instead of sitting around talking about how stupid the managers are, the company executives are; I'm focusing instead on making all the decisions to make my company an enviable success.

5) I have 2 years more of 'runway', if it fails I will be far more marketable. I'll no longer be pigeon holed as just a 'software manager/engineer'. I will be executive material. And if not, I will just bag groceries or serve people at a drive-through, because quite frankly I've had it as being a 'programmer'.

What carries the most weight in my decision? I can't work for someone else anymore, I won't work for someone else anymore. I can only operate in an environment where 'I' have customers.

Reading through these comments, I think most people either a) missed the point or b) are angry because he touched a nerve.

Here's my take on it, if you are "working on a side project" + "calling it a hobby" there's no problem with that. If however, you are "working on a side project" + "calling it your start up" there's a good chance you are deluding yourself. Sure... some of you will succeed but less than 1% of you will.

If you want to succeed you need to be fully engaged, you need to be focused and it even helps if there's a strong incentive to succeed like running out of money and being homeless. If you have the comfort and safety of job income, there's a good chance you will slack off because you have "time", you are exhausted from a stressful day at work, your job is running you down so much that you need to relax, you need to buy something to cheer yourself up etc. Also you run the risk that your side project has gotten boring and you want to chase the new "hotness". Of course some of you will feel hip and cool claiming that you are pivoting.

How do I know this? I tried working on side (business) projects as an employee for over 10 years, it just doesn't work. I'm 6 months into developing my product full time, I'm about halfway done. If I had attempted to do this as an employee it would have taken 6 years. That's if I could even stay focused and motivated that long making such slow progress. I know for me that I would have just given up.

As for a bubble, it is a bubble because people are talking about their hobby side projects as if they are legitimate businesses that will take off "some day". A couple will, most will not. The froth is from all the people who will never be anything but an employee getting lots of mileage and good vibes from talking about their supposed business. So much so that they will work even less on the "business" because they have already gotten the positive boost they were looking for and can continue scraping along in their job. This is bad because these people will never push themselves in a way that will actually let them be successful and leave the job that they hate; they are too afraid of quitting because they can't stand the thought of not having a comfortable income.

Want to make it happen, then do what I did. Quit your job, you will find ways to make money. I picked up a side consulting gig where I made 3 times the money I would have ever made in a "job". This opportunity never, ever would have occurred if I was an employee. My desire not to work allowed me to state a very high rate that they accepted, as an employee I would have been so grateful to get side work I would have worked for much less. I saved enough money to live on for 2 years and quit the consulting gig.

Next pay off everything, student loan, credit cards, car loan. Sell most of what you have and rent a room in a house, cut your expenses down to the bone. Get rid of your TV and other distractions. Live, eat and breathe your start-up, when you need a break go for walks, bike rides and go see your friends.

Any of you stuck with a house? I am too, however I moved out and have been renting it out for the past 6 years. It actually makes money, it's an expensive house so I haven't had any problems with renters they always pay.

If you really believe in your start-up you will go all in, you will not play it safe. Otherwise you are just like everyone else, a dreamer that is not really going to accomplish much outside what you do for your employer.

It's amazing how defensive some of these posts are because the poster has chosen to live a life by default.

I once thought I wanted to climb the corporate ladder, to buy stuff, toys. More, more, more...

I made my way into software management back in 2008. I was absolutely miserable. The routine, wake up to an alarm, get ready, run to work, work on someone else's ideas, have to listen to someone tell me what to do. When I got home, I had no energy to work on my own stuff. Work, had stolen all my will power and mental energy. I consoled myself, by losing myself in movies and games, drinking.

Then in 2009, I was so miserable I deliberately worked to get terminated with severance. I was successful. The evening I was fired I was so happy. I was set for 1 year. I moved from L.A. to San Francisco.

Got an apartment, and started learning all of adobe's tools (my friend got me a free copy of their top suite, he worked there). I experimented with many different compression algorithm techniques, I worked on neural networks. Then after 9 months, and the money running out I took a trip to Budapest Hungary for 1 month to learn how to make bespoke shoes. I had never in my life been so happy. I discovered that I hate working for other people, hate it, absolutely hate it, I'd rather live on the street.

I got back and found a startup where I could make great money, knowing I would quit at the end of one year. And like clockwork, after the initial enjoyment of doing something new, getting to write firmware which was something new, it was time to get out. This time, knowing I was quitting made all the difference, I didn't get burned out. I wasn't angry. A couple months later an opportunity arose to do some consulting, 2 months in and I was set. I doubled my income and got to walk away. 6 months later and the original manager quit, they needed someone to come in and rescue them, I showed up. Charged twice what I've ever made. The money was awesome, I paid off a second mortgage ($60k). I saved $100k after tax. After 8 months, couldn't take it anymore.

But this time I had a plan, it was time to start my own company, where I am the boss, where I can eventually get to the point where I hire other people to do all the work and I draw income from a business that doesn't consume my life.

I'm 2 months in on my first company product, it's hard work, but it doesn't feel like work. I am my own boss, I decide what is important, I don't interrupt myself with stupid inefficient task switching, there are no office politics, I don't have to listen to the 'normies' and their pathetic existence as they skate through life anesthetized.

I love the uncertainty, I thrive on it. To have a predictable mundane life is walking death. To actually have complete control over my own success and failure is invigorating. I have 22 months left of runway, and if it fails? So what, I can always pick up a temporary consulting gig. The experience I am learning now is making me far more valuable than being an employee ever will.

Some key things I learned, which made this possible:

1) eliminate anyone and everyone negative in my life: friends, family... anyone.

2) stop hanging around people who espouse and vigorously defend the "normal" lifestyle

3) surround myself with positive and also like minded individuals

4) take pleasure in simple things, cooking a good meal, reading an interesting book, going for a bike ride, accomplishing a small milestone.

5) Eliminate debt, do I really need that fancy car? (unless I can pay cash)

6) I got rid of my tv, don't miss it for a second, it just wastes my time

7) Got my living expenses down really low, yet I'm living the richest life I've ever had.

8) Free time to cook, allowed me to discover that I have a severe gluten intolerance. Doctor's never figured it out, just told me I was "depressed", that I needed to eat more fiber (which is gluten). Since I had eaten gluten almost every single meal my entire life there was no gap to discover how much better I felt. This would never, ever have happened if I had kept a regular M-F job. I never had time to cook semolina pizza dough, muffins, cakes and eat so much that the 1-1 correlation between what I was eating and how I felt clicked.

9) Don't fear change, embrace it

10) It's easy to make new friends

11) I'm actually an extrovert, it's the people I was surrounded with my whole life that made me seem like an introvert, I just didn't want to interact with them.

12) Stop caring what other people think, what makes them happy might make me miserable (one man's heaven is another man's hell)

13) Be happy so many people choose to take the easy way out, on cruise control. It makes it so much easier to be successful myself with so little competition.

14) Be a source for anyone who is also trying to figure out who they are and what they really want to do.

15) Stop trying to give people advice when it is unwanted.

16) Life is about the journey, not the destination. SOMEDAY STARTS NOW!

* anyone offended please feel free to skip my message, it's not for everyone. My way is not for everyone, it is not a 'universal right way'. But it is most definitely the right way for me, and for any lost souls out there (which I once was). I hope that this post may make them think, think about how to change their life for the better too.

Grammatical errors aside, I like the ideas represented here.

However I think the post would have more impact if it was followed up with concrete examples. Take MVP for instance, are there any known failure cases that would demonstrate why it's important not to rush half-baked ideas out the door? I certainly can understand how shipping bad functionality can create a huge negative opinion of a company and it's products. However, how do you convince others, especially your boss, that it's a bad idea? Explaining what might happen usually gets you nowhere, pointing out other disasters sometimes gets their attention.

This type of analysis could be performed on each of the 5 things and in doing so would make for a far more interesting read. As previously said, I like the ideas it just seems to be missing information that would make it feel complete.