After stewing for a long time in my head, a thought finally hit me. Why don't I build a single piece of software that does everything I want the way I want it.
Instead of finding a personal finance app, a invoicing app, a bookmarking app, a goodreads like app...etc., Why don't I just build a Django supersite with all these apps in one?
I don't have to define it as any kind of app, make it generic, worry about code quality or maintainability or anything really. Heck, I can even write a dead narrow PDF parser that parses my credit card statements and energy bills and have it all in the same app.
It just needs to support one user me. Has anyone else tried this route? Building a superapp for yourself?
I've got about another 10 months left at my current job and after that... I don't know what I'll do. I've already moved down to 4 days a week in an effort to glide down to FIRE. Do I really want to go back up to 5 days? Could I find somewhere that would be […]
I've got about another 10 months left at my current job and after that... I don't know what I'll do. I've already moved down to 4 days a week in an effort to glide down to FIRE. Do I really want to go back up to 5 days? Could I find somewhere that would be happy with me doing 3 days? Can I be arsed to constantly hustle for ad-hoc client work?
Can't I just stop?
What would happen if I took a gap year? A sabbatical? A full year of not working?
I'm lucky enough to have enough savings for this venture. I've got me a wife who could also do with taking a break from her career.
So could we...?
The obvious downside is a year without earning any money.
The next issue is returning to work. "Can you explain this absence on your CV?" Oh, yeah, I just decided to quit for a bit. I'm not sure how attractive that is to future employers.
And the final issue is... to do what? Backpacking round India? Gardening? Eating our bodyweight in cheese?
I'm pretty sure this is what I want to do. Take a year or so out. Recharge. Reconfigure. So the next few months are going to be planning on what that looks like.
If you've ever taken a voluntary mid-career break, I'd love to hear what you did and how you planned it.
My neighbor and friend was diagnosed with multiple myeloma (bone cancer). She is in good spirits and says “it’s very treatable”. This is true, but it’s also terminal and at stage 3 (which hers clearly is) has only a 30% 2-year survival rate. Her docs have not told her this and maybe that’s for the best, but the scientist in me is screaming inside that she should have more and all the information so she can make decisions about her care. /sigh/ I will focus on being her friend. #personal#cancer