I'm in the same pickle. I get burnout symptoms at the 6 month mark no matter what I do and paid leave doesn't help, only honest to goodness NEET life. I plan to find a way to cope with it by finding something that's lucrative and done in short stints. Which is going to be hard for a neophyte like me with only a passing interest in tech.
Had a conversation about that with a friend on IRC last night and got some interesting insights. His main point was that enjoying the process is the most important thing about a job being enjoyable. Because the process is after all, the thing you do day in, day out.
The most interesting people I've ever met who travelled Europe for most of the year, funded their trips by picking strawberries in Denmark in the summer. However, they were masters at frugality. Couchsurfing, hitchhiking, eating at the cheapest places, thrift shopping, the works.
In theory, couple of months of inflated tech salary should be perfect for such a lifestyle, but strangely enough I don't know any techies living like that. I personally blame the lifestyle creep. Most of my tech worker friends and since recently, myself have quite expensive hobbies.
Quite a rambling post, but I hope it can give someone ideas. Off-hand comments by random anons on HN and other places have often inspired me.
Life is all about enjoying the chase. We're on an endless gameboard. Your IRC friend is right.
I've been there and whined on IRC about the same topics.
You can also do the same in SEA. That's what I did for 2 years and it's great but you're never really refreshed. That freedom, isn't really real. Illusions aside, work is work.
A few months barely pays off the credit card bills, you need cash in hand and a slightly profitable item. Something that can make $2000-3000/month that's passive is the dream. That's all you need to live in 98% of the world.
Had a conversation about that with a friend on IRC last night and got some interesting insights. His main point was that enjoying the process is the most important thing about a job being enjoyable. Because the process is after all, the thing you do day in, day out.
The most interesting people I've ever met who travelled Europe for most of the year, funded their trips by picking strawberries in Denmark in the summer. However, they were masters at frugality. Couchsurfing, hitchhiking, eating at the cheapest places, thrift shopping, the works.
In theory, couple of months of inflated tech salary should be perfect for such a lifestyle, but strangely enough I don't know any techies living like that. I personally blame the lifestyle creep. Most of my tech worker friends and since recently, myself have quite expensive hobbies.
Quite a rambling post, but I hope it can give someone ideas. Off-hand comments by random anons on HN and other places have often inspired me.