Just my $0.02: start a side project and work on it evenings/weekends, while keeping your day job. Yes, it will be tough, but delaying it is not the best idea, since working overtime without burnout gets harder and harder as you get older. Make sure NOT to make the mistake of focusing only on the more enjoyable, technical side of the undertaking (read: exciting technologies and software development), but pay a lot of attention to the more boring, business side of your project (read: educating yourself on product/market fit, initial marketing strategies, growth hacking, etc.) Find out whether you are going to even enjoy the non-technical, business side of a startup. Realize that since you do not have a lot of money to burn and/or a lot of time to clock in, you will have to avoid huge mistakes and develop a very good business idea and a very good Minimal Value Product that will let you FEEL at least SOME startup traction early on; otherwise, if your side project never gets at least a bit exciting relatively early on, you will just get tired of it all and dump it. (Or not, which would be a valuable lesson as well: the one that you get addicted to running your own businesses.)