Ten-ish years ago, I co-founded an unexpectedly successful business. But I’m running out of energy to give to it, and really to software engineering in general, and am starting to think about what’s next.
I’m more financially secure than I could’ve hoped, my business is in good hands, and I think the timing will be right whenever I’m ready to leave. It turns out, though, that I just have no idea how to even start thinking about a second career.
Anyone have any tips?
I had a friend who decided: they didn't want to work at all. They moved someplace cheap, worked the bare minimum to survive, and then enjoyed having free time. Travelling, exploring the world... That is an option.
I hear stories about people who take an off year and work at an Amazon warehouse or a local fast food joint. Maybe they become a local tour guide, welcoming people to their town. Getting a low-paying position doing meaningful social work. Starting a side hustle selling old comic books or a certain kind of antique or artwork that they have a special expertise in.
If you're having trouble getting to this kind of "outside the box" thinking, maybe a good place to start would be...talking to people. The book "What Color is Your Parachute" got a lot of good publicity for it's basic insight that "information interviewing" is a great way to explore fields you're interested in. But the other take-away from that is there are a lot of things in the world that we just have not heard about yet -- ways to make money, ways to spend time. And you'll never know they exist until you do some research -- some talking to people.