I no longer build software
Reading over the comments there's a lot of "wow, I want to do that" and "wow, I'm so glad I also did that". My story is somewhat different but might also help those who want to do that but, say, need to pay bills to eat.<p>I left my most recent full-time (45+ hrs/wk) job coding after 9 years in the valley. When I was planning it, I was treating it as a long sabbatical and was going to travel and not do any work. However, along my travels I've found myself stuck in one country or another for various reasons (like global pandemics) and with nothing better to do, logged back online. Except, this time I knew before I started exactly what my goal was: I wanted to make enough money to pay my bills, and not a penny more. Going in with this outlook, I took freelancing gigs with a few companies, and I've now settled into a consistent relationship with a software consulting company.<p>I agree with many comments in this thread: what I'm doing isn't creative; it's basic operational stuff; "glue" software... But I don't need it to be interesting. I work 15 hours in a week and when I don't feel like working on a particular day--then I don't. I make just over what I spend each month. Since I have so much extra time, when inspiration strikes me, I can go and work on hobby programming projects as a creative outlet (which is why I got into programming in the first place)!<p>I've spent 15+ years learning these computer programming skills. If the job isn't interesting and I can do what's required in my sleep, then--to me--I should do the job in my sleep and spend my waking hours doing what I enjoy. I think in general OP and I have the same goal, but we're approaching on different tacks.