6 years industry, 5 years prior to that doing academic development &amp; grad school (M.S.C.S); now as a SWE in a SRE team. Hobbyist for &gt; 15 years.<p>I&#x27;d have started and finished at the same university; moved to SF in 2005 immediately post-graduation; generally I would have <i>taken on more risk</i>. This would have essentially allowed me to semi-retire by now.