Going against the grain. An extended absence is possibly the best thing you could do and not only realistic but could leap-frog you in your career if you do it right and decide to come back to software stuff.

Working the same job for a long time tends to stifle even when fun; sometimes completely. Same bugs, same code paths, same requirements, same knowledge domain, same expectations. Especially if you work nearly alone or without peers who can help you raise your game.

Being unhappy, burned out, or absent from family, can kill your ability, let alone desire, to improve yourself or care to try.

Add this together and an extended break can be money *if* you use the break to keep up with trends, try new stuff you find interesting, build toy apps on weekend evenings, read more tech blogs, dip your toes in new languages/tools, publish some FOSS, do minor patches on big public projects to get your name out there and experience with the ecosystem, etc, etc, etc. It sounds like a lot but it is easy to cram all that good stuff into a 20 hour week. Given the 40 hour week you're dropping, it's still a good net gain and if it is interesting and your life is full of kid-fun and such… it can work out; did for me (3-ish year “break”). :P

In reply to Re: How realistic is an extended absence? by Your Mother
in thread How realistic is an extended absence? by ksublondie

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