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Comment by callinyouin | Hacker News Reader

I feel the same way you feel. Growing up I was absolutely fascinated with computers and knew I wanted to be a computer scientist since the age of 12 or 13. Now that I'm in the industry (and not in academia like I initially thought I wanted) the magic is gone and I want to get out, hopefully within the next 5 years or so. It's not that I dislike programming, in fact I still love it, but now that I'm solving other peoples' problems instead of working on my own pet projects it's just not the same.

As far as what I'd do afterwards? I'm kind of at a loss. I've had ideas that range from opening a bar to buying a plot of land and farming it, but they all seem so crazy and out of reach.

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I'm buying a sailboat with my wife and daughter and sailing the world in 18 months (waiting for the last of my options to vest). Think about it! It's ~$60-100k to get the boat, and you can live on ~$24-30k/year doing it. There's a huge community out there of cruisers who do it full time.

This is my plan! What kind/size of boats are you looking at?

Originally, we were looking at a Lagoon catamaran, 38-42 feet. Due to personal circumstances around an elderly parent (can't sell our house, they'll need to live in it while we're out sailing), we're now looking at a Beneteau 381 (and a few others, needs to be blue water capable but would also like to have a lot of guests on during passages).

I'd love a Lagoon, but unless my options are worth >$100K at a liquidity event, its not in the cards.

http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/category/type/Beneteau/381

Could you check out https://itunes.apple.com/nl/app/comfort-mate/id1030350632?mt... / https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nl.marin.comfo... ?

Thanks

I will do so!

I hope your daughter doesn't suffer from boredom after the initial novelty.

From the other families I've talked to who have traveled the world with their children by boat, or countries by caravan/RV/Airstream, boredom doesn't seem to be an issue (compared to a lackluster childhood in Suburbia).

Lots of people out there breathing who aren't living.

Sounds fun. How long have you been sailing? Where did you learn how to sail? Is that what you plan on doing forever or is this a temporary excursion?

> How long have you been sailing? Where did you learn how to sail?

I took classes at a yacht club in March/April, so a little under a year.

> Is that what you plan on doing forever or is this a temporary excursion?

Who knows. Maybe forever? Maybe only for a few years? If you want to hear the gods laugh, tell them your plans.

You feel confident sailing the world after sailing for under a year? That's fantastic, I figured it required a lot more experience.

I met two different couples who literally sold everything, drove to Florida, bought a boat, had an instructor on board for a week, and sailed away with no previous experience. Neither has gone past the Caribbean but they both did fine. One of them now runs a day charter on a catamaran.

I spent several years learning and improving sailing skills before heading off. 2-3 years of weekends and a few vacation weeks would probably do it if you started with that as your focus. It takes a lot of people that long to find a boat and get it set up the way you want anyway.

>> "Neither has gone past the Caribbean"

That doesn't sound like a bad thing to me. What a fun lifestyle if you can pull it off.

This pretty much mirrors my feelings. I've only been developing professionally for 3 years now, after more than a decade of hobby projects just for fun and learning. And I can't remember the last time I felt the motivation to work on a pet project on my own time, and I don't get the same enjoyment out of my work. It's pretty important and fulfilling work, but it ultimately just isn't mine, and I miss being self-directed with my hobby. Now I get when people who love cooking say they would never want to become a chef.

As far as getting out, I've put in my hat for an Air Traffic Controller position, and I'm crossing my fingers and waiting on that. I figure if I can make it there, it will pay well enough, use some of my critical thinking and tech skills, but hopefully free up the creative load to allow me to regain my drive for programming as a hobby. Plus, can't beat an early pension.

I was exactly the same!

But I still wanted to keep working in IT.

Now I do consulting.

Maybe that's something you might like?

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