After going independent, my impact has only gotten bigger and my work more interesting and engaging. Write and share what you’ve learned, consult, do OSS, be an “emeritus”, work part time... these require the ability to self-manage, but it’s a skill that can be learned like anything else.
Why a financially independent person would spend most of their waking hours chipping away on Amazon’s problems is baffling to me.
I guess the perfect work for him would be to find a way to start contracting for his current position, but I can see how he's happy at work.
On another note, I became independent myself recently and I totally agree with you. I don't see myself going back to another company ever, but I'm still opened to the idea, because it might allow me to get to work on super interesting problems somehow.
"I get to write software that filters and routes a million messages a second."
So it seems he likes the problems he gets to work on, and the resources he can access, at Amazon.