captmorrel

Thanks for the valuable input!

Very interesting, winding road! Great anecdote laying out how things work out somewhat on their own (you did end up learning Node and JS somehow :) ). Thanks for writing it down, loved it!

Heh, you already have your priorities laid out. Must be liberating :)

Yes, agreed, planning to a certain extent is vital. Thanks for your input!

Great that you are extending your break, congrats!

"Every day is Saturday"."It rekindled my passion for programming". "...constantly feeling that I am squandering that time". "I end up feeling like I should still use every single one of them". All very valid feelings that I expect to have. Thanks for elucidating this. I think the best we can do is be aware of them, and any amount of planning is not going to mitigate these. The point about friends being busy is also very valid.

Very valuable, helpful inputs. Much thanks!

Thanks for the input. I am a musical person myself, trained in percussion. I very well see myself picking it back up during the break. Tech + music + language learning + (racquet) sport would be how I structure most of my days, and that would be heaven to me! Same here about monetizing, always dreamed about it, but I guess I didn't want it bad enough since I havent done much about it!

Appreciate your being on point. Hope you are doing well now!

That's a great benefit! We do get paid during the sabbatical but they are a growing company so I don't think they feel they can afford to make it that long, but they recognize the good that time off brings.

Curious, what does an LOA give you? I dont suppose you get paid or still get health insurance. Is it just a stopping of payroll/benefits and resuming it once you are back?

Thanks for the encouragement! I agree, its absolutely important to plan for it, not only for yourself, but for family and friends. This is one of the keys to it being a successful time off. I am of the slight suspicion that I might not want to get back to being permanent anymore like you. If you did move to freelance, may I ask how you handle health insurance for you and family? Or are you not in the US? :)

This is an excellent example of how these things could not have happened unless you took a step away from the grind. I know some people would say you could do that while working, but somehow I dont think so :) Thanks for sharing!

Very interesting, thanks for sharing. I have to ask, how did it feel to come back to the grind after that period (if you did)?

Yeah I can understand - its a different mindset when you didn't intentionally take the break and it was forced on you. I have been laid-off and gone through the resulting emotions. I think I handle it much better now. Plus I have some runway to take a break.

Sounds like it worked out well for you. Congrats!

Yes, you can call it that but I haven't been in my current position long enough to qualify for a sabbatical. Also, the sabbatical is only like for a few weeks. I feel that doesnt fit with my notion of a longer-term break.

Thanks for your input! My main aim for the break is to be a better programmer. During my short breaks, I always started something which I believed help me get better. A long break would probably be the same, but at a different scale. Btw, I love Clojure! Have had the fortune to work with it in my professional career for a couple of years (worked and contributed to the "metabase" project), and it would definitely be something I would love to explore in depth!