Best Posts in Thread: Do You Miss Working?

14 years into retirement I think about working only in occasional nightmares. After years of anticipating being put out to stud, this is living a dream.

 

I will go with what my Father and Grand father said on Retirement;
"I Wonders sometimes. how I had time to go to work."
Plenty to do in the Garden and House.

 

My work is a huge component in shaping who I am. Because I don't have an actual job, I can largely choose the direction of what to work on. That means the possibilities are endless for now and in the future. I doubt I will ever quit working as there will always be something that I can find to work on. Keeps life interesting.

 

I enjoy waking up knowing i do not have to do anything i dont want to, My last 2 years at sea were a drag and its only the last few that i could be bothered looking at the ocean. so NO i do not miss working

 

This depends on what specific part that you are referring to. Most of my bread comes in through being a programmer, but the money really comes from being good with dealing with my clients, knowing how to sell and generally just hustling like a motherfu**er. I can program out my *** and call it work but I won't get paid for it unless I get these other things right.

And once you get those other things right, then it doesn't matter so much what else you do. Find a need and handle it for people. You can do that direct as a service such as consulting (time consuming and doesn't scale) or package up and sell a product which can do the same (more difficult). That requires getting out into the world and talking to people.

The prerequisite is the "hustling like a motherfu**er" part. That doesn't necessarily mean working hard, but rather you need to be highly resourceful. You do whatever it takes to get things done.

On the technical part, I can't stand sitting in a class, reading a book or having someone else show me how to do something when I'm getting started. I HAVE to poke the thing and figure out how it works through my own exploration and jacking around. Technical references are good for getting that deeper understanding of a key piece that I have already twisted, bent, licked, banged on, etc. Courses and books are good for the things which aren't core to what I'm doing but are still important, such as basic bookkeeping / accounting.

These days with Google, Stack Overflow and an endless list of other resources, pretty much all of your questions have already been answered. You can get the first thread of building things by Googling "how to..." and just continue following that thread. Being able to do this research, finding information and absorbing information is the most important of the technical part. It's a bit of a catch 22. I could show you how to do something but you need to first develop the ability to teach yourself as that's your daily challenge. If you can't pick up the information on your own, then don't bother continuing until you pick up that skill. Once you do that, then you don't need me anymore.

Another important trait is drive and adaptability. If you don't have the drive to pick these things up on your own, then you probably won't have the drive to continue. If you think that you need a class or a certification then don't bother because your thinking is too institutional. I survive through adaptability, creativity and recognizing the game for what it really is rather than the smokescreen that everyone else thinks you should see.

NOTE: That's not to say that a CS degree isn't helpful. It's the safe way to get you a job. In some cases, a really high paying job. But you asked about me. I have been living in the Philippines for 7 years and I haven't had a real job for over a decade. And I'm far from retirement age.

NOTE: Mentors, courses and books can be helpful in certain cases. I believe that a great way to demonstrate that you understand something and to even solidify your own understanding is to be able to teach the material. But I think this is best for specific subjects which you have become a deep expert on and / or which people have a difficult time picking up. The areas in which your peers often struggle is good territory for this. For freelance programmers this is often such things like treating your freelancing like a real business and how to charge what you're worth. That goes back to finding a need, you can come up with courses / books and sell them.

 

I like how you approach your profession Dude. About the only thing I can add, having had 44 years IT experience is that I learned the most by my programming mistakes and had to debug programs. Technology didn't change as fast in those days as it does now so I imagine learning the latest and greatest is a must.

 

Retirement sucks bigtime w/o a time consuming hobby. What that hobby is for you is all on you but you'll definately need something. Those who say the first year is the worst its really about it taking a year to realize you need some new hobbies and after a year you'll have probably found some hobbies.

For some its as simple as chasing girls or drinking beers while complaini.... err fixing the worlds problems to other foreigners. To others it may be diving, exercise, family, traveling around, golf, running a business part-time, or simply watching tv. Most these days are no longer happy sitting out on the front porch in a rocking chair watching the clouds pass by day in and day out.

The sooner you figure out your hobbies the better off retirement will be. The problem comes in when some people just can't find much of anything that makes them enjoy and happy and then its time for a game change.

 

Pat, You and I are about the same age. I have no intention to retire. I'm self employed and love what I do. If I retire I would be bored out of my mind, what little there is left of it.

 

When I was young I enjoyed my job. I miss being young.

 

Many of living here are in some form of retirement. A few years ago on this forum I asked the question what folks missed about working. The majority of response were, "nothing", "I hated working", etc., and not many actually saying positive about what they missed.
For me, being retired 7 years and working out of the Philippines before that, I still feel the same about retirement. I miss the most obvious, monthly salary and benefits the most. I also miss the strong relationships I had and still keep in touch via email and Facebook. I traveled most of the time so I miss the food from around Asia and the U.S.
Having said all that I am fortunate to have a great wife and son to enjoy now so no worries.