(created throwaway for this)<p>Thank fucking GOD I find myself in this position right now! Through some random luck and the sell of an old startup I am now able to take a few years off and just like think and sleep all day and have inappropriately long lunches.<p>At present I am writing crypto currency trading shit just for fun, having a blast, and most importantly, not having to worry about any meetings or struggling for progress on the HUGE PILE OF UNIMPORTANT BULLSHIT THAT WAS MY TODO LIST.<p>A forgot password form? Gimme a fuckin break. A build script??? HAHA.<p>I recommend it highly.
Notch. Made a shit ton of money selling Mojang/Minecraft to Microsoft. Now basically spends his life partying, playing games and coding games for fun. Oh, and shitposting on Twitter. Ofcourse.
My company pays for my rent and living expenses which allows me to save roughly 50k a year working remotely. I tried working less hours but found myself bored with going to the gym 3 hours a day and working by the pool. I'd rather be in stinky room surrounded by white boards and joking around with other devs. I found that 5-6 solid hours of productivity is better than 8-9 hours 5 days a week.
Non-rich programmer: works on CRUD apps to feed the family.<p>Rich programmer: works on compilers, OS dev, DB internals, in-house 3D engines/games, AI, etc... to have fun :)
In a team lead role for a big telco, (build my wealth trough stock trading robots, can retire anytime) and every year cannot get myself to leave and retire early...<p>Too much fun, interesting projects and great team to lead (also working from home helps a lot)...<p>Maybe next year :-)
Throwaway for this. I'm virtually there, although not quite: I will inherit ~$1M cash, arguably within the next 1-3 years.<p>I never thought too much about it and did what I thought would interest me anyway; I thought I had to get a sense of what a modern capitalist society really is. I ended up starting a somewhat successful career in CS (I’m in my late 20s), did the 9-5 thing for a few years… but I got to the point where I simply don’t care much anymore. Call it a quiet burn out if you want. Sure, coding can be fun, but I don’t see how “becoming a better programmer” will eventually make me happy. It will at best keep me busy - and most likely won't make me contribute with anything too positive for the world at large.<p>I’m not ruling out the fact that I’ll keep writing code in my life for one reason or another; I’m simply not interested in having a career anymore. I feel incredibly lucky to have a safety net that will allow me to decide how to best spend the rest of my life. I also feel the responsibility to do something truly positive with it, and not just for me.
Im not rich, but my company affords me this luxury - my basic income is taken care of, and I'm free to work on what I want to - <a href="https://ramm.science/" rel="nofollow">https://ramm.science/</a>
I don't know about rich but I code for my few side-business projects and I decide when to take on more work or when I want to do a project for myself that intrigues me.
I don't know if I'm rich (actually decidedly not), but I freelance and save a large proportion of my income, and when I'm not working on client projects I just work on my own, which can be for weeks at a time. My day pretty much looks the same whether I'm working for a client or myself, but with way less emails/Slack/whatever taking me out of flow.<p>It's a very enjoyable way to pass the time.
A friend's friend. Working in Amazon for 15-16 years (still not manager). His stock would easily make him a millionaire. He puts minimal effort just enough not to get fired, doesn't care about promotions, works 6-7 hour days and has a good life. My friend asked him why doesn't he quit? He said this job gives him something to do.
Yes, and it's far more enjoyable now but it's harder too.<p>With clients I had deadlines that forced decisions. With only artificial motivators I've found it too easy to follow my passion rather than launching something.<p>But, I do get to explore what I want to now.
Did this for a year. Saved £30k - enough to go to Asia, but not live like a backpacker, actually live in places and spend roughly working hours on my own projects.<p>Just need to win the lottery now and do it full time.
My friend worked as a teacher of computer science to a guy who is a local bank owner(over 30mil$ fortune) retired at his 70th and studying software development as a hobby. He payed not much btw
Are you assuming only rich people do that, or only interested in rich programmers? (Whatever 'rich' means exactly. Whatever definition you have in mind, I mean.)
I don't believe that you have to be rich for that. But I get your point. It is not my case unfortunately, but I believe that some can be doing just that.