After 25 years in startups, with several of them paying out, I was able to retire at 55, so I did. I still love writing software, but I got tired of: not having a life, due to insane startup schedules; the stress of startups; working for idiots, (partly this is because we hired idiots, but also because my tolerance for idiocy has vanished).

I have more time for family and friends. I can tinker with new ideas in software, and eventually find new projects to work on, (I have one now). I have started teaching again, on and off. I get to sleep late, go out more, both at night and on vacations.

However, I have done less than I thought I would, and honestly, I am sometimes bored. However, I absolutely will not work again if I don't have to. Why? Because going to work for someone else is an admission that I don't know what the hell to do with myself, so I might as well fill my time sacrificing my precious time for someone else's dream. No thanks. Not only does that re-introduce the problems mentioned above, but it masks the real problem of not knowing what I really want to do.

Also, I'm really tired of the startup life. Charismatic startup founders who use their charm to extract what they need from you, VC lemmings, "this is the most important release ever", open floor plans, ...