I have a weird rich kid story. My dad gave my siblings and I a lump sum that I saved for a while. After a couple of years, as my job had ended, I just bought a small CNC router and toyed with it at home, re-did the electronics, re-did the software (Fusion 360 was nascent), and put all of it on github. After a year or so I ran out of money and had to take a job again.

But the github thing slowly produced interest in my CNC work, I got a few gigs related to CAM development (I'm not a machinist) once in a while. Until recently where at last I got a real well-paying gig for some real CAM development work. It's a weird redemption: I went from bumming around with my dad's money to earning more than him because of what I did when I was jobless.