2008 was devastating contracting wise. Starting working for non-profits and have found it rewarding but suffers from similar problems as FTE.

On the plus side I spent a lot of time raising my son in his formative years - time for which I'm thankful. If I had stayed working at start-ups I would have missed that which I would have truly regretted.

Also the start-ups in SV became obsessed with Social Media which IMO is a total waste of electrons so I lost interest.