I quit academia after my PhD. Now, working as a developer remotely I have no money stress, relaxed work schedule, relaxed colleagues, no need to write grant applications etc. I even have some time to study the same academic stuff I was doing before, but without the pressure. The only thing missing is the academic network for exchanging ideas.

When I tell this to my friends still in academia, I can sense some envy, but also get this feeling that they are not comfortable with even entertaining the idea of getting out of academia.