I think I see where you're coming from, but then, is the travel you were asking about in tune with working on myself? Perhaps.

I've never had to go to a tech conference/meetup for work; the ones I've gone to have been social/community/fun events for me.

I was at North Bay Python last weekend and I'm going to PyCon US in May.

Curious what you tell people you do when they ask? Does everyone know what a sabbatical is?

I’ve been on a long sabbatical myself but I don’t feel like people would understand that so I usually just still say software engineer.

Btw feel free to email if you want to chat sometime. I haven’t especially productive so it would be great to get some inspiration.

I hear you. For social! The way I think about it tho is, if taking some dedicated time for working on myself, I want to get as far away from all work/tech stuff as possible! For a while anyway :)

>Are tech conferences really in tune with working on yourself??

Why wouldn't they be?