Thousands chase the dream to be independently wealthy through hacking. To have the FU money required to live a truly free life. So what's it like to go from stressing about an unexpectedly high phone bill to deciding where in the world you want to live and which car matches your personality best?
Most programmers live pretty comfortable lives, but there's a vast difference between making ends-meet and having enough money to make decisions without that being the biggest factor.
It seems like the few who've achieved this have all been strangely silent. I suppose they don't want to be seen as flaunting it, but I think there's plenty of room to discuss this without going over that line.
I keep meaning to write this one, but it is extremely dangerous territory. One of the many strange things you discover when you get rich is how dangerous it is to talk about it. Most people don't mind, but occasionally one will go nuts on you in a way that is enough to make you not want to talk about the subject at all.
Well this is exactly the kind of thing that isn't very obvious. It sounds like once you're wealthy there's a new set of rules you have to live by. It's a shame everyone has had to re-learn these things for themselves because a few bad apples can control their jealousy.
Very good to hear it's somewhere in your essay queue though. I'll try not to get rich before you write it, so I have some idea of what to expect :-)
I have wondered about the usefulness of "secure" pseudonymous online publication / discussion. It would probably be very difficult if you want to discuss drafts with real-life acquaintances. But it should be able to handle the problem you speak of? It is a pity to have information exchange suffer from that kind of problem.
"[...] where in the world you want to live and which car matches your personality best?"
I'm not sure if you're kidding or not. The only real benefit I can see on top of a merely above-average-income western lifestyle is that you don't need a job. Which of course can make a huge difference, as I learnt from my last employer.
But I imagine that selling a company for $xx m wouldn't change things for the positive apart from that. Maybe most people who got rich from startups get disillusioned and are embarrassed to speak of it? (I don't think this is the case with the YC founders though...)
"The only real benefit I can see on top of a merely above-average-income western lifestyle is that you don't need a job."
How about the security of knowing that you're able to provide a safety net for your loved ones in an emergency? Or the ability to self-fund your own projects without having to settle?
I'm not saying being rich makes you happy or that it doesn't have its own set of problems -- just that it can provide the freedom of choice and financial security to allow you to worry about the truly big challenges in life.
Spending 75%+ of your waking hours working just to put food on the table is pretty boring, even cavemen had this much.
Most programmers live pretty comfortable lives, but there's a vast difference between making ends-meet and having enough money to make decisions without that being the biggest factor.
It seems like the few who've achieved this have all been strangely silent. I suppose they don't want to be seen as flaunting it, but I think there's plenty of room to discuss this without going over that line.
Have any hackers discussed this publicly?