Software developer in Germany, 40 years old

[Simon G]

Hello from Germany,

I'm a 40 year old software developer, progressed from a sidelaner (just doing what's absolutely necessary in life) to a slowlaner (saving money, building skills) and aspiring to become a fastlaner. Currently working in a pretty easy job developing software as a consultant for big corporations for good money. I enjoy what I'm doing and I'm good at it. For most people this sounds very good, I guess. However, I lack freedom! After 15+ years working for other people in dull offices, sacrificing so much of my time, which seems to go by always faster, I've decided to change my life.

Have been saving money for a few years and have saved enough money to sustain myself for a couple of years, living somewhat comfortably. Have a bunch of concrete ideas and am currently evaluating which one to go for to start my new life. After getting some specific personal stuff in order (which requires a steady employment) I quit my job in 2-6 months from now.

Simon G

 

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[MarcoSto]

Hey my German fellow,

happy to hear you made that decision for yourself. It must be especially hard when you already make good money working for other peeps for so long. Hope, you find your business idea soon and have fun grinding.

Cheers

Marco

 

[Seth G.]

Hello from Germany,

I'm a 40 year old software developer, progressed from a sidelaner (just doing what's absolutely necessary in life) to a slowlaner (saving money, building skills) and aspiring to become a fastlaner. Currently working in a pretty easy job developing software as a consultant for big corporations for good money. I enjoy what I'm doing and I'm good at it. For most people this sounds very good, I guess. However, I lack freedom! After 15+ years working for other people in dull offices, sacrificing so much of my time, which seems to go by always faster, I've decided to change my life.

Have been saving money for a few years and have saved enough money to sustain myself for a couple of years, living somewhat comfortably. Have a bunch of concrete ideas and am currently evaluating which one to go for to start my new life. After getting some specific personal stuff in order (which requires a steady employment) I quit my job in 2-6 months from now.

Simon G

Hoorah! Good on you Simon.
Are your ideas related to software or unrelated?

Should be fun - when is your last day?

 

[Danny Sullivan]

Hello fellow countryman and welcome to the forums.

What types of software are you developing?

 

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[Simon G]

Thanks all for the welcomes!

Hoorah! Good on you Simon.
Are your ideas related to software or unrelated?

Should be fun - when is your last day?

Yes, the decision was not easy to make, but now I've made it. Can't wait to get out of my job! My last day is still uncertain, as I have to regulate some family-related things before I'm able to give my notice to my employer. Should be not later than May 2019 (too long!)

My ideas are 80 % software-related, either software or services (web) aiming to solve problems, which are either currently unsolved or where there's still opportunities in the market to solve those problems better.

 

[Simon G]

T

Hello fellow countryman and welcome to the forums.

What types of software are you developing?

Thanks! In the last years I've worked on many different software projects, either developing backend software for mobile apps or as a full-stack web developer for various intranet applications.

 

[lowtek]

Welcome to the forum, Simon. Software is a great choice for the fastlane.

Any path to narrowing down your ideas?

 

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[Angry Alex]

Hey Simon, what a coincidence. I am 40, from Germany and I quit my 9 to 5 in May this year for my own online business idea. I was a CEO in an engineering company ( I am electrical engineer) and I also got enough "under the table" to work the next time (month or years) for my dream of financial freedom.

I wonder if we both should get direct in touch and talk about our ideas, there's maybe a lot of common potential, since I got still unsolved TI-issues.

 

[Simon G]

Welcome to the forum, Simon. Software is a great choice for the fastlane.

Any path to narrowing down your ideas?

Thanks, lowtek. I've just finished reading about CENTS in TMF and it has given my ideas and thoughts some more clarity, and I could eliminate some ideas with not enough potential for now. My immediate goal is now to finish TMF and re-evaluate the remaining ideas.

 

[Simon G]

Hey Simon, what a coincidence. I am 40, from Germany and I quit my 9 to 5 in May this year for my own online business idea. I was a CEO in an engineering company (I am electrical engineer) and I also got enough "under the table" to work the next time (month or years) for my dream of financial freedom.

I wonder if we both should get direct in touch and talk about our ideas, there's maybe a lot of common potential, since I got still unsolved TI-issues.

Hi Alex, congratulations for starting your own thing, what are you working on? You're welcome to private message me (I hope this forum has that functionality).

 

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[igor ganapolsky]

Hello Simon, nice to meet you. I am a software developer as well. Can you tell me what type of software you like building?

Thanks,
Igor

 

[JordanK]

Hey Simon,

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on taking the first step to freedom. Making the decision to seek it.

You have obviously put a lot of time and effort into saving up money to help smooth things over for when you finally decide to quit your job. However, do you think that maybe you are moving a little too quickly? I know of many people with strong, secure and well paid jobs over the years who instinctively sought to leave them after reading about financial freedom. For many this turned out great but for others they struggled with issues such as self-management (Not working hard enough because there is nobody telling you what to do), anxiety (due to no longer having a steady pay cheque), social isolation (as both their personal and professional networks were based around their career) along with a failed transition where the companies they started didn't make money for years.

I'm not trying to scare you off chasing your dreams, just to alert you to the fact that there may be a better way of going about this. Building a business while still employed gives you the opportunity to begin building up paying customers and generating revenue before you decide to leave. It also allows you to continue using your income to fund extra expenses in the business as in many cases it could be loss making for 1-3 years.

You could also decide to start in investing in things such as Real Estate/Property that you could learn about and manage in your spare time until you have built up a significant portfolio which you could either retire off or turn into an empire.

All the best,
A software developer in training from Ireland,
Jordan

 

[Simon G]

Hello Simon, nice to meet you. I am a software developer as well. Can you tell me what type of software you like building?

Thanks,
Igor

Hello Igor, nice to meet you, great to see that there are other software developers here as well.

I like building backend systems, and especially algorithms, figuring out how to get output B from input A. I also build frontends, but find it often more tedious than fun. What I have in mind now to build is a likely a web application based on Spring Boot, Hibernate and MariaDB with a Bootstrap-based frontend. It's not the hipppest technology stack, but that's what I'm most productive in.

What kind of software do you like building?

 

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[Simon G]

Hey Simon,

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on taking the first step to freedom. Making the decision to seek it.

You have obviously put a lot of time and effort into saving up money to help smooth things over for when you finally decide to quit your job. However, do you think that maybe you are moving a little too quickly? I know of many people with strong, secure and well paid jobs over the years who instinctively sought to leave them after reading about financial freedom. For many this turned out great but for others they struggled with issues such as self-management (Not working hard enough because there is nobody telling you what to do), anxiety (due to no longer having a steady pay cheque), social isolation (as both their personal and professional networks were based around their career) along with a failed transition where the companies they started didn't make money for years.

I'm not trying to scare you off chasing your dreams, just to alert you to the fact that there may be a better way of going about this. Building a business while still employed gives you the opportunity to begin building up paying customers and generating revenue before you decide to leave. It also allows you to continue using your income to fund extra expenses in the business as in many cases it could be loss making for 1-3 years.

You could also decide to start in investing in things such as Real Estate/Property that you could learn about and manage in your spare time until you have built up a significant portfolio which you could either retire off or turn into an empire.

All the best,
A software developer in training from Ireland,
Jordan

Hi Jordan,

thanks. You raise some good questions. I have also made a lot of thoughts about these issues. There have been moments where I think that it's crazy to give up a well-paying (for a slowlaner) job which I even enjoy, at least the core activity of it (programming). On the other hand, I'm not getting any younger, and I don't want to wake up at 60 and regret my life for not daring to do anything else. Currently the job market in Germany is pretty good, so even in the worst case scenario I'm confident that I can find another job, or make enough money as a freelancer.

I have already made some weak side business attempts in the last years. They have not brought any (real) money, but I've gained some valuable insights about marketing, importance of concentrating on one project and the essentials of it, etc.

Your point about self-management is a very good one. I know that I have enough will-power to work for myself, but that can become an issue, if the struggle takes too long.

What's your story, and what kind of software are you developing (or training to develop)?

 

[igor ganapolsky]

Hello Igor, nice to meet you, great to see that there are other software developers here as well.

I like building backend systems, and especially algorithms, figuring out how to get output B from input A. I also build frontends, but find it often more tedious than fun. What I have in mind now to build is a likely a web application based on Spring Boot, Hibernate and MariaDB with a Bootstrap-based frontend. It's not the hipppest technology stack, but that's what I'm most productive in.

What kind of software do you like building?

That's cool. Springboot is popular, and now even more so with Kotlin language! I am Kotlin programmer working on Android mobile devices. My aim is to invent a product that I can license to another company for royalties.