i wrote the post earlier in this thread about leaving programming 10 yrs ago and now being on food stamps after a subsequent business failure.

Just wanted to add - for me there were a few Epiphanic incidents that led me to finally leave programming. One of the most memorable and fateful was - I went to see the band Yes at the PNC bank Arts center in NJ. as an aside, the Art Center has a roof but open walls. Anyway, it was a warm breezy evening, watching the Sunset while listening to Yes, very close to the front, as in those days I could afford $300 tickets with concierge service.
It was a fantastic show and when I walked out of that place, it hit me like a ton of bricks how much I hated my life and felt it was all going to waste in a toxic corporate hell, working with people I generally despised as robots, writing code for big Pharma, which is tough because I hate Pharma as well. I felt like a pressure that had built up over a decade was squeezing my head like a vice, literally. It was not long after that that coincidentally my contract with Pfizer was cut short in favor of the Indian contractors on H1B visa's who were being paid much less than me. So I never went back after that.
One big mistake I made was leaving NJ and going to Sunny Florida. That place is a toilet full of poverty, and I would advise anyone else thinking of going there to think twice. By 2009 I finally managed to get back to NJ - which despite its reputation, has some very beautiful rural areas. And its not poor - at least not in my area. In fact its the fourth richest county in the USA.