I switched careers because the software and tech world has changed drastically since I first started, and not in ways that I enjoy or that play to my strengths.
Fundamentally I enjoy being a craftsperson. That is, someone who through training and experience gets really good at something, and then uses that expertise to create new things. Software wasn't always like that, but more often than not I enjoyed it, so I count myself as really lucky. I think the business of software engineering has changed in ways that make it much less amenable to the "craftsperson ethos".
It's not really that hard to start as a luthier - there are 3 violin making schools in the US and you don't really need previous experience, they teach you everything (shout out to The Violin Making School of America - violin making as a newbie can be difficult and frustrating at times but I look forward to school every single day). Since I was a software engineer for 25 years with rather inexpensive tastes generally and no children, and a working spouse, I had saved up enough to not really worry about finances (I certainly needed to downshift some of my expenses, but again, it wasn't that hard for me and in many ways I felt it was liberating - I cook a lot more now, I walk to school instead of rot in traffic, I sold my house which I always hated the maintenance, upkeep and expense of, etc.) I certainly don't have "FU money" but I'm fine being in school for a few years and then making much less than I did as a software engineer.
Fundamentally I enjoy being a craftsperson. That is, someone who through training and experience gets really good at something, and then uses that expertise to create new things. Software wasn't always like that, but more often than not I enjoyed it, so I count myself as really lucky. I think the business of software engineering has changed in ways that make it much less amenable to the "craftsperson ethos".
It's not really that hard to start as a luthier - there are 3 violin making schools in the US and you don't really need previous experience, they teach you everything (shout out to The Violin Making School of America - violin making as a newbie can be difficult and frustrating at times but I look forward to school every single day). Since I was a software engineer for 25 years with rather inexpensive tastes generally and no children, and a working spouse, I had saved up enough to not really worry about finances (I certainly needed to downshift some of my expenses, but again, it wasn't that hard for me and in many ways I felt it was liberating - I cook a lot more now, I walk to school instead of rot in traffic, I sold my house which I always hated the maintenance, upkeep and expense of, etc.) I certainly don't have "FU money" but I'm fine being in school for a few years and then making much less than I did as a software engineer.