Yeah, I'd love having some intense months with breaks in between, that and the ability to negotiate on deadlines or say no is why I even thought of doing freelancing.

Issue I had with deadlines is that management would set them and refuse to engage with engineers on how unrealistic they are.

That sounds pretty great actually, deadlines don't sound as bad if there is a break in between, in my case the reward for finishing work on time was even more work.

How did you get your first contracting gig?

Hey, I'll chime in to say that I've been contracting for 10+ years. I got my first few gigs on CraigsList and Upwork. Sorry to say that neither of those look very good, right now. At least, it takes a lot more work to find gigs on those platforms than it used to.

Yeah! I am thinking along those lines, will definitely use AI to speed me up where it's possible.

I hope you are doing better now health wise! Did you manage to get a less stressful gig for yourself?

Not yet, I am still on disability and have a sleep problem. I am working with a doctor to fix it, and I got the Inspire Implant https://www.inspiresleep.com/en-us/ to help fix it. I am not where I want to be, but I am learning AI in my spare time.