HACKER Q&A
📣 mahin

What would you do if you didn't have to work for a living?


What would you do if you didn't have to work for a living?


  👤 JohnFen Accepted Answer ✓
I'd do pretty much what I do now, to be honest. Although my dev work would be projects that I choose on the schedule I choose rather than the ones required by my job.

👤 Quinzel
I’d read, and I’d travel, but I’d travel with a backpack and a pair of good walking shoes and I’d take the road less traveled.

👤 mikewarot
I tinker with my BitGrid project, hoping I can keep myself together long enough to see it successfully through TinyTapeout.

Who knows, you might have one in your computer in a decade or two.

If you're contemplating this issue seriously, know that not doing anything isn't an option for more than a few months, max.


👤 fabianholzer
Similar question, four month ago (299 comments):

Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40500429


👤 sfmz
Workout, learn languages and play guitar. Fitness / physical play is such a huge component of happiness; think of little kids running around... are we so different?

👤 moomoo11
When I have a good exit from my current startup I want to work on things that will empower my community.

I now realize that money is kind of meaningless after a certain amount. I wish I’d started this journey sooner and somehow skipped the decade of work experience, but I’m unsure.

I’d like to build housing projects, youth and adult education centers with access to cool shit, and maybe start a transportation company.

Ok enough dreaming, back to work lol.


👤 askafriend
Elite recreational fitness/sports training and occasional travel mixed in with more time for healthy eating and creative projects.

👤 LUmBULtERA
I still work in part for fear of not having enough to provide comfort for the family, but I've been rolling it back slowly. We could have our son in preschool from morning to 3pm, or morning to 5-6pm with aftercare. I chose to pick him up at 3pm and spend extra time with him each day at a park/library/etc...

👤 thedevindevops
Figure out how AI can help the blind and the deaf. Take up ceramics. Write a travel book. Tinker with low-cost robotics. Volunteer for some environmental restoration project - the riverbank ones seem interesting.

👤 purple-leafy
Learn as much about computers and electronics as I can as deep as possible.

Built a very basic computer from scratch from electronics.

So basically what I’m doing now, but even more.

Also dog walk every day, hike, read books, teach


👤 VirusNewbie
I would drive to my FAANG job in a Rolls Royce most days instead of a model 3 Tesla.

I'd not sweat it if things slipped. shrug

The work is interesting enough for now.


👤 xtrapol8
Does that come with infinite resources?

Build a monument of brutalism unlike anything this world has yet seen (and I’m well aware of what that covers.)


👤 edward
Write open source software, travel to tech conferences and post comments like this on Hacker News.

👤 JourneyToLunar
Hike in every country and territory of the world. After that is done I deserve some rest…

👤 powerbroker
I bounce back and forth between hang gliding and kiteboarding.

👤 nosmokewhereiam
Build techno-forward sound systems and share them.

👤 toomuchtodo
Build systems at scale to serve the human.

👤 naveen99
Work on general artificial intelligence

👤 julienreszka
marry and have children I suppose, work is so stressful and taking so much time and energy

👤 mjomaa
Sleep long every day

👤 zelda420
Ski, hike and swim.

👤 farseer
Go hunt bad guys

👤 rawgabbit
Oil painting.

👤 nosmokewhereiam
Live.

👤 throwaway888abc
travel

👤 lockedup
Well seeing as how im icarcerated and dont have to i spend my days tryn to break threw more of this ipad they gave me succerities so i can brows the web

👤 VoodooJuJu
Have children, open a restaurant or brewery or winery or pub, make art sculptures, landscape, make video games, play video games, play tabletop wargames.