50. "as someone in IT placement, I can safely say that work is more affected" In response to In response to 44
by the economic downturn than live music gigs.
If you do software/networking, keep in touch with spots/colleagues & maybe come in to do some projects on a corp-to-corp level here or there to keep your skills up to date.
You can maybe even file taxes for both under the same umbrella & get yourself a health-care package that's not crazy.
But if you got a chance to do something you love for a living that's also gonna make you more money plus free up your time, it's a no-brainer.
You owe it to yourself to do that for at least a year if not two then take stock.
5 years later, if it all goes to hell, you'll still have a wife with income, kids you'll have gotten to spend more time with, maybe some degree of money plus a few cooler stories than installing NetApp or supporting some servers.
You might have to take a hit coming back in the game (even if you keep up with the technology) on the first gig but once you get a year or two back in the game then you're good to go again with the knowledge internally that you gave it a shot when you had the chance.