thanks for the replies and helpful advice
sammyg2, your quote made me chuckle, I shall use that, I can't see me retiring for another 20yrs so part of me is thinking maybe its a bit early and the part of me is thinking if doesn't work out it won't be too late to jump back into the boat.
stomachmonkey, interesting to hear your experience, I'm thinking I should try it for 3yrs, should be long enough to workout if its the life for me
Seahawk, I work long hours most of the year, deadlines can not be moved so some weeks I work from 8 to midnight and weekends, whatever is required to get the job done. I'm lucky my family accept this as they know its my job. Very interested to see some sample consulting agreements, I'll send you a PM, thanks. I will have a reasonable financial buffer which is why I'm thinking now is the time
slodave, life is too short not to enjoy it and money doesn't always make up for the loss of quality of life, I'm glad to hear it is working for you
LeeH, I've only ever worked in a failure is not an option and never give up environment, even when everything is impossibly stacked the wrong way. I know no different way of working and this pressure what I enjoy about my job,
aigel, many thanks for your views,
only 12 companies (soon to be a 13th) in the world work in my industry, I've worked for 4 and have worked with either the technical/engineering directors, chief designers, heads of design departments in all 12. An extremely small gene pool full of inbreeding
but this won't be much help as I'm keen to gradually over time stretch my wings outside of my industry. I'm on Link-in and will update my profile at the right time (my boss, his boss and his bosses boss are all linked to me so I can't do it before).
I could be considered an expert, I've been call worse names that that though, with my first job I started out as a technical specialist, 1 of 4 people in the world doing the job I did, then I became 1 of 1, wasn't an expert as such, just I had a senior role in the first ever project of its kind at the time. I work with mainly technical specialists but in recent years I have become more of a generalist but I'm still very much a specialist in the general world of engineering (hope that makes sense). I'm hoping that by becoming less of a specialist that is able to be thrown in the deep end of most engineering situations while quickly working out the weak areas will stand me in good stead for working in new fields of design/engineering I have no experience of. I'm also hoping the way I am used to working, being able to bring a unique perspective and my broader engineering knowledge/experience will be more valuable to a company than my specialist engineering skills.
Jim, thanks for the kind words of endorsement, but you must be referring to me being an expert in talking random bull$hit over beer and pizza
angela, I enjoyed reading your reply the most, your enthusiasm makes me want to do it right now and I know what you mean about how much difference fun co-workers can make to your day
wdfifteen, do you mind if I PM you as I'd like to know more about how to get involved with entrepreneurial projects as this really appeals to me, I would miss this but would try to bring the fun with me
Please keep the replies coming as it is giving me a lot of food for thought and helping to clear my head