Thanks for adding your perspective here, Will. You've been at it almost twice as long as I have. I like your recommendations, especially believing that something important has to be done. For me, that's the aspect of democratizing the workplace and using open source models for learning and work.

You also say that it helps to have a working spouse. With two children at home and as the main income earner, that would be nice to have, but we've survived on my income so far. There aren't many job prospects in our area anyway.

Hopefully I'll get up to 3 days a week billable work some day soon ...

Have a happy and prosperous new year :-)