I took a very large step today, one which I’ve been considering doing for over 2 years but due to various factors have not done until now - I handed in my notice to quit my day job, effective from the end of October. From November, I’m going to be working full time for Torus Knot Software Ltd, the company I formed in 2004. Yeah, it’s a pretty big deal.
So why now? Well, it’s down to a number of factors - firstly the major project I’ve been heading up at work (on the technical side anyway) for some time is coming to a successful conclusion, so that’s a good point of closure for me. I didn’t want to leave before it was done, because I hate to leave things unfinished, and I have a strong sense of loyalty to the people I work with to make sure this baby got done right. Secondly, as I’ve hinted on this blog a few times, I just can’t continue working at the rate I am now, being as I am working a (stressful and demanding at times) day job and a major open source project, and trying to work on ancilliary projects that go with that like Greg’s book, Google Summer of Code, tools like World Minion. It’s just impossible to keep up that level of work indefinitely, and dropping the quality or amount of effort was not really an option for me - I’m the kind of person who has to do things wholeheartedly or not at all. However, you can only pull 60-70 hour weeks continuously for so long - for me that was around 3 years 
I think the reality hit me when I actually had to schedule a weekend off for Marie & I’s birthdays this summer. 
So the stark choice hit me - to change this and get a life back, I had to either give up Ogre (I couldn’t scale back, it wouldn’t have lasted because my nature always leads me to throw my heart and soul into projects), or give up my day job. I guess deep down I always knew what I needed to do, it just took a while for me to actually do it. There’s certainly a financial angle to this which gave me pause as much as the loyalty angle - I’m leaving a very stable, very well paid position for something that’s almost completely unknown. But, I’m lucky enough to have a very supportive wife (thanks Marie) without whose understanding neither my involvement in Ogre over the years, nor this current step, would have been possible.
So what will I be doing? Will I be working on Ogre 100% full time? Probably not - I’m guessing my Ogre commitment will be around the same, maybe slightly more since I’ll probably still do some extra work in spare time. The rest of the time I plan to do some contract work / consultancy (related to Ogre and otherwise, probably - contact me if you have something in mind ;)), and my own Ogre-related projects, primarily some tool ideas I have that I’m rather excited about. I’m guessing there’s about a years work in the latter though, so the contract work will hopefully help plug the financial gap in between. I’ve also been offered the opportunity to write a book of my own, which I may well take up. Lots of options, but Ogre will definitely be at the core. 
I guess there comes a time when you have to stop thinking about what might be, and just do it (I hope Nike doesn’t sue). I have no idea whether this is going to work or not, but I’m sure it’s going to be interesting to find out. At least I won’t look back when I’m old and grey (well, ok older and greyer) and wonder what might have been. It’s scary as hell, but they always say you have to do things that scare you to grow, and they may well be right.
September 18th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
That’s just great! Good choice, good luck and hopefully it will all work out! Now if only I could find a way to quit my day job!
September 18th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Wow, that’s a big decision! I hope it’s going to work for you. Of course I’m happy you didn’t choose to drop Ogre.
September 18th, 2006 at 3:38 pm
Hey, that’s cool, congratulations to that decision, sounds totally right for me. Funnily I’ve been thinking to do the same for some time now, but I’m not sure at all..
September 18th, 2006 at 3:51 pm
Congratulations!
September 18th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
Great news! I hope this will work out for you, there’s nothing better than pursuing your dreams :-).
September 18th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
[...] 18th September 2006 Yesterday, OGRE 1.2.3 (Dagon) has been released. The 6 student projects of Google Summer of Code 2006 have also drawn to a close. But maybe the greatest news is that Steve Streeting, the project lead of OGRE, has quit his day job to work full-time on OGRE. [...]
September 18th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
All the best sinbad! What ever decisions we make in our life will always turn out okay. For you this will be an exciting new path
Just read your interview (through a link at gamedev), and decided to see what you’ve been up to.
Catch ya laters!
September 18th, 2006 at 5:57 pm
You are my hero! Seriously - great work you did on Ogre, I wish you all the best trying to make a living from it.
You know, whenever my girlfriend saw me reading your blog or Ogre related stuff I’d call you the “workaholic from Ogre”
regards,
Sören
September 18th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
Wish you best of luck in all of this Sinbad!
I must confess that I have secretly been hoping this would come some day. Maybe this will make even more pros intrested in working with Ogre, knowing the Team leader is available (even more than now) for consultancy / contract work etc. Just hope you will get lots of intresting contracts and that your old employer wont trick you into going you back somehow
September 18th, 2006 at 6:32 pm
That really is a big step. I sincerely wish you all the best for this!
September 18th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
My original comment got a little too large, so I made a blog entry about it instead. Here’s the clicky.
http://www.rightbracket.com/blogs/EricShorkey/?p=47
I removed all of the specifics, such as Torus Knot Software. You are merely referred to as “Steve”. I hope you find something useful in it.
btw, GOOD LUCK!
September 18th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
That is one hell of decision! I just dont believe it when you mentioned this in blog - wish you a good luck!
September 18th, 2006 at 8:04 pm
You know it was the right choice deep down. I can imagine so many years with the states has made you become attached to that job so that must’ve been hard. I’ll make sure we push forward donations in light of all this
Plus, this way you can spend much more time with Marie and actually relax. I swear that’s a word you’ve rarely heard for the past three years, you’re always too busy for everything
Good luck with it all mate, I’ll keep in touch as always.
September 18th, 2006 at 8:22 pm
Can’t wait to see what happens next. Good luck in your new job. Hope it also stays fun for you.
September 18th, 2006 at 9:28 pm
Good luck
September 18th, 2006 at 10:03 pm
I trust you will all remember this day as Sinbad’s quest to become UK’s next millionaire ^^
Seriously though, good luck on this =)
September 18th, 2006 at 10:35 pm
Wonderful news!
Let me quote the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard:
“daring to do something is to
loose contact with the ground for a moment, whilst not daring is loosing yourself forever.” !
September 18th, 2006 at 11:25 pm
Good luck! i hope everything goes well for you
September 18th, 2006 at 11:48 pm
It’s a dream of many, coming to life,
made possible through courage and a saintly wife.
Let us share this bold venture and start to rejoice;
Hail Sinbad, brave Sinbad, he’s made a fine choice.
Keep feeding that Ogre, and soon you’ll be told
where he hides his good fortune and stockpiles of gold.
September 19th, 2006 at 6:17 am
Wow! Big decision, i repect that,
Best wishes for your future!
September 19th, 2006 at 7:01 am
May the force be with you
September 19th, 2006 at 8:12 am
great! You’ve got the added bonus that if it doesn’t work out then you’d get another job instantly, which must take the edge off
September 19th, 2006 at 8:21 am
Good luck!
As I would love to do the same I am jalous that you have the guts to actually do it
September 19th, 2006 at 11:50 am
This is a good time, considering that Ogre is nearing it’s 5th birthday!
September 19th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
Yay! Good luck Steve - although I don’t think you need it
Making brave decisions in life can’t never be bad and I look up to people who are willing to take some risk to realise their dreams.
September 19th, 2006 at 6:06 pm
Congratulations, and good luck!
September 19th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
Good luck Steve. For purely selfish reasons I’m happy that you’ll have a bit more time to work on Ogre (or Ogre related contracts hopefully), but I obviously hope you succeed.
September 19th, 2006 at 7:53 pm
“In my experience, there’s no such thing as luck.â€
Steve, your talent and work ethic will take you far. Now get to work!
“The Force will be with you, always.â€
September 19th, 2006 at 8:28 pm
Thanks for the votes of confidence everyone.
@Spannerman: Wow, I didn’t expect poetry, nice
Looking really swish, best of luck with it. Just don’t go near WOW, ok? 
@zeroskill:Thanks for the detailed thoughts.
@Dan: So *that’s* what happened to leedgitar and Axiom
September 19th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
Late to the party, but I also wanted to wish you luck. I have the uptmost respect for you Steve, and I consider you one of the greatest contributors to open source/free software in this century. Good luck my friend.
September 20th, 2006 at 12:30 am
Holy crap, I am so impressed by this, I’ve been loving ogre as I’ve been tinkering with it on and off for a little more than a year now, and it’s one of the best projects I’ve seen, I want to throw in my wishes of best luck alongside the rest
September 20th, 2006 at 2:28 am
I wish you the best!!
September 22nd, 2006 at 7:26 pm
yey, this rules! You are doing what most dream of, would be nice to follow in your footsteps some day (quitting a day job in pursuit of one’s own stuff). Cheers!
September 22nd, 2006 at 9:13 pm
Wish you good luck on this new road. Follow your own steps and never look back until you reach your goals!
September 22nd, 2006 at 9:25 pm
I wish you the very best!
You have done what I am planning to do, but I think I’ll have to stay with my day-job for the next two years…
Let me quote Jim Brady…
“Go for your dreams
Whatever it means
You must be all you can be
Life passes too fast
Look around and its past
But the dream is for you to see.”
September 23rd, 2006 at 11:07 pm
Congratulations! You’re living the dream now.
October 4th, 2006 at 11:50 am
[...] A sea change [...]
October 12th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
Crikey - pleased to hear the SSD project is (finally!) coming to fruition, but even more pleased to hear that you’ve decided to make this leap. Absolute best of luck!
October 16th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
Kudos for finishing the beast (and setting it free)! Massive congrats and good luck!
November 3rd, 2006 at 7:39 am
I am so glad you chose Ogre- the best of luck!
August 23rd, 2007 at 1:34 pm
[...] Steve ‘Sinbad’ Streeting has taken the plunge and decided to give up his day job and concentrate on his Ogre3D based consultancy business. Ogre is a 3D engine that sits on top of Direct3D and OpenGL and exposes them in a platform-independent way as full first-class object oriented citizens whilst also adding useful tools, classes and utilities into the mix. He also wrote the foreword to the Ogre3D book that has just been published. [...]
June 18th, 2008 at 10:24 am
[...] Steve Streeting in seinem Blog berichtet, konnte er die Intensität mit der er über die vergangenen drei Jahre hinweg 60 [...]
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
[...] also 2 years since I made the decision to give up having a regular day job and try my luck as a free agent / startup. My initial measure [...]