Ask HN: Structuring a sabbatical to improve your ability to ship software?

[mthink]

I'm looking for some advice/direction.

I'm a developer in SF. I'm 10 years into my career and getting pushed towards management. I'm about midway through launching a startup with friends. I expect to be working on this project for about year more and I'm trying to decide what's next.

Now that I've had a great opportunity to build a team and ship a bunch of software, I'm coming to the realization that I would like to focus back on my individual craft. I'd like to do that in context of a high functioning team/company that I can learn from. I've had a bunch of experience of 'lets scramble and get it shipped' and I'd like to spend a few years learning from masters.

I have the luxury of having a few months of savings that I can invest in myself/my career. And I should note that I make a habit to read all the books, blogs, etc that I can but I would like to be more interactive in my learning.

I would like to: - focus on my ability of shipping usable software - learn and collaborate with a 'master'-level team - shift away from dynamic web languages (php, perl, ruby) - use/learn more interesting* tools (oCaml, F#, clojure, elixir, elm) - continue to be involved in shaping the product

Some ideas I've had: - part time contract + use the rest of the time for self learning - part time contract + open source work - apprentice programs at a 'craft' consultancy like 8th light - try to find the 'right' job - find an 'advanced' bootcamp. I'm not aware of any. - look at graduate schools

So if you had time and resources, how would you invest in yourself to better yourself and develop your career?