I get that. I too felt trapped by the soulless traditional employment system, in which I worked in both private & public sector jobs (this was salmost 30 years ago) and spent my free time learning skills to take me out of it. I sort of didn't know that at the time, because it was kind of just a hobby.

I basically went online for the first time at home by buying my first computer workstation around late since '98, learned HTM on my own because it wasn't in library books yet, and I couldn't afford art tech college for design, and in '99 & opened my first web biz while still working FT in an insurance firm & PT temping at different offices around my metro area. I went full time doing website building & admin from home in 2005.

Now, I'm still doing web work (limited to certain projects), and tinker as a pseudo urban homesteader making real food & jerky and trading it for ₿