... give a new dimension to my life full time ...

Start a business.

... that can use my skills ...

Start the right business.

... that can generate lots of money too.

Start the right business and work hard at it.

Some other things you will need:

• Your connections
• Persistence
• Dedication
• Cajones

• Cajones

and what may they be pray, "balls"?

sacks of Courage

...give a new dimension to my life full time that can generate lots of money too.

If we knew what that is, we probably wouldn't tell... and otherwise, we have nothing to tell ;)

Pick any two.

"Do something interesting, make lots of money, stay legal."

First two if not necessarily the third become a Lawyer

We only get one chance at life
and starting over includes your wife;
so go home at night and clutch your drink
to tire these sorts of thoughts you think.

er...well hypothetically I would design board games.

Unlikely, that would (possibly) make lots of money? Successful Science Fiction writer. Mad scientist.

Reasonable, but wouldn't make lots of money? Teacher.

I second teacher. My passions have also been math and programming. I would love to teach high school math or be a computer science professor at a university.

The former doesn't pay very well, but you do get summers off :)

The latter could pay very well, but I'm not looking to do lots of research to make the university happy. I think our education system in the states is awful. Most of the professors are so busy with their research that they forget how to teach and don't make themselves available to the students. I don't want to be that guy either.

I guess I'll just stick with software for now...

Most of the replies to this question that I've seen so far have been on the rather silly side but, perhaps, interpreting them as a unit provides a sensible response.

Looking back on my career so far, a period of nigh on thirty years, and I'd say that I am still trying to work out what I want to do when I grow up. That is a serious comment, despite its apparent flippancy.

To go into the comment in more detail: perhaps you are asking the right question in the wrong terms. Doing something new every so often is a Good Thing, in my opinion. I've a short attention span and feel the need to do something radically different every five to ten years.

What I do is keep interested in a whole bunch of different subjects; add new subjects every now and again; never stop educating myself in subjects that take my interest; join communities which share those interests; learn from those communities and contribute to them.

After all that, pay attention to opportunities that arise naturally and grab opportunities as they arise. Carpe diem, if you're classically educated.

In the interview for my penultimate job I explicitly told the interviewer about my short attention span. The reason was two-fold ---; to answer the question about my previous work history and to indicate that although I would work well for several years, I didn't expect life-long employment unless my employer could keep the job interesting. It seemed to work, in that I got the position. Indeed, I'm still there though working only 2 days a week now. The other 3 days a week are spent on the next opportunity to arise.

Paul

Cooks stand all day but / otherwise I'd love to cook / day in and day out.

Music is fun but / playing the same song each day / would get boring fast.

My planned second career is traveling troubador tattoo artist and short order cook.

But coding pays better and still feels rewarding, so I'm sticking with it for now.

Rather than change what you do, maybe you could change where and for who? They must need coders to rebuild Iraq. That would be fun. Or, if you're passionate about some cause or other, go find a way to do that, IE be a civil-rights-coder. Love Bavarian beer? Go write code in Munich. Want to go scuba diving? All those banks in the Cayman Islands must need coders... oh, maybe not any more...

Can't you go into team leading or training junior programmers? I've been thinking to move more into the team leading, project planning and network architecture direction myself, because I really like to spend more time doing social interaction rather than just sitting behind the computer the whole time.

My main activity is Unix system administration and security auditing rather than programming, though.

When (and not if) I'm truly fed-up with IT, I would probably try to study medicine or clinical psychology, because I'm interested in the human brain and more specifically sleeping disorders.

I've also got a degree in several languages, and I could get some translation work here and there if I'd look for it. Learning a language is something I'd advise to people who want something new/extra, because it gives you an immediate edge over others in international environments – at least when you choose wisely...

"Jobs that generate lots of money" aren't exactly up for grabs just like that, and you would need to start over from a pretty low position unless it's related to your current employment. Obviously nobody hands out well-paid positions with lots of responsibility to people that haven't proven themselves... In this economical climate, you could do so much worse than having a decent job and regular pay-check, even if the job gets a bit boring and one-dimensional...

I don't want to sound negative, but if you come to an internet forum asking how you could make a lot of money, you probably aren't the kind of person that will get filthy rich... It seems people who "generate lots of money" have a nose for that sort of thing all by themselves. And while I think IT people usually get a decent pay, I don't think it's the best sector (anymore?) to get rich easily. Good techies would make less than good economics/manager folks... Being a programmer, you probably fall into the former category rather than the latter. You'd have to move more into managing or economical matters. Or well, inventing something really new and amazing and then being able to sell it is one other way to get some money, but such great creative ideas are rare, and you'd not be asking here if you had some. ;)

Anyway, good luck with whatever you do...

You don't want Plumber/electrician/carpenter/--astronaut might be one to consider-- but all u do is practice working, but never get anything done. I have done the others and I would rather be a coder. my2cents,dave,admin,BuckeyeLake.org

I like to do something that can use my skills but can give a new dimension to my life full time that can generate lots of money too

Create a new religion (usually forking an old one).

This worldwide recession period may be an excellent time for doing that. You will be able to find lots of hopeless people full of angry you can canalize and abuse.

Being familiar with computers, you can say God talks directly to you by email, or even using something more up to date as some P2P network or some custom Perl6 script.

Good luck!