I Quit My 9-to-5 at 19 to Freelance. Was It Worth It?

Let me tell you about the dumbest and smartest decision I ever made at the same time. Six months ago, I walked into my manager's office and told him I was done. No backup plan. No six months of savings. Just a laptop, some SwiftUI skills, and the kind of confidence that only a 19-year-old can have. Was it worth it? Let me break it down honestly. Why I Quit I was working at a small dev shop. The pay was okay for a junior. The work was... fine. But I kept running into the same wall every single day. I'd spend 8 hours writing code someone else designed. Then I'd come home and spend 3 more hours on my own projects. The math stopped making sense pretty fast. My side projects were making a little money. Not much. Like, "nice dinner" money, not "rent" money. But the trajectory was pointing up while my salary was flat. The real breaking point was a Tuesday afternoon. I finished a feature in 2 hours that was estimated for a week. Instead of getting rewarded, I got handed more work. Same pay. Sa