Earlier quoted context omitted.
> That way you have more resources to devote to the idea that you're actually dedicated to. Sometimes the scarce resource is not money, but free time and mental availability. "Randomly walking around" could increase his chances of bumping into a hidden opportunity. I say go for it.
Seems like a sledgehammer + fly situation. If your job is taking too much out of your spare time and creativity, perhaps the solution is to work less (or work on something less draining), as opposed to calling it quits altogether. I've never seen entrepreneurship as a means to escape a tedious, loathsome working life - it is a means to achieve my dreams, not a refuge from boredom. IMHO if you're striking out on your…
I've found that most places expect at least an eight-hour day out of you, whether you're formally "clocked" or not. I think often that a salaried position is seen as an opportunity for exploitation by bosses. My last job was like that, and my co-workers just ate it up; the bosses demanded ten-hour days and other concessions and everyone just went along because since we were salaried it meant we had to do whatever they said (we were even taken to the boss's house one day to help move furniture) without any prospect of fair compensation, or something like that. I don't really get it.
There may be a bit more leniency with breaks and that kind of thing at a salary job, but if you're not there before 9 and you're not still there after 5, and this happens even rarely without prior approval, your bosses aren't going to be pleased.
I agree that a job can provide a way for an employee to work on "his dream", but such a situation is incredibly rare, and even rarer is the situation where, when this dream is realized through your work, you'll get due credit and compensation.
Working for the man is just an all-around bad deal if you're looking to control your own life or do something big. That's just my opinion. If you're OK with a work-a-day routine, OK with even the possibility of eventual bullying from the bosses, OK with getting paid 1/4 or less of the value you actually generate, then working for someone else permanently may not be so bad, but that's not how I am, and I presume that many of us on HN have similar aversions.
I say permanently because I think working for other people can be a good experience, and it's nice to get a significant amount of it under your belt; it helps you understand human dynamics and politics, can accelerate your skills and force you to learn new things, introduce you to cool people, etc., so a job isn't all bad, but I have a very hard time with the idea that I would be stuck working for someone else for the next fifty years.