4 years, 4 months, 2 weeks. But who's counting? I'm retired, and the "job" suits me better than I expected. I did take a significant pay cut, but it hasn't affected my standard of living since all the money I wasn't living on went to taxes or into retirement, insurance, and other stuff. I'm the antithesis of Nick's follow your dream pitch. Not that I followed any dream, but I stumbled my way into a field that I really enjoyed, enough so that it didn't usually feel like work. It wasn't far different from what I would have done (and continue to do) if I didn't have to work for a living.