I can't imagine trying to pay the bills day trading; this would stress me out.
If I had family obligations I would find a job to be a backstop and then do interesting things on the side for extra dough.
Either way I would max out IRA, SEP-IRA, HSA, etc. with mutual funds. After meeting planning goals with the mutual funds, then buy/sell individual stocks.
I had no children and etc. so I was free to do different things; I quit "working for the man" in 1992, but my situation was different.
Become a consultant. If you've got the experience, only take high priced gigs where you get paid to teach others best practices, or help companies create a plan to address some big tech problem.
Options:
1) Start Investment fund and/or keep daytrading personally, work for interesting tech startups as side hustle
2) Aim to partner with existing investment fund, work for interesting tech startups as side hustle
3) Migrate to tech free-lancing, contract only
4) Find yet another full time tech job that pays the bills but doesn't feed the soul
Note: I can't be a tech bum like richwicks (no offense mate) since I have mouths to feed ;)
Comments welcome.