@ralf man, you ought to start freelancing, even that you're opposing the idea, as I can see in the comments. There are many companies which need engineers for a particular project for a limited term, and it's too expensive for them to hire you on a salary. But if you have 5-10 good clients, you'll never be idling, as they will keep throwing work at you. I'm doing that for 15+ years in approximately the same field.