This is along the lines of what Mr. Money Mustache [0] recommends, minus the long commute. For anyone interested in early retirement through working hard and saving money, his blog is absolutely worth a read.
It could be a bit of a lifestyle change (or maybe you're already close and you don't know it!), but for people with software-developer-level salaries, early retirement is absolutely within reach.
[0] http://www.mrmoneymustache.com