I bought a farm and quit tech, but I was management scum, not a SWE (though I did have some under me a couple jobs ago). There's a lot to learn. I'm not really doing this for the money, rather as my contribution to the community and environment, but it would be chill to make some anyway as a further validation of my process.
Ask HN: Anyone left software to study non-STEM subjects?
11–20 of 67 posts
Re: Ask HN: Anyone left software to study non-STEM subjects?
#12Yeah; I went to law school. Big mistake. Luckily, I was able to switch back, and I now work at a legal tech startup as a software engineer :D
Can you explain why it was a big mistake for you ?
Re: Ask HN: Anyone left software to study non-STEM subjects?
#13I bought a farm and quit tech, but I was management scum, not a SWE (though I did have some under me a couple jobs ago). There's a lot to learn. I'm not really doing this for the money, rather as my contribution to the community and environment, but it would be chill to make some anyway as a further validation of my process.
Farm? Are you rich?
Re: Ask HN: Anyone left software to study non-STEM subjects?
#14Several years back I left software for about 3 years to achieve required professional military education for an officer and two military deployments. Being deployed in the middle of the Covid lockdowns was not fun and the combination of these events were too much time away from the family.
I have already abandoned a software development career for data science and enterprise API management, which is much better. I still super enjoy writing JavaScript, but not for work. In the corporate world of JavaScript your leadership is often shit and your peers are entitled children drowning in insecurity looking out for themselves on a sinking raft. After my next my next military promotion my children will be out of the house and I will make just as much in the military as I do as a senior developer. Something to think about.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone left software to study non-STEM subjects?
#15If I ever win the lottery I'm dropping software engineering to do music somehow. I play guitar and learn music theory as a hobby, but only at a beginner/intermediate level with not enough time to practice and get to the next level.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone left software to study non-STEM subjects?
#16I'm a data scientist, but it's becoming more uninteresting to me - not ml itself, but ml in companies. I've been thinking about studying cognitive psychology or cognitive neuroscience, but most classes are in person. :/
Re: Ask HN: Anyone left software to study non-STEM subjects?
#17I went for a Master's in Education and became a teacher. Teaching computer science and math so still STEM adjacent. I'm still teaching a decade later and I've moved abroad to teach at international schools, currently in Bangkok.
Love to hear you're still teaching a decade later - I'm starting my Masters of Teaching next week to become a math teacher!!
What do you think the biggest mistake that people who don't last as a teacher make?
Re: Ask HN: Anyone left software to study non-STEM subjects?
#18I wish I could do something similar. I'll probably pursue Cosmology and Occult study -- they look pretty similar :) But the money in software is pretty good and I need it. So maybe when I'm 50 years old after 10 years.
Cosmology and Occult study - sounds pretty useful for software estimations
Re: Ask HN: Anyone left software to study non-STEM subjects?
#19I wish I could do something similar. I'll probably pursue Cosmology and Occult study -- they look pretty similar :) But the money in software is pretty good and I need it. So maybe when I'm 50 years old after 10 years.
Cosmology and Occult study - sounds pretty useful for software estimations
I think more for administrating networks
Re: Ask HN: Anyone left software to study non-STEM subjects?
#20I’m moving to psychotherapy from a sysadmin/network admin -> QA -> DevOps career.