Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#161

Post by thatmiddleway » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 3:03 PM UTC

misiti3780 wrote: post #137

I would be a modern day philosopher/thinker (like Taleb, Dawkins, Harris). I would start with the classics and read everything, learn ancient Greek, Aramaic, as well as Italian, French and German (maybe Russian also, who knows) I would study the first proof in mathematics all the way up through modern probability theory. I would throw away my cell phone and do all of this work from a nice modern loft in the Trastever…

I agree, "the unexamined life is not worth living." We should start a club for expats that all want to do this.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#162

Post by PascLeRasc » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 3:03 PM UTC

Definitely theater tech, especially audio work and sound design. I loved it all through high school and it was fixing old sound boards that got me into electrical engineering where I am now. But I'd love to do theater sound full-time forever.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#163

Post by beat » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 3:04 PM UTC

Record producer. I've been recording and producing music for years and love doing it. It'd be nice to be able to make a living at it.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#164

Post by kakaorka » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 3:04 PM UTC

I'd be a physicist. I actually want to start doing that as a side job; especially quantum mechanics seems very interesting and it needs a lot more research!

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#165

Post by aidos » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 3:04 PM UTC

anabisengrin wrote: post #115

When I leave my current job I'm going to apply for an adult course on wood working. I love to build things, and wood is the most available and easy to work with material (compared to plastic, rock or metal). And seriously, I bought a saw, a hammer, a screwdriver last year, it got me crazy. Same as having a unix terminal and an Internet connexion.

I also think it seems pretty appealing. There have been some interesting things on HN over the years about it.

I loved this talk about how the tools you use determine how you look at problems (Tim Ewald - Clojure: Programming with Hand Tools) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShEez0JkOFw

And if you haven't seen him before, you're about to fall in love with Matthias Wandel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Matthiaswandel/videos http://woodgears.ca/

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#166

Post by wyldfire » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 3:05 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #99

fa17 wrote: post #66

Doctor. The idea of studying human body and saving lives fascinates me. Having said that, i think Docs should be more accountable, like for ex: they could screw up a surgery resulting in a loss of life and no one would even know about it, is something always scares me.

> Having said that, i think Docs should be more accountable, like for ex: they could screw up a surgery resulting in a loss of life and no one would even know about it, is something always scares me. I'm curious about where you got this idea. In the US (and I'd presume any other modern healthcare system) a patient dying in surgery leads to a full incident review.

I believe they're referring to a mandatory publication of these events or even all outcomes, linked/contingent with licensure.

AFAIK the incident reviews are protocols that physicians and administrators use as tools for teams to learn, not for patients to consider which physician to choose.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#167

Post by jhwhite » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 3:05 PM UTC

I'd like to be a teacher. That's what I wanted to do originally but I gave in to family pressure and majored in computer information systems. I've enjoyed the career, but I sometimes I really wish I had gone into education.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#168

Post by kageneko » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 3:06 PM UTC

Since early in college, my 2nd choice has always been psychology -- so much that I went back to school to finish up a BA in Psychology. I would focus on either cognitive or industrial/organizational psychology. With cognitive, I'd focus on motivation. With two children, I'm always wondering what motivates them to do the things they do. In I/O, I'm looking at workplace optimization and comfort -- mostly comfort.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#169

Post by arethuza » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 3:06 PM UTC

ainiriand wrote: post #150

I am slowly working towards becoming a fiction writer. At the moment I am a software engineer and I feel I can make it if I put enough effort into it. My specialties are psychological terror and sci-fi.

"My specialties are psychological terror"

What about moving into project management?

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#170

Post by aidos » Fri, Jan 06, 2017, 3:07 PM UTC

FigBug wrote: post #56

I'd buy a sailboat and take people on tours in Greece. Except I hate people, which is why I work in tech.

I have a romanticized vision of owning a boat that I teach people to sail on while toiling away in my woodworking space in the evenings.