Do you have enough financial resources for a transition? How much time can you invest in changing your career? Life is long. You can reinvent yourself. But money often comes in the way.
Ask HN: I hate coding, but it's all that's on my resume. What do I do?
21–30 of 48 posts
Re: Ask HN: I hate coding, but it's all that's on my resume. What do I do?
#22What do you want to do other than coding? Different careers have different paths and ins and outs.
I don't know. I am also depressed and so, unfortunately, nothing at all actually sounds good. The path I know people talk about out of coding is Product Management. Are there others? It always seems like a pay cut and I'm already always so strapped for cash. Moving cities seems equally as overwhelming as changing careers.
I'll echo what other people have said about taking care of your mental health first.
If you're strapped for cash as a software dev, either you're not budgeting appropriately (take a sober look at how often you eat out), or you're not making nearly as much as you could (look for a different job), or you've set yourself up to live beyond your means (switch cars, or look for a different living situation). I've been in both of the first two situations before, and getting out of them had as much to do with a different mindset and finding good people to be around. I've always tried to live within my means (aka not taking on more than a couple weeks worth of debt if I can afford not too). That being said, taking that close look at your finances can be difficult when you're not in a good place mentally, so if you can get some help there, I'd recommend it.
If you have family, or really close friends, you might see if you can crash with them for a while, working on a career pivot during that time, or just looking for a different workplace.
I lost a tech job in December of 2018, and didn't get back into tech until August of 2019, and ended up working fast food for a few months. It was a nice time for clarifying some things, and establishing my identity beyond "guy who writes code". Before I was let go, I was struggling with getting things done and fitting into my workplace.
A big YMMV on this, but do try to take some time to walk and start considering some angles to life that might seem more crazy than you'd normally consider.
Re: Ask HN: I hate coding, but it's all that's on my resume. What do I do?
#23Several former coworkers who had 6-8 years of experience and were roughly at the senior/staff engineer level moved on to "investor" positions with Bay Area venture capital firms. They scout out employees for startups in their firm's portfolio and serve as occasional advisers.
...But if this option was available to you, you wouldn't be here, asking this question.
Re: Ask HN: I hate coding, but it's all that's on my resume. What do I do?
#24How about pursuing a software architecture role? You would be creating diagrams that depict code instead of writing code.
Do you still need leetcoding skills for that?
Re: Ask HN: I hate coding, but it's all that's on my resume. What do I do?
#25Get your TEFL certificate. Teach english online to Chinese kids or move to foreign country and teach english.
thats my retirement plan too. but its still difficult to live comfortably and save on a salary of $20-$30/hr at 30 hours of work per week. I lived in SEA and I still managed to spend $2-3k / mo making my life more westernized.
Re: Ask HN: I hate coding, but it's all that's on my resume. What do I do?
#26I have the same problem. I just started at FAANG, make good money, and I. Am. So. Miserable. I studied so hard for this job and now all I want is out. The day to day logic is burning out my mind and making it hard to enjoy life
Re: Ask HN: I hate coding, but it's all that's on my resume. What do I do?
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know. I am also depressed and so, unfortunately, nothing at all actually sounds good. The path I know people talk about out of coding is Product Management. Are there others? It always seems like a pay cut and I'm already always so strapped for cash. Moving cities seems equally as overwhelming as changing careers.
Work on your mental health first. Changing careers itself is stressful. Your code doesn't have to be pretty, you can use it as fuel for a hobby you actually enjoy doing after work/weekends. It could be photography, plastic model building, racing cars at track days, tennis, golf, etc. The key there is also to join the communities to engage and learn, along with getting outside.
I might suggest an approach in parallel. If development sucks that bad for OP, getting steamrolled by some shit while trying to pretend like they're not getting steamrolled is maybe not the best plan.
Re: Ask HN: I hate coding, but it's all that's on my resume. What do I do?
#28Just an hour ago I read an article from a psychotherapist that dealt somewhat about changing careers. I think the gist of it was some people might have to learn how to deal with disappoing their snobby parents and strangers when taking a step back to evaluate different potential careers, including those that pay substantially less, in order to find a more exciting career that, overall, adds more value to your life de…
https://www.theschooloflife.com/shop/tsol-press-a-job-to-lov...
this book is a good followup on the article for OP
Re: Ask HN: I hate coding, but it's all that's on my resume. What do I do?
#29I have the same problem. I just started at FAANG, make good money, and I. Am. So. Miserable. I studied so hard for this job and now all I want is out. The day to day logic is burning out my mind and making it hard to enjoy life
What about the day to day logic is worst?
Re: Ask HN: I hate coding, but it's all that's on my resume. What do I do?
#30I've felt similarly, on and off, my whole career (7 years since my first SWE internship). Unfortunately I've not got the answers but I do have a thought I want feedback on.
Maybe it's ok not to love it but to be satisfied regardless. It's an in demand, well paid, flexible, reasonably interesting (even if I would never miss it) career that allows me to lead a great life in other aspects without giving up too much. Can't that be enough?
I worry that the current narrative of having to 'love' your job is damaging and causing me (and maybe you) to always be searching for the 'perfect' career which doesn't exist.