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Ask HN: Software engineer for 20 years what should I do next?

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Re: Ask HN: Software engineer for 20 years what should I do next?

#21
Here is a list of things I have been doing from the time I left programming 2 years ago, roughly having worked for around 24 years. I was left with lots of time and didn't want to work only in one thing like programming before. So I got into small projects that meant something for me. Might be of help.

-- Learning music for last 4 years, mainly to get into a hobby. I put in about 1-2 hours of practice per day. Thinking of building a course for people with absolutely no prior knowledge of music, but I have not started yet. Have got a mindmap going here - https://www.viewpedia.org/musicCourse-map.png

-- Mentoring, at NYAS ((www.nyas.org) and invidiually. Perfect as it does not take too much time, but connects to lot of young minds. Hope to increase and maybe we should create a network of mentors as someone suggested being mentor in the comments. I have not found a mentor network yet.

-- Lokopakar (www.lokopakar.com) - for mentoring and another unique program called Strength Together, that is a peer-to-peer network to help adolescent girls in developing countries overcome their feeling of "I am not Enough"

-- Tinker Lab (www.tinker-lab.org) - I found a group of guys who were into breaking things apart and seeing what was inside and trying to put it back (never really making it). We are now working to make a lab for public schools in Nepal where young, eager, self learning students to do the same. The first lab is coming up within the month.

-- Farming, fruits for fun, vegetables commercially. Now thinking of adding bee keeping and a farm stay program. I spend only the weekends on it as others handle everyday work better than I.

-- Viewpedia (www.viewpedia.org) Still left with time as I gave up social media and most of TV. So learning about my own culture and building a website to provide collection of youtube videos of mostly unwritten Nepali culture. Currently focused on music and dance.

Re: Ask HN: Software engineer for 20 years what should I do next?

#22
I am 32 and i feel like i will be in your position in a few years if not few months.

Because of this i started to develop some small mobile apps that is targeted to general public. These apps started to make some money. I Will develop a few more apps until i reach to a level that i can pay the bills. I also have some savings.

After that i plan to go on a sabbatical for at least a year. I plan to move to country side and only write code for the small updates i will make to these mobile apps.

I believe during this sabbatical i will find a lot of great business ideas.

Re: Ask HN: Software engineer for 20 years what should I do next?

#23

It isn’t clear from this thread or your comment history on why you feel burnt out. All I can gather is: * you don’t like your job * you don’t want to be an employee * you are a web developer technologist and open to continue working with those skills Perhaps you could consider inventing a new technology/service for an existing business problem. This is the interest I am pursuing but I lack the business acumen to jump…

Hmm perhaps it isn't in my comments... thought I had talked about it with this account. I was doing 60 to 80 hour work weeks until the last few months which turned into 100 hour work weeks (3am start time, phased sleep, working weekends). This was all for a covid19 start up.

Why don't you look for a job that is less stressful, perhaps at a more established company? You probably would have to work at a B-level company with a lower salary, but it might worth it for your sanity.

Re: Ask HN: Software engineer for 20 years what should I do next?

#25
post #22

I am 32 and i feel like i will be in your position in a few years if not few months. Because of this i started to develop some small mobile apps that is targeted to general public. These apps started to make some money. I Will develop a few more apps until i reach to a level that i can pay the bills. I also have some savings. After that i plan to go on a sabbatical for at least a year. I plan to move to country side…

Are these apps you're releasing serving a niche audience, or a pretty general audience that is still finding enough downloads (like the common todo productivity apps).

I've come up with a few app ideas, but while I find them useful I'm not sure if they would appeal to enough people to be worth pursuing.

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