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Ask HN: What are well-paying alternative jobs to being a software developer?

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Re: Ask HN: What are well-paying alternative jobs to being a software developer?

#21

Post by brundolf »

dont__panic wrote: post #12

I transitioned from software development into a fairly technical documentation position. Get paid more than I ever did as a software developer, and my previous employer was no slouch for pay. If you love writing and communication, it could be a good choice for you! But if you hate writing essays and playing with beta-quality software, stay far, far away.

Could you give more details? I’m surprised it was a pay increase. I love writing and I’ve vaguely considered doing this sort of thing, but I’ve never seriously looked into it.

Re: Ask HN: What are well-paying alternative jobs to being a software developer?

#22

Post by ss108 »

dont__panic wrote: post #12

I transitioned from software development into a fairly technical documentation position. Get paid more than I ever did as a software developer, and my previous employer was no slouch for pay. If you love writing and communication, it could be a good choice for you! But if you hate writing essays and playing with beta-quality software, stay far, far away.

Hey, I am interested in this, can you tell me a little more?

Thanks

Re: Ask HN: What are well-paying alternative jobs to being a software developer?

#23

Post by bladegash »

Technical/consultative sales. The kind where customers come to you and are looking for advice/solutions, not the kind where you’re cold calling or fighting for leads.

Sales professions get a bad rap and rightfully so in some cases. However, if you find the right role, it’s incredibly rewarding to help customers solve problems, beat out competition, and have a measurable metric (money) to determine your level of success/contribution (or vice versa).

That last sentence is a big part of why people get burnt out, as in my opinion. It’s also something very difficult to measure in software engineering and attempts to do so (e.g., number of commits, lines of code, frequency, etc.) are nebulous measures. They also are useless with regards to determining if the business itself is successful/what your contribution to that success is.

Re: Ask HN: What are well-paying alternative jobs to being a software developer?

#25

Post by sovietmudkipz »

nostrademons wrote: post #18

Engineering manager is probably the easiest pivot. It's a very different skillset from software engineering (more people interaction, more organization, less creativity and logic) that some people will love and others will hate, but you get to use your previous experience and there's often a pay bump and additional job security. Also consider trades like carpenter or electrician. Many software engineers also like thi…

Serious question: in general, does being a manager make you more likely to get fired or less? Heuristically I think "more likely" because why fire the front line workers doing the work when you can fire middle managers. However; I'm sure this thinking is missing quite a few important details.

Maybe having direct access to work politics provides an advantage? Maybe a manager is able to sacrifice others to avoid being fired themselves? Maybe taking credit and offloading blame is the name of the game?

Thanks in advance for any consideration of this question!

Re: Ask HN: What are well-paying alternative jobs to being a software developer?

#26

Post by Johnny555 »

porksoda wrote: post #13

I took 8 months off fishing in the ocean, and never could really look that code in the eye again. After that, I found it helps to move between teams and projects often. I last about 1-3 years with overlapping contracting jobs. Pays well, about $30 an hour on average, for as many hours as I want. Honestly, I'm still edging the ~buildout~burnout vortex, so when I start to feel the first tendrils of that morning-sicknes…

Pays well, about $30 an hour on average, for as many hours as I want

What country are you in? Around here, interns still in college can earn more than that.

Re: Ask HN: What are well-paying alternative jobs to being a software developer?

#28

Post by vanusa »

emteycz wrote: post #6

DevOps, cloud architecture/engineering. Another option could be teaching IT (private) - organize lectures about your expertise, etc

DevOps, cloud architecture/engineering.

⊂ "software development" (which the author hates) or what am I missing here?

Re: Ask HN: What are well-paying alternative jobs to being a software developer?

#29

Post by sanderjd »

I don't have an answer but something of a follow-up question: my theory on how to do this is to find a field where my stuff skills are very useful, but are a complement to the job rather than the job itself. I'm thinking of things like scientific / engineering / research endeavors where the ability to think through how to structure and work with large amounts of data in a maintainable way is a useful skill but the software itself is not the primary work product. Has anybody had success with this approach?
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