I hired a driver in Spain to take us from Valencia to Granada. Striking up a conversation with him on the way I learned he used to be an electrician and said he would never go back to it. Guess it depends on the individual. I worked in Alaska one summer and got to kind of assist an electrician while we were getting the cannery ready to process fish for the upcoming season. For a commercial job like that there was a good amount of physical labor and crawling around in attics etc involved getting the cables from place to place. I also had a job doing telecom wiring at my university. Most of that was just straightforward wiring jacks or hooking up lines at the end points but it did lead to another job I got at better pay but involved more physical labor pulling wires. Like anything else, any career you go into will need to be managed or you could just find yourself stagnating.
Ask HN: Have you thought about leaving programming for the trades?
21–30 of 46 posts
Re: Ask HN: Have you thought about leaving programming for the trades?
#22I often wished we had more houses.
I rarely wished we had more software
Re: Ask HN: Have you thought about leaving programming for the trades?
#23I’d become a truck driver.
I love driving. When I drive I like to pretend I’m driving a big truck lol.
Re: Ask HN: Have you thought about leaving programming for the trades?
#24In Australia, the "Traffic Control person" (aka Lollipop person) earns AUD 125K (USD 79K) and even without any qualifications doing home maintenance such as painting, replacing washers on leaking taps, or assembling Ikea furniture earns up to $100,000 pa. People with PhD in Life Science struggle to get a job but people who have watched a few YouTubes earn huge wages. If I were advising a younger coder, I would sugges…
As a fellow Aussie that left the motherland, I'd advise folks to learn JavaScript and earn 4x that (in AUD) in the US
You need to get permission to work and live in the US. To earn $320k you would surely be griding leetcode / system design questions?
Re: Ask HN: Have you thought about leaving programming for the trades?
#25I often wished we had more houses. I rarely wished we had more software
We need more good urban planning first, and the buildings will almost build themselves!
Re: Ask HN: Have you thought about leaving programming for the trades?
#26I’d become a truck driver. I love driving. When I drive I like to pretend I’m driving a big truck lol.
Spend some time researching this before you dive into it. Truckers are treated exceptionally poorly by the trucking companies, and the pay is consumed by vehicles leasing, maintenance, and you won’t get sleep.
Re: Ask HN: Have you thought about leaving programming for the trades?
#27dont we all, we just here for money to do other trades man. the few outliers are nerds.
Re: Ask HN: Have you thought about leaving programming for the trades?
#28This sounds like programming was not your thing in the first place.
You probably were there just for the money and fashion.
Im not a born hacker myself, but this is something i can do better then the majority of the population. While i also can do many thinggs well with my hands - ill barely achieve same expert level as the best.
So why bother.
Re: Ask HN: Have you thought about leaving programming for the trades?
#29How long did it take your neighbour to become qualified/time served and how many further hours did it take for him to get to the position he is in now?
I think you're looking at another soul destroying ten years?
I'm 59 and used to work in construction, many of my former peers are now physical wrecks. I got out in my 40's and, in hindsight, it was a good decision. I also can't think of anyone who made a huge amount of money at the time either?
Re: Ask HN: Have you thought about leaving programming for the trades?
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
and luck.
No. Brains and persistence, are more important. If you're not launching dumb stuff and you keep trying at some point something sticks. Learn from your failures, keep going after you fail, you're going to feel lucky when you do finally get a hit. Luck will have had NOTHING to do with it.
What do you mean by "If you're not launching dumb stuff"?
"...and you keep trying at some point something sticks" this part makes sense to me