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Ask HN: Former devs who can't get a job, what did you end up doing for work?

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Re: Ask HN: Former devs who can't get a job, what did you end up doing for work?

#221

Post by ecshafer »

mywittyname wrote: post #175
ecshafer wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certified electricians can make really good money, especially union. But that's really hard to believe. Is this somewhere like NYC or something that there is an edge. A remote software developer is typically in the $100-200k range in the US. I know union certified electricians in that range, but none in the $300-400k range.

Yeah, my father is an electrician who does industrial work (non-union, but co-owns his business) and I was out-earning him by the time I was 21. Even though he made some good investment decisions, such as owning the building his company leases, based on info from my mom, I have amassed 2x the net worth in half the time. I think people often conflate "being a " with "owning a business." A W-2 electrician earns a media…

This is much more in line with the electricians I know. Another part that can really mess with TC for tradesman, even union electricians, is that getting a solid 40-50 hours is difficult. They might have 60 hours of work one week, and 30 hours the next week. A union guy might not get stable 40 hour weeks until they are 40+ due to the way seniority works. High paying electrician gigs like a lineman or high voltage at a power plant often have to get there on huge amounts of OT during storms.

Re: Ask HN: Former devs who can't get a job, what did you end up doing for work?

#222

Post by jf22 »

itsoktocry wrote: post #94
mjthrowaway1 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hire electricians regularly. Driving a grounding rod is physically demanding. Moving conduit and hoisting it overhead for long runs is demanding. Carrying tools around, mounting light fixtures…and this is for light commercial work. It’s definitely not easy on the body and why older electricians want to transition in to design and engineering as opposed to field work.

These things are relatively physically demanding if your baseline is sitting at a desk. But hammering a rod into the ground for 15 minutes, or holding some weight over your head, or carrying weight in your toolbag are not things that break your body down; they build your body up.

Nothing is more hacker news than somebody downplaying how physically demanding a trade is.

Re: Ask HN: Former devs who can't get a job, what did you end up doing for work?

#223

Post by gadders »

gremlinsinc wrote: post #27

I'm living out of my car, door dashing and Uber in Southern Utah. Saving up to rent office space for my computer (I don't have a laptop)... I lost my mom, marriage of 18 years, Grandma, and sanity a bit last year... but I'm doing great mentally now, just need financial to align, I'm trying to enroll in WGU for CS and then ai/ml masters and I want to double major with psychology...I want to work with therapy ai things…

Best of luck mate. We're all rooting for you.

Re: Ask HN: Former devs who can't get a job, what did you end up doing for work?

#224

Post by xyst »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #122

I am in my mid-70s now and for the first time in my life I can’t find part time work. I have had three really good leads in the last four or five months but in each case there was no job unless I accepted a full time position. Sadly at my age, I don’t have the energy for full time work, so it is what it is. My wife is happy I am not working, and she literally would not accept it if I tried a full time gig, even just…

> I am in my mid-70s now

It says something about society that asks people to work well beyond their retirement age.

I hope you are only looking because it gives you purpose rather than doing it because it’s necessary (ie, medical bills, rent). If it’s the latter, very dystopian and on par for this neoliberal economic hellhole we live in.

Personally, if I get to that age. I am cashing in my chips. No way I am working for soulless corporations, whether that’s part time or full time.

I would much rather “retire” and work on my own open source projects or contribute to FOSS projects I like. Worst case scenario, I become a wood worker ;)

Re: Ask HN: Former devs who can't get a job, what did you end up doing for work?

#225

Post by dblohm7 »

addicted wrote: post #180
robomartin wrote: post #179

> I'm curious what other kinds of work other former developers got into and if they like it. Speaking in general terms, age discrimination in tech (not just software development) is, in my opinion, a really serious problem. It's like society discards you after a certain point in time, even though you are likely more capable than most younger candidates. I am going to point the finger squarely at YC on some of this, s…

While I agree age discrimination in tech is a huge problem, it’s hardly true that it hasn’t received attention. Age discrimination has been one of the few successful discrimination based lawsuits that have been brought against companies in the tech world.

Yet many age discrimination suits against tech companies _don't_ succeed...

Re: Ask HN: Former devs who can't get a job, what did you end up doing for work?

#226

Post by [deleted] »

menaerus wrote: post #212
robomartin wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Age discrimination has been one of the few successful discrimination based lawsuits that have been brought against companies in the tech world. Rarely. A quick search indicates that only 3% of older employees file complaints, and, out of that, less than 1% result in lawsuits. And that is pertaining to people who are already employed somewhere. What we are talking about here is finding a job. In that case the situat…

Not sure if many folks remember this video or have seen it at all but this is what Mark Zuckerberg had a say on young vs experienced engineers. This is I believe from 2011 and I think it perfectly portrays the majority of SV companies to this day and of course their recruitment practices. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPHVeQ7-ynA 00:03 The two most important things that I look for are number one is just raw intelli…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Former devs who can't get a job, what did you end up doing for work?

#227

Post by gtani »

Don't give up on mainline, but branch out to small/medium bus ops. You have to go to as many meetups as you can, perfect your elevator pitch, make github and online presence look nice, etc.

One niche, there's lots of people looking for help coding stock/futures trading apps in sierra chart, ninja and multi trader, etc. These are in c++, c#/framework, python, mostly.

On the latter, work your network, seek out busines owners/managers who are in need of IT/web/database/email list type work and have people vouch for your tech cred/integrity (very important)

Re: Ask HN: Former devs who can't get a job, what did you end up doing for work?

#228

Post by tpurves »

GrumpyYoungMan wrote: post #164
tharkun__ wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the issue with Scrum and agile is that it's become mainstream. Anything that becomes mainstream is likely to get twisted and turned into whatever the "powers that be" want it to be. So, while using XP or Scrum or Kanban for that matter properly in a sane environment is going to be great, if you work in an un-sane (sic) one, then the powers that be have turned whatever system you're using into theirs . This is…

The issue with scrum and agile is that it became a managerial and reporting process to force teams to hit a management imposed deadline instead of what it was intended to be: a tool for engineers to self-manage and self-evaluate their progress to provide a realistic completion date.

At the risk of taking this thread further OT, I am a product manager / consulting CPO but a whole heartedly agree with you. I like the way you phrase it. A tool to evaluate progress and provide realistic completion dates. That is how I always push companies to use agile pointing and estimating. Use it to identify unrealistic roadmap expectations as early as possible, force hard conversations on priorities and staff allocation... before committing on plans to customers or stakeholders. Or when taking a risk on a delivery date, be doing that knowingly from the beginning, with contingency plans and management owning that risk and consequences otherwise.

Re: Ask HN: Former devs who can't get a job, what did you end up doing for work?

#229

Post by ipatch »

xyst wrote: post #224
mark_l_watson wrote: post #122

I am in my mid-70s now and for the first time in my life I can’t find part time work. I have had three really good leads in the last four or five months but in each case there was no job unless I accepted a full time position. Sadly at my age, I don’t have the energy for full time work, so it is what it is. My wife is happy I am not working, and she literally would not accept it if I tried a full time gig, even just…

> I am in my mid-70s now It says something about society that asks people to work well beyond their retirement age. I hope you are only looking because it gives you purpose rather than doing it because it’s necessary (ie, medical bills, rent). If it’s the latter, very dystopian and on par for this neoliberal economic hellhole we live in. Personally, if I get to that age. I am cashing in my chips. No way I am working…

nothing wrong with carpentry

Re: Ask HN: Former devs who can't get a job, what did you end up doing for work?

#230

Post by ipatch »

there's nothing wrong with the trades, if you don't mind working with your hands. i've been working as a electrician for the past couple of years, and it allows you to work at various places while the work is never really same, and you're not sitting on your ass for hours on end. it's definitely not for everybody.
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