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Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

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Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#241

Post by lsc »

The other thing I want to mention is your negativity towards chasing money. It's... well, it's a tell for someone who either is rich or is trying to sound rich. For most of us? The money and security is the first goal when choosing a career. It has to be, for most of us.

I mean, sure, if you are (or are trying to pretend) that you are wealthy enough that you don't need to work for a living, I mean, that's great... I'd love to be in that position, and I understand that for some jobs, you've gotta pretend like you are when you aren't. but note that to those of us who aren't, uh, "financially secure," it comes off as bragging in a particularly insensitive way if you pull it off and we believe you are rich, or insincere if we know you have a car payment. I mean, sure if you only work with other people who are super rich, it's different, but be aware that you are usually in mixed company.

I personally think that seeing genuine joy about being wealthy is nicer to see than this "oh, money means nothing" - I mean, I want to be rich too, of course, and I can understand that you enjoy your fancy new car or whatever; that's not insulting me, even if I can't afford the car. But saying that there's something wrong with picking a career for the money is insulting me and everyone else who doesn't have a large trust fund.

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#242

Post by dejv »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #171
randomdata wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even farmers, it might not be necessary, but it can make a huge difference. As a software developer by day, farmer by night, I'm not sure there is much overlap. Some of the problem solving skills I learned on the farm have made me a better programmer, I expect, but I don't see much advantage in building software for my farm. Anything you can dream of is available commercially at a fraction of the cost it would take…

> I don't see much advantage in building software for my farm. Controlled environment agriculture is heavily data driven and is a fast growing field. Same with genetically modified crops.

Controlled environment agriculture = greenhouse. There are two scales of this operation: small scale low-tech option which require just thermostat and fans and then you have big scale high tech versions that costs many millions of dollars and come with all the controllers built-in.

For low tech option there is just not enough margin and leverage to make it worth spending your time on it. For high tech options you are having millions in debt and another million or two in running cost (labor, seed, electricity) and with margins in single digits you are probably don't want to risk playing with your recipes. Safer bet is to outsource your tech needs to the companies that have teams of people working on just one single problem.

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#243

Post by AareyBaba »

CS is not just about {IT, web frameworks, mobile apps, javascript, python, java, SQL, noSQL}

CS is not just work at Google, Facebook, Twitter and San Francisco software unicorn startups.

CS is universal fundamentals of computation, algorithms, data structures that can be applied in multiple areas.

With a CS degree you can work in biochemistry(simulation), genetics (bioinformatics), mechanical engineering(finite element analysis, modeling), Hollywood visual effects (simulation, graphics), medicine (scanning software, visualization), Oil & Gas exploration (data analysis, visualization), semiconductor engineering (algorithms, design automation, simulators), automation (computer vision and machine learning).

CS is not going anywhere - it is fundamental to modern technology.

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#244

Post by dc443 »

lsc wrote: post #241

The other thing I want to mention is your negativity towards chasing money. It's... well, it's a tell for someone who either is rich or is trying to sound rich. For most of us? The money and security is the first goal when choosing a career. It has to be, for most of us. I mean, sure, if you are (or are trying to pretend) that you are wealthy enough that you don't need to work for a living, I mean, that's great... I'…

I think you're overthinking it. I totally get where you're coming from, but overwhelmingly what you wrote makes me feel that you've given up on actually enjoying what you do for work. You should place more value on that, if for no other reason than when you enjoy something, it's a positive feedback loop for improving everything: your own mood, your productivity, your self-improvement motivations, and your compensation.

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#245

Post by lsc »

dc443 wrote: post #244
lsc wrote: post #241

The other thing I want to mention is your negativity towards chasing money. It's... well, it's a tell for someone who either is rich or is trying to sound rich. For most of us? The money and security is the first goal when choosing a career. It has to be, for most of us. I mean, sure, if you are (or are trying to pretend) that you are wealthy enough that you don't need to work for a living, I mean, that's great... I'…

I think you're overthinking it. I totally get where you're coming from, but overwhelmingly what you wrote makes me feel that you've given up on actually enjoying what you do for work. You should place more value on that, if for no other reason than when you enjoy something, it's a positive feedback loop for improving everything: your own mood, your productivity, your self-improvement motivations, and your compensatio…

For me, solving technical problems often gives me a great deal of satisfaction. I mean, it is sometimes a real slog, too... nothing is fun all the time... but sometimes the worst slogs come with the greatest satisfaction. and sometimes not! Sometimes you work hard and get nothing. it happens. It's okay to work hard sometimes. It's okay for that to be unpleasant sometimes. Difficult experiences are part of what it is to be a human.

I mean, sure, it's impolite to complain all the time, but I would have to be way more desperate than I am to take a job where I always have to pretend to be happy; I have a pretty nice technical individual contributor role, and that's one of the strongest reasons I avoid management when I can, even though, as you point out, if I had better emotional regulation; if I was better able to be happy (or disappointed or angry) on command I would be able to make more money as a manager. (don't get me wrong; I can totally see myself being that desperate. And if I thought I had a reasonable chance of holding down a management job for very long, I'd have to think long and hard on it.)

It's more than that, though. Those roles, acting happy all the time feels... inauthentic to me. For that matter, nearly all of the "self improvement through positive thinking" stuff feels inauthentic to me; self-improvement, for me, is accomplished through introspection and work.

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#246

Post by GlennS »

I think this is a pretty good question. My dad told me about how, 50 years ago, getting a toolmaking apprenticeship was a license to print money. That certainly changed, and I don't know if anyone expected it?

My guess is that the job market is going to stay good to programmers and IT for some time. I think there are lots of people with money trying to build, improve, and plug together bits of software right now.

I also think that a lot of people will drop out of the profession during and after university. Most people find programming really boring and/or frustrating.

Still, it would be interesting to have some evidence on all of this.

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#247

Post by MaximumYComb »

AareyBaba wrote: post #243

CS is not just about {IT, web frameworks, mobile apps, javascript, python, java, SQL, noSQL} CS is not just work at Google, Facebook, Twitter and San Francisco software unicorn startups. CS is universal fundamentals of computation, algorithms, data structures that can be applied in multiple areas. With a CS degree you can work in biochemistry(simulation), genetics (bioinformatics), mechanical engineering(finite eleme…

You also forgot to add in cybersecurity. It requires in-depth knowledge of how computers are operating and a lot of outside the box thinking.

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#248

Post by AareyBaba »

MaximumYComb wrote: post #247
AareyBaba wrote: post #243

CS is not just about {IT, web frameworks, mobile apps, javascript, python, java, SQL, noSQL} CS is not just work at Google, Facebook, Twitter and San Francisco software unicorn startups. CS is universal fundamentals of computation, algorithms, data structures that can be applied in multiple areas. With a CS degree you can work in biochemistry(simulation), genetics (bioinformatics), mechanical engineering(finite eleme…

You also forgot to add in cybersecurity. It requires in-depth knowledge of how computers are operating and a lot of outside the box thinking.

Yes - that's an increasingly important one. Add cryptography too.

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#249

Post by bcrosby95 »

opportune wrote: post #148
uwuhn wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>However, if you don't get into a FANG, it's not the end of the world. You might still be able to find another job at another software company if you're lucky. As the years go on, it'll be harder to get job due to the rapidly increasing supply of engineers. And the great thing about FAANG is that it's only easier to get in as you gain more experience. You're not screwed if you don't get in as a new grad or junior.

Kind of, but if you want to have the highest comp at a certain time after graduating, the sooner you join FAANG (or similar places like Airbnb) the better. Because if you join at 10 YOE you will probably be downleveled compared to most people who started out there. Not that it’s a huge deal, but just something to think about.

I don't know about other places, but Netflix is pretty good at bumping your pay rapidly. A friend of mine that was working in education went to Netflix. He started at around 180k and hit 350k by a year then over 500k just another year later. After a total of only about 5 years he's making close to 1mil.

Re: Ask HN: CS, still a good career in 3-5 years?

#250

Post by okareaman »

"Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow" by Marsha Sinetar is a book that helped me. I worked for years writing code, excited to get up in the morning to get started, My performance was excellent. I worked for other years dreading looking at a code base that sucked for managers that sucked, My performance was subpar. Only you know what brings you joy. I think it's a mistake to look at what others are doing to decide what you should do. I'm surprised to read that you feel computer science as a whole is a hot field. Most of it seems fairly prosaic these days, but certain parts are really hot, like machine learning
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