Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 463 posts

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#241

Post by makerofthings »

SamWhited wrote: post #49

Every job I ever had in tech was basically terrible and I was never diagnosed, but I suspect was clinically depressed for the 13 years or so I was in tech. I did not have the savings to do it, but I eventually quit and became a bicycle mechanic. I actually enjoy what I do now, and the work environment doesn't have me constantly jumping back and forth between panic, undirected rage, and extreme listlessness like tech…

> constantly jumping back and forth between panic, undirected rage, and extreme listlessness

That a great summary of working in big tech.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#242

Post by vturner »

mcnugget wrote: post #19

You could join the resource industry, there's a labor shortage and there's all sort of vocational training. Some jobs require minimal training others more but you can be up and running in as little as 3 months for something relatively skilled. It's a refreshing feeling to have a job where the deliverables are very specific and day to day like you need to move this crap from here to there and that's it, no thinking ab…

There is such shortage of skilled contractors. It's unreal, so I've considered getting in via being an electrician.

The starting salaries always stop me though. How can I reset the salary clock 10 years?

Maybe if I had started out at 20 on this route I could do what my father did: carpet cleaning and supported two sons and a homemaker on his one truck operation. We were solid middle class. All the needs met.

It's amazing what quality hard work, calling people back, and time can do.

Better get back writing my self evaluation...

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#243

Post by Xeoncross »

jollofricepeas wrote: post #154
shigawire wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>why would you just accumulate savings without using them for living an interesting life? Having kids. Not that you have to do this with kids, but it is a reason

I don’t understand Americans POV on this subject. Other than providing tutors and making sure their children are in the best secondary schools, I don’t understand the American obsession with paying for college. The best way to prepare your child is to let them experience reality not coddle them. - A luxury university diploma will not guarantee a good job - There are other educational opportunities besides an expensiv…

I would say it's not so expensive as it more deprives you from the time you would otherwise spend climbing the corporate ladder, networking, and starting a company/side project.

Kids aren't the huge bill that people seem to think they are unless the parents have a spending problem or don't really want to raise the kids and lease out the education, child care, and transportation duties to other people/organizations. Then it can be really expensive to pay someone else to raise your child.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#244

Post by seanw444 »

tekla wrote: post #165
michaelt wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By most measures, yes. Tech workers get more money, better hours, easier working conditions, and will impress your partner's parents more. But I'd wager the barista gets thanked more often, and their customers like them more.

I'm going to guess you have never worked a service job. It sucks. People suck, you get yelled at, insulted, demeaned, shit pay, long hours. Tech work is the cushiest job ever. It takes almost no effort to get into, you get paid insanely well, and skills are always in demand. What is there to complain about?

It's a nice field in comparison for sure. But some people really do have bad experiences in tech.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#245

Post by scythe »

Currently I'm doing a residency in diagnostic medical physics. It's a weird mix of physical labor to check out equipment, mathematical modeling, consulting with physicians, and reading regulations.

I left the tech industry in 2017, got into an MS in 2019, and now I have a year and a half to licensure — hopefully! I'm basically happy with the change, but it was a long road out — I had saved up $50k, which is all gone now.

There's a snag: I was diagnosed with cancer in 2021. Life comes at you fast. I might have a long career ahead (I'm 31) or I might not. I certainly could have done a lot more skiing in the past six years if I had just kept plugging away at the text editor. But I'm glad I went for it. Don't assume you have forever.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#246

Post by qazxcvbnmlp »

fwlr wrote: post #43

Dropped out of tech, arguably more by force than choice. My lifestyle, finances, social life, even country of residence (and by extension my love life) were all balanced on top of that little MacBook Pro. Used it for work, used it to socialize, eventually my brain refused to let me mediate my entire life through a computer any longer and I burned out. Now I work at a hotel! Receptionist, barista, waiter, even some ma…

I have a part time job loading bags on airplanes and doing a bit of gate/ ticket counter customer service.

It's amazing the difference it makes in my daily well being - as you say, interacting with new people and working with your hands is very much more satisfying at the end of the day.

Getting a delayed passenger to their destination is a much more tangible problem, then coding for some ill-defined business need.

Still doing tech, but I have a much better outlook and productivity now.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#247

Post by mind-blight »

bilsbie wrote: post #127
MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I follow. Me, an interviewer: "so you know compilers, great start on monday" Also me: "so you know compilers and have studied math on top, sorry son thats a no from me"

Tech interviews expect esoteric minutia to be on the top of your mind and easily recallable. You also must be able to talk about past projects in great detail as if you worked on them yesterday. If you take more than a few months off interviews become insanely hard.

I've taken over a year off now than once and haven't found this to be true. Things generally change less than it feels like, and you can get caught up on any new coding practices pretty quickly.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#249

Post by mikelevins »

A friend of mine from Apple, a capable programmer who wrote one version of Apple's linker and also some books and libraries for Modula 2, left software development in the 90s and became a full-time painter and distiller, as well as a practitioner of Vajrayana Buddhism.

She passed away in the summer of 2021.

Her distillery, Delaware Phoenix, gained some positive reviews.

There's a memorial page about her here:

https://www.thegreatawakening.org/cheryl-lins-memorial-page

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#250

Post by nostrebored »

adamsmith143 wrote: post #200
jollofricepeas wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t understand Americans POV on this subject. Other than providing tutors and making sure their children are in the best secondary schools, I don’t understand the American obsession with paying for college. The best way to prepare your child is to let them experience reality not coddle them. - A luxury university diploma will not guarantee a good job - There are other educational opportunities besides an expensiv…

Not sure if you know but things in the US are outrageously expensive. Childcare might cost 4k per month, a private tutor is ~50-100/hr, the best schools are generally either public schools in the richest suburbs or private schools that cost 50k/year. College even at a State University is going to cost $10,000 per year and at least as much for living costs so you are looking at ~$80,000 for a 4 year degree. >- A luxur…

I’ve lived in some of the most expensive cities in the U.S.

Childcare at 4,000 is upper quartile of expensive cities. You’ll find many places where it’s half or less of that price. Private schools at $50k a year are either going to be boarding or some of the more expensive country day schools. Even Sidwell, where Obama sent his kids, is cheaper than this.

And finally we get to university education. There are many schools with merit based scholarships. Treating living expenses as unique to college is also wrong.

Nothing is stopping a kid from getting a job in college!

Post reply on HN