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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?

#241

Post by K0balt »

toomanyrichies wrote: post #187
switch007 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Project managers typically manage projects, not people

Sure but projects don't complete themselves.

Not with that attitude they won’t.

I once worked in a company where one of my colleagues actively created phantom projects for his department, oversaw them, checked off metrics, went to meetings, and “deployed” solutions for capabilities that the company already had but had forgotten about. He once confided to me that he hadn’t actually made anything in over a decade. He still works there, 15 years later.

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

#242

Post by riku_iki »

_benj wrote: post #197
riku_iki wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what success numbers you think are achievable for reasonably good algo-trader?

I mean... algo trading is a huge field. The thing with algo trading is that software people think is as a programming problem. I thought that too... is not at all! I think that one needs to learn to trade in order to then be able to observe the markets with some understanding and then start seeing patterns and behaviors and forming ideas. I also started with the idea of doing algo trading, my tests results looked ama…

> about slippage, commission, over fitting my stuff to my test data

this all kinda solvable, you add slippage, commissions to the profit calculations, and use separate eval data split(or 1, 2, 3, 4) to check how model is overfitting?

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

#243

Post by silent_cal »

_benj wrote: post #168
silent_cal wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What platform do you use for trading, and which commodities do you trade?

I have to confess that I have a platform addiction ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But I finally stuck with MotiveWave, so much so that I actually paid for a full license even though there are a bunch of great free platforms. Main thing, works on Linux and macOS, where as many other platforms are exclusive Windows. Also, the SDK is quite nice too! As for commodities, I've found some success in agricultural commodities but I also dabble in…

Cool, thanks for the info. What do you actually trade? Do you buy ETFs, CFDs, or do you actually buy the futures contracts themselves?

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

#244

Post by toomanyrichies »

K0balt wrote: post #241
toomanyrichies wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure but projects don't complete themselves.

Not with that attitude they won’t. I once worked in a company where one of my colleagues actively created phantom projects for his department, oversaw them, checked off metrics, went to meetings, and “deployed” solutions for capabilities that the company already had but had forgotten about. He once confided to me that he hadn’t actually made anything in over a decade. He still works there, 15 years later.

I salute your colleague's silent resistance to wage slavery.

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

#245

Post by prashp »

jmcgough wrote: post #199
RealityVoid wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So did you start med school? How old are you? It takes a long time to get to practice, so I'm wondering what is the full story here.

In my 30s, quit my last startup about 2.5 years ago. Have been an EM scribe the last two years which has been amazing clinical experience. Did my premed coursework a decade ago when I did neuroscience. Just needed biochem, and about 800 hours of self-study for the MCAT. Interview two weeks ago, fairly optimistic about this cycle but if not, I think next cycle will go well. Everyone focuses on the amount of schooling…

I would be curious to hear your opinion on this when you are closer to the end of your residency program. The way medical education programs are structured is inhumane, no amount of money would convince me to go through it in its current form (assuming a north american perspective). Source: most of my family are in medicine.

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

#246

Post by dennis_jeeves2 »

_benj wrote: post #45

I’m usually hesitant to share but I’ve been doing commodities trading. There’s a humongous amount of BS out there about trading or day trading but the fact is that people do it and make it, and my best friend being a consistently profitable trader for the last 4 years didn’t help my skeptic case… At any rate, turns out that the challenge of trading is less of a technical or financial one. Sure, one needs to understan…

> my best friend being a consistently profitable trader

He may have discover a relatively unknown niche than he can exploit, or he is plain lucky. The question is: are you confident that you can replicate his success. For most people that I'm aware of the answer is often 'no'. Most people loose money and will rarely talk about it.

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

#247

Post by dennis_jeeves2 »

Gnarl wrote: post #89

Although I love IT and I've been a Java consultant for 20+ years, I'm getting out because the IT business has become absurd . I'm 51 now. Instead I've certified as an Auriculotherapist (that's fancy speak for ear-acupuncture). I chance discovered auriculotherapy about 10 years ago by its potential to reduce stress by modulating the nervous system. And its been my passion since. The ear is way more than some funny car…

>IT business has become absurd. I'm 51 now. Absurder, you mean

>Instead I've certified as an Auriculotherapist (that's fancy speak for ear-acupuncture).

Out of curiosity, what do you earn?

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

#248

Post by _benj »

silent_cal wrote: post #243
_benj wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to confess that I have a platform addiction ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But I finally stuck with MotiveWave, so much so that I actually paid for a full license even though there are a bunch of great free platforms. Main thing, works on Linux and macOS, where as many other platforms are exclusive Windows. Also, the SDK is quite nice too! As for commodities, I've found some success in agricultural commodities but I also dabble in…

Cool, thanks for the info. What do you actually trade? Do you buy ETFs, CFDs, or do you actually buy the futures contracts themselves?

Future contracts short term. Future brokers often have good margins of intraday hold. And with micro contracts one does need to take huge risks.

Futures are leveraged tho, so it’s kinda like a table saw, you can be very efficient with it but it can also remove your thumb as efficiently

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

#249

Post by _benj »

riku_iki wrote: post #242
_benj wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean... algo trading is a huge field. The thing with algo trading is that software people think is as a programming problem. I thought that too... is not at all! I think that one needs to learn to trade in order to then be able to observe the markets with some understanding and then start seeing patterns and behaviors and forming ideas. I also started with the idea of doing algo trading, my tests results looked ama…

> about slippage, commission, over fitting my stuff to my test data this all kinda solvable, you add slippage, commissions to the profit calculations, and use separate eval data split(or 1, 2, 3, 4) to check how model is overfitting?

Yes, all of it is solvable. I think my point is that is my impression (at least from the algo trading subreddit) that many approach it as a computer problem, which it is if one is doing what Jane Street is doing and has that kind of execution in the ns scale… but for retail traders I think one needs to learn what trading actually is, what market inefficiencies are there, usual behaviors of markets, money managements, psychology of trading, etc. in order to do algo trading well.

Props to whoever can work that out by themselves.

There’s a guy that supposedly has a couple of live trading bots trading live money on YouTube. I’ve watched his stuff and don’t really have reason to not believe him since I can look at the charts myself and see that they are indeed live. His tutorial of mql5 is also very interesting. Algo bot programming is kind of just event programming. When a bar closes or on a tick… buy? sell? do thing? That’s all it is! The trick is in when to buy/sell/do nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/live/QfDysU5eyM4?si=mvjN8dj6IHMlODR6

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

#250

Post by _benj »

aqueueaqueue wrote: post #206
_benj wrote: post #45

I’m usually hesitant to share but I’ve been doing commodities trading. There’s a humongous amount of BS out there about trading or day trading but the fact is that people do it and make it, and my best friend being a consistently profitable trader for the last 4 years didn’t help my skeptic case… At any rate, turns out that the challenge of trading is less of a technical or financial one. Sure, one needs to understan…

Lost money is 500 error. Profit is 200 success. Just debug.

Kinda! Emotions often get in the way tho! If I was able to lose money as dispassionately as I look at a 500 error it would be a lot easier!!
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