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Ask HN: How to stop dreaming about working in other fields?

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Re: Ask HN: How to stop dreaming about working in other fields?

#31

Post by happyjack »

Oh man, I don't really know what to say or how to begin. So many angles with this.

I'm about 75% through my job switch after working in a different career / industry for about 10 years (still do some projects 25% of the time in old industry).

I'm going to come from another angle on this one. What is your motivation? Are you bored? What are the soft issues? Do you have kids, a mortgage, what state of life are you in? Do you plan to be employed or self employed? Are you confusing working on cars / planes / ships as in engineer in an office on CAD with being physically on them and turning wrenches?

Re: Ask HN: How to stop dreaming about working in other fields?

#32

Post by mancerayder »

faux0r wrote: post #9

For a given field that I daydream about, I visit the subreddit dedicated to that profession. Especially given the rise in r/antiwork-like sentiment over the past few years, what I've noticed from many of these profession-specific subreddits is that many of the most popular posts from the last 2-3 years consist of people posting grievances about their field. Through reading about the most negative, stressful, and irra…

Reddit can be a place of insidious negativity. The pile up of me too anecdotes of some topic subtly can really make you worry. Especially in areas of health. It's a relief Reddit doesn't reflect the real world in proportion of bad stuff, or it would be hell.

Re: Ask HN: How to stop dreaming about working in other fields?

#33

Post by sprocket »

mancerayder wrote: post #30
sprocket wrote: post #19

I did this myself thirteen years ago - I quit my well paying software job, bought a bunch of goats, and built a cheese business. I'm just now in the process of winding our dairy and cheese business down - it was an amazing period of personal and professional growth, money wasn't an issue, but the complete lack of flexibility (exacerbated by having to milk animals twice daily, every day, for 300 days in a row) eventua…

You couldn't pay people to do the -13C activities?

The -13C wasn't the straw that broke the camel's back. Sometimes it's not a matter of throwing money at the problem until it goes away.

Farming is hard, and dairy farming is even harder. The sheer responsibility of being responsible for 150 other beings day in, and day out, and having to show up every single day is very challenging. I haven't had regularly scheduled weekends in a very long time.

We've had a lot of very good staff over the years, but in the end, at 5am or 10pm at night, it's me who is ultimately responsible. I've missed out on a lot of gatherings with friends and time with family, because I had to ensure for the needs of my animals first.

Re: Ask HN: How to stop dreaming about working in other fields?

#34

Post by FormerDevSam »

Every job is cool until you start doing it professionally. I was an electrical engineer before I became a programmer. Then I realized that most jobs are like running on a mouse wheel. You're earning as long as you're running but the money stops if you stop running. Plus, if you don't like running, you can't outsource it to someone else. But if you're running a business, you can do whatever you want. Don't like something, find someone else to do it. The business grows leaps and bounds when it's successful. In a couple of years you can have a business that's worth a cool million if you're successful. You have to learn how to sell though. And until you do, you'll be a slave to your job wondering whether the grass is greener somewhere else. Working on cars, place and ships sounds rosy until you realize that you'll be working on a really small mundane part over and over because that's what you're good at and that's what brings value to your employer. And the employer will try to squeeze every bit of profits out of you while paying as low as possible until you start making your own deals and learn negotiation.

Re: Ask HN: How to stop dreaming about working in other fields?

#35

Post by okr »

sprocket wrote: post #33
mancerayder wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You couldn't pay people to do the -13C activities?

The -13C wasn't the straw that broke the camel's back. Sometimes it's not a matter of throwing money at the problem until it goes away. Farming is hard, and dairy farming is even harder. The sheer responsibility of being responsible for 150 other beings day in, and day out, and having to show up every single day is very challenging. I haven't had regularly scheduled weekends in a very long time. We've had a lot of ve…

Sometimes i wonder how we were able live on the back of people like you for such a long time. I remember my elders used to grow up on a farm too, getting up early, cold or warm, no excuses. And me just doing IT things, leaving the "day-to-day" duties to others. I feel bad.

Re: Ask HN: How to stop dreaming about working in other fields?

#36

Post by sprocket »

okr wrote: post #35
sprocket wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The -13C wasn't the straw that broke the camel's back. Sometimes it's not a matter of throwing money at the problem until it goes away. Farming is hard, and dairy farming is even harder. The sheer responsibility of being responsible for 150 other beings day in, and day out, and having to show up every single day is very challenging. I haven't had regularly scheduled weekends in a very long time. We've had a lot of ve…

Sometimes i wonder how we were able live on the back of people like you for such a long time. I remember my elders used to grow up on a farm too, getting up early, cold or warm, no excuses. And me just doing IT things, leaving the "day-to-day" duties to others. I feel bad.

It's a very rewarding lifestyle and I have a lot of good memories of it. It's meaningful work and it gave me a good sense of purpose. I'm in my mid-40's now though and my body just doesn't have the ability to recover like I could in my 20's or 30's.

Re: Ask HN: How to stop dreaming about working in other fields?

#37

Post by dieselgate »

FormerDevSam wrote: post #34

Every job is cool until you start doing it professionally. I was an electrical engineer before I became a programmer. Then I realized that most jobs are like running on a mouse wheel. You're earning as long as you're running but the money stops if you stop running. Plus, if you don't like running, you can't outsource it to someone else. But if you're running a business, you can do whatever you want. Don't like someth…

Think this hit the nail on the head, every job is just a "job" at a certain point.

Re: Ask HN: How to stop dreaming about working in other fields?

#39

Post by Fradow »

What has worked for me is to do it as a hobby on my spare time. Of course that only applies to fields you can do as a hobby and place some heavy limitations.

For physics / real engineering, you can take classes after-work. For more physical jobs, you can do that in your backyard/driveway/other space. Obviously this place limitation: no super heavy machinery, and the scale has to fit, you can't exactly keep a full-sized plane or ship in your backyard.

Provided you have enough money, it's a matter of picking the right budget.

Some examples of itches I scratched doing that:

- photography (10 years ago, when smartphones weren't that good). I bought an entry-level professional camera and got started. Quickly realized I loathed picking and editing photos, but I now have a basic skillset about that.

- electronics. I have a box full of random bits, built a few random contraption that work for me. But getting to a real product requires lots more skills I'm not really interested in. I'm happy just having that box for anything I want to tinker with (and the occasional device repair by changing a blown capacitor, which makes me look like a wizard).

- bartending. I have a ~70 bottles bar in my apartment now (it covers a 2mx2m wall mostly) and can do pretty much any cocktail you want. I also bartended in a non-profit bar. I like the actual bartending, but the "bad customer" part is awful. Plus I know full well actual bartending is not well paid and has horrible hours.

- auto mechanic. Latest I'm currently in. I bought a 20yo car, rent a closed underground parking spot to keep it and my tools (big city, I don't have a driveway) and do the maintenance, repairs, and try to get it back to factory state. I also work on friends & family car whenever I get the chance. It's not the flashy things you see on Youtube, but it gets your hands greasy and you get to do it. There is no way I'd take that job professionally though: low pay, low consideration, nearly always unhappy customers because you're the bearer of bad news.

Anyway, that's my suggestion to scratch those itches without actually changing your whole life.

Re: Ask HN: How to stop dreaming about working in other fields?

#40

Post by daniel71l »

FOMO is an expression of insecurity, that im not good enough here, so there it would be different. But guess what... The same person, you, is still there with the same insecurity. So what happens? FOMO again

See a pattern? Work on the insecurity and the FOMO will cure itself.

There is no avoidance of the emotional work needed

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