Ask HN: I don't want to code anymore. What else can I do?

Transition into product management, if you have good people skills, you're naturally a consensus-builder, and you're a jack-of-all-trades type that enjoys talking to design, sales, legal, customers, etc.

The traditional routes to PM are from engineering, design, or an MBA -- so you'll be taking one of the classic paths. Basically try to unofficially take on PM-type responsibilities in your current role. And then they either realize you're good at it and make it official, or you interview for an official PM job somewhere else and explain that while it wasn't your official title, it's what you were effectively doing.

I've made four broad transitions in my career over thirty some years. First I was a hands-on coder for about 5 years. Then I transitioned into tech sales for about two years. Then into leadership/management for four years. Then I went to law school and was a lawyer for about a decade. By then I made enough money to retire in a modest way (and I'm very modest in my lifestyle), so I went back to programming without any pressure. But ended up having to manage a team after a couple years because the project I was working on in retirement grew and needed more hands.

I'm hoping to retire again. And then I'll just work on something like a video game where I don't need to hire anyone else (outside of contractors for art).

What I've learned over the years is that you should never chase prestige and the opinion of others. I did that for too long. What you should chase is getting money by the fastest means possible, even if its something with no title or career prospects, if you can buy your freedom from the wage wheel. If you can jump off the wage wheel then you can do your own projects with freedom. And freedom to set my own calendar is the only thing that matters to me anymore.

If you're decent with documentation, then there's a whole field out their for documenting and technical writing

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_writing

This is such a bummer because teaching is both critical to a functioning society and enjoyable to do.

I constantly fantasize about teaching but stop quickly after reality hits.

You're living in the perfect time then! With tools like Cursor AI, I find myself writing less and less code to achieve a product outcome.

First question will be what do you enjoy and how can you do more of that? Or enjoyment aside, what is it you would like to achieve.

Difficult, I know.