webcam/drugselling if IT-related, pentesting if the real IT.
You may want to adjust your view of the world if you think making a living wage webcamming or selling drugs doesn't involve hard work.
Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?
31–40 of 77 posts
Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?
#32Find a smallish company that exists for 15+ years and isn't acting like they're about to solve the biggest problem in human history or boasting about 12 gigabillion percent of growth in the last year. There are plenty of them but they easily fly under the radar, especially in older industries (real estate, newspapers, banking, &c.). You can try working for a governmental or non profit thing too
Yep. There are plenty of small manufacturing companies that have embedded programming projects that aren't sexy or cutting edge, but are just little STM32 or similar chips running bare metal no-OS code for all kinds of simple little devices for different industries. I've been doing that work for the past twenty years. It scratches my engineering itch, but also lets me work pretty independently, put in my mostly stress free 40 hours a week, and then go home and not think about it.
Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?
#33I would aim... Away from the glare of the software world.
There are plenty of smallish companies that just bob along. If you pinch your nose for long enough you quickly become indispensable, and your productivity will rarely be very challenged.
But... Be aware. "Bullshit jobs" can be enjoyed only by the right mind. Most people find them miserable anyway, it doesn't really matter if they are easy, or low effort. (This means also that I disagree with recommending to become Project or Product Manager - when those roles are properly useless... They are also soul crushing, with layers of stress on top)
Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?
#34I had one of these. Comfortable income; not big tech but well over USA median. Remote. Put in 5-15 hours a week.
Strongly recommend against it.
What I would recommend instead is have a hard look at what's causing pain in your current situation. Try and get as concrete as possible. Try going one level deeper from 'world is hyper capitalistic' to what hurts. When I talk to people that express similar views there is usually some other deep hurt that is going unaddressed. ie 'im not being valued for my work', 'I have a deep fear I will not be able to provide or be valued', 'I like tech, but the current structure of tech employers doesnt fit well with me(weird noises in offices are deeply uncomfortable)' etc.
It's almost counterintuitive but 60 hard hours / week at something you enjoy and thrive in will be easier and feel better like 5 hours at something you hate. Most everyone has a desire to feel valued and needed, so look for what that can be for you. Note prestige of impact != internal satisfaction. If you enjoy serving tea, then doing that for little money (and lots of time) will feel better in the long run than doing a few hours of tech work you despise.
Also... strongly recommend tuning out from the internet / news / social media. Sensationalist headlines can obscure our felt experience of life.
Reading between the lines of your post, Im not sure if what you want is a job with low hours or to solve your deep unhappiness? If I told you I had a job that paid well but you would still be happy would you take it?
Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?
#35I had one of these. Comfortable income; not big tech but well over USA median. Remote. Put in 5-15 hours a week. Strongly recommend against it. What I would recommend instead is have a hard look at what's causing pain in your current situation. Try and get as concrete as possible. Try going one level deeper from 'world is hyper capitalistic' to what hurts. When I talk to people that express similar views there is usu…
idk…
If I had a job where I could put 5 to 15 hours a week and get a pay, I’d fill all my time with something else! (Side projects, sports, etc.)
Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?
#36Literally any job in big tech
This is what I kept thinking as well. In my experience big companies can't get things done and people fly under the radar all the time not doing anything.
Yup. I've worked for several different big tech companies and the majority of people there did very little and no one really cared.
Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?
#37I had one of these. Comfortable income; not big tech but well over USA median. Remote. Put in 5-15 hours a week. Strongly recommend against it. What I would recommend instead is have a hard look at what's causing pain in your current situation. Try and get as concrete as possible. Try going one level deeper from 'world is hyper capitalistic' to what hurts. When I talk to people that express similar views there is usu…
That's like a dream job for me. I'm going to use the rest of the time to hack on OS kernels instead of losing sleep over it. The thing is, people rarely get to work on what they are passionate about. At least I literally have seen none, after spending so many years in 5+ companies, none of my team is very passionate about the job, which is understandable.
Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?
#38I had one of these. Comfortable income; not big tech but well over USA median. Remote. Put in 5-15 hours a week. Strongly recommend against it. What I would recommend instead is have a hard look at what's causing pain in your current situation. Try and get as concrete as possible. Try going one level deeper from 'world is hyper capitalistic' to what hurts. When I talk to people that express similar views there is usu…
idk… If I had a job where I could put 5 to 15 hours a week and get a pay, I’d fill all my time with something else! (Side projects, sports, etc.)
Agreed. I walked past a high-end fashion store in a major European city recently. The big glass door was locked, with a sign explaining that the shop was open, the door was locked to prevent theft. There was one young woman inside staffing the shop, sitting behind a counter. I envied her, I could happily take minimum wage for a year or so, sitting at a desk all day with very occasional interruption, while I tap at a laptop working on personal projects. Unfortunately I'm not a glamorous 20-something European woman.
Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?
#39Find a role at a large "non-tech" comapny in a large department on a mid sized team. I had several jobs like that and the amount of effort required in the average day was minimal. Probably less than an hour a day of actual meaningful work. You'll hate your job but it's extremely easy and pays decent.
Re: Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real work possible?
#40I had one of these. Comfortable income; not big tech but well over USA median. Remote. Put in 5-15 hours a week. Strongly recommend against it. What I would recommend instead is have a hard look at what's causing pain in your current situation. Try and get as concrete as possible. Try going one level deeper from 'world is hyper capitalistic' to what hurts. When I talk to people that express similar views there is usu…
idk… If I had a job where I could put 5 to 15 hours a week and get a pay, I’d fill all my time with something else! (Side projects, sports, etc.)
That's what I did. Hobbies & Side work. Traveling!
The key is to set boundaries, learn which 5 hours of work are important and manage expectations well. Im convinced you get most of your work done in the first 20 hours of the week and there's diminishing returns after that. Manual labor scales pretty linearly with time. Software development not so much.