Ask HN: How do I escape webdev?

As a self-taught developer (although I don’t think self-taught has anything to do with it) I strongly relate to you! I’m currently a full-stack and working hard to transition away from webdev. The first (and probably hardest) thing for me was to decide what to transition towards, and that’s a question that only you can answer. If you are self-taught I’m gonna take a guess that you once had this huge curiosity and strong motivation to learn coding! You probably skipped sleep from time to time because it was such a rush learning all those cool things! One clue to decide what to transition towards could be finding again that same motivation that made you learn by yourself in the first place. As an example, I’m currently learning x86 architecture, assembly, C, kernel development, etc... because (after a few years exploring) I finally decided that I want to transition towards low level hardware programming.

Another idea about transitioning could be taking a break from development. Maybe there are other technical skills that you have or can learn (i.e. video editing, 3D design, penetration testing, etc...) that might spark that original flame or leaning and enjoying what you do.

One last thing is, take a look at the flow state. I remember reading the book “Deep Work” in a time that I was in a job that I hated and about to throw the towel and the ideas in the book completely changed my experience at work. It was still the same job but my attitude was drastically different and I started enjoying immensely what I was doing! (Still quit and got a better job... bad organizational culture is quite hard to fix)

Anyways, wish you the best in your search!!

That’s exactly what I was referring to. I thought by replying to the comment that mentioned joining a team would have provided the context of what I was agreeing too...

Self taught developer here.

I learned to write better code by making code testable. When writing spaghetti code with a few tests, I'd create a big mess that worked. But then I'd try to add a test for something new and I couldn't figure out how to make it work. After coding myself into a corner enough times, I'd eventually learn to create more flexible abstractions. And eventually the code started making a bit more sense out if necessity.

The next big jump in my understanding was learning Elixir and the actor model. Learning how to write async code that didn't get a reply and where messages might not be received was huge.

I didn't get my first dev job until I was 40. I most definitely understand what it feels like being older than my peers in this industry. My secret weapon is knowing my shit and working my ass off to stay relevant. This is a hard industry if you don't like it enough to keep your skills sharp. Like you, I don't relish front-end development, but I do my best to learn what I need to know as needed.

Vouching your comment, as this is a very valid point. If the OP is sick of webdev, they the likely end case is that they will just end up discouraging their students.

Could be humble. Or could be like me and have a severe inferiority complex, mostly from the constant flexing of recent CS grads always makes you feel like you really don't know what you're doing.

Even if you do.