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Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

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Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#441

Post by scarecrowbob »

fsargent wrote: post #318

I'd be an economics teacher. I'd love to teach High School and/or College economics. Since this is my own fantasy land, I'd be able to set my own curriculum. 1. Why do we work? (Jobs, Businesses, and the individual economy) 2. What is wealth, and how do I get it? (Saving, investment, real estate) 3. Is it supposed to be like this? (Capitalism, Government, modern political economy) 4. Systems Design (If you want to ch…

If I had to make a living outside of programming, I think that teaching would be one possibility. I taught for a 6 years at a large state university and took my certification qualification exam. My parents are both career teachers, and my wife makes a really nice living teaching.

That said, there is no way that I can see myself doing it in the context of a high school or college.

High schools (at least the several that I have subbed at, and I have a couple of teenagers, so I've been on that side of it too) are really crappy "Lord of the Flies" kinds of places.

Colleges are better, but there are similar structural problems to being a musician: it's basically no pay for a big sector of the population, plus you still have an institution around your students.

The best model that I have seen is private students; my wife has 40 violin students (plus her general business of being a musician, plus teaching with a couple of local youth orchestras) and makes a very good living.

There is no reason that you can't apply the same principles to teaching any subject. I asked around, and there was a high demand for folks who wanted me to teach their kids how to program. I imagine that if there were a bigger population, I'd be able to find enough folks to put together seminars on the same stuff I was teaching at the university.

At that point, setting your own curriculum is part of the job and not a fantasy.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#444

Post by echelon »

Anybody in Atlanta interested in film?

I use almost all of my spare time to pursue my hobbies, and this year I want to get started learning filmmaking.

I'd like to incorporate programming with filmmaking, too. I've had an idea for programmatically switching between several cuts of a scene based on user input and other variables. With enough shots and a clever enough script, one might be able to turn a film into a game.

If there's anybody locally into film, I'd love to buy you a coffee and see if we might be able to work together.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#445

Post by aerique »

Fnoord wrote: post #293
aerique wrote: post #281

I would do some climate activism, become a crew member on a Sea Shepherd boat. That, or help out my political party ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_for_the_Animals ) since we have elections early this year. The party's name is unfortunate and its Wikipedia description as well. It is more well-rounded than that and also is the best party in the parliament wrt privacy, civilian rights, etc. (dutch link: https://w…

Is Judo your current hobby? You could consider to take a sabbatical for a time on the Sea Shepherd. I don't have the right personality for that (I'm too withdrawn/passive, not social enough) but I have a lot of respect for people who devote time, energy, and money against the strong tide of corporate selfishness. Your party's name makes it sound like a one issue party. I recommend to change it, or merge with GL/SP.

Sorry, I should have said "the party I am a member of" :-)

And, yeah, they're unfortunately pretty resistant to changing the name.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#449

Post by btgeekboy »

pc86 wrote: post #147

Flight instructor/local commercial pilot. The pay is garbage compared to software development but if you're an independent CFI there is as much time freedom as there is being a remote dev, and the pay is still good enough to cover all the necessities.

CFI is my retirement job. Already have my private, so I'm working towards my commercial now. Once I'm starting to feel like the old man of the team, it'll be time to move to a beautiful part of the country with lower living expenses and let students try to kill me all day.

Bonus: if I work in the tech industry long enough, I can afford to pick up a few 150s and start a school.

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