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Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#481

Post by clentaminator »

tixocloud wrote: post #398
clentaminator wrote: post #256

I think about leaving programming every day. I love programming, but I'm not sure I enjoy software development as a career. I enjoy coding and understanding how computer systems work, but I don't care for the constant changes in tools and techniques in certain domains of development. I'd rather practise with and improve my existing knowledge of a subject, instead of constantly playing catch-up with someone else's too…

You might consider digging deeper into other professions where programming experience/systems knowledge would be essential. You might also dig deeper into discovering what you like and don't like about the programming profession: Do you prefer going to meetings? Do you like solving new problems constantly? What drives your satisfaction? What do you not like about programming? What do you like about programming? What…

I've considered this quite a bit.

When I picture someone with a strong background in programming and CS going into another field I always imagine there's a lot of potential for really understanding problems in that field and applying computing to solve them. Essentially, using computing to really support work in another field rather than just computing for it's own sake.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#482

Post by digikata »

thenomad wrote: post #447
amelius wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But at least those jobs don't have the stigma of being (in the words above) Asperger professions. This makes it difficult to share your problems with other people, and of course, also because people in general would, I suppose, find the problems that musicians or theatre writers have more interesting, and more approachable than the problems of a software developer. Also, this makes that a musician can be a "musician"…

Speaking as an ex-film producer - nope. It's tremendously difficult to share the problems inherent in most showbiz professions. That's partially because they tend to be very complex and counterintuitive. If we wanted to have a conversation about my problems selling a feature film (assuming I was currently doing so - thankfully I'm not), I'd first need to give you a 90-minute seminar on how selling films works in 2016…

Just to add into another comment, a 90 min seminar on how selling films works does sound fascinating, as would a whole series of seminars on how various industries operate.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#483

Post by ohgh1ieD »

Actually yes, every day, I'm counting the days till med school.

I'll probably write code as long as I am alive but not under those conditions, not CRUD apps, not to make someone else rich.

I'd actually say that there are only 4 reasons to write code:

- To learn

- Temporary ( cash )

- To create something which becomes eventually a company

- To solve your own problems

Obv. I don't want to attack someone, that's just how I think about it.

When I entered SE I already knew that I'm not going to do that for a long time, it's on my list, I had to learn it. It's time for the next topic.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#484

Post by Grishnakh »

jasonkester wrote: post #235
mbrock wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you call someone who's self-taught and mentored in the typical engineering practices (construction, repairs, engines, etc)? Why would some national laws about certifications prevent you from referring to such a person as an engineer?

For four years, my business cards read "engineering". As in, does engineering work but cannot sign off on documents and thus is not an Engineer. I left for software before sitting the PE, so they'd read the same were I to return to doing Mechanical Engineering work. But of course it's silly to stand on principal on such things, so I've never taken offense to anybody calling themselves whatever they like. If the janit…

You don't need a PE to call yourself an "engineer". Every working engineer calls himself an "engineer" on his resume. What you people are forgetting is the Industrial Exemption. Companies are allowed to call their employees engineers and use that word in their job titles because of the exemption.

The PE thing really only applies to stuff like civil engineering projects.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#485

Post by Grishnakh »

gnclmorais wrote: post #174

Every day. I’m a bit jealous of all my friends with professions that don’t require any of their free time. They can have all kinds of hobbies and spend their free time doing whatever they want.

Go into the defense industry. There's no overtime there (except on very rare occasion, and you're paid for it).

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#487

Post by epynonymous »

i did actually leave programming (almost 10 years ago) for a job as a people manager (of programmers/test). it's a lot more fun to write code as opposed to dealing with all the nuances of personalities, politics, processes, etc. i do have a few side projects which have allowed me to stay as a pretty effective coder, but at the end of the day, i'm also doing a lot of non-development things on my side project like go to market definition, managing people, project management, and slideware.

there are definitely very tedious things that programmers have to deal with like unmarshalling and marshalling data across backend to frontend components or test automation (think of having a multi-tier system with ios app, database, email service for forgotten password and having to automate all of that). but at the end of the day, the thing i like most about programming is the ability to see the things i create doing something useful. seeing the end result that's of high quality gives me a sense of pride. i'm definitely a maker, it's what i was born to do. but at the end of the day it's about risk/reward and opportunity cost, at this point there's just too much to give up, and the side project isnt panning out yet.

on a slight tangent, i have an electrical/computer engineering background and was supposed to go into hardware like most of my classmates, but i ended up liking the fact that i had something tangible after hours of programming, even though it was virtual, and with hardware i'd have nothing to show for it, but a pic controller lighting up some led's, a breadboard with a bunch of mixed logic implementing some simple thing, or some vhdl state machine that effectively did something simple. no offense to all the engineers working on this type of thing, but it just wasnt as exciting to me.

i find that there's some balance to it all, like getting paid well, but also having hobbies on the side that you can soak yourself into. but then again, i've heard many a story about people doing what they love and for lots of money.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#488

Post by shostack »

dbjacobs wrote: post #66

Was a programmer and researcher in AI and security for 20 years. 15 years ago was feeling burned out and started looking for a financial planner for my family. I fell down the rabbit hole learning everything about the field and with the birth of my third child 14 years ago, I quit my job and opened my own business as a financial planner. Programming and computer research went back to being a pure passion. And I haven…

How do you like it? Have a relative just starting in that field.

Is it mostly sales because you are a service based business? And how does the fee structure work out? Better part than programming?

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#489

Post by shostack »

jamez1 wrote: post #115
aridiculous wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's really cool. Could you describe what work in equities is? What's a day-to-day like?

Buying and selling shares of companies, I work in a team of 10 and we manage roughly $10b (equivalent in USD). Every day we will discuss new developments and how they affect our valuations for these businesses. These decisions are then factored into a portfolio model, which is then implemented by the dealer. All in all, you have a lot of freedom, you aren't accountable for your time. I could be gone for the week and…

You make it sound rather easy here. Can you speak to the sources of stress and the baseline knowledge required to the job?

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#490

Post by mpfundstein »

pathsjs wrote: post #250
mpfundstein wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

functional programming then? if you are into javascript, check fantasy-land

That has really little to do with mathematics...

I don't agree. Did you ever take a good look into FP? Start with Functors and Monads and wander deep down the path to category theory...

But beware, you won't be able to function anymore in a JAVA OOP store :P

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