I’m a medical doctor and I wish I became I software engineer instead.
Get into AI. It's a gold mine for medical stuff and your domain knowledge will really make a difference.
Ask HN: Tired of being a software engineer, what next?
51–60 of 118 posts
Re: Ask HN: Tired of being a software engineer, what next?
#52I’m a medical doctor and I wish I became I software engineer instead.
I'm a doctor (ICU) who also does some IT stuff for work (nothing complex, mainly writing small web apps). I really enjoy writing stuff where you know the requirements, make all the decisions, write the code and maintain it. However, doing this has allowed me to get some exposure to what bigger projects with lots of moving parts, data sources, stakeholders, regulatory requirements etc look like - and it's seriously hard work. Nothing like "coding, the hobby".
I guess this commonly occurs in many fields at a certain level of seniority - the "managing a large system involving many people" aspect can dominate the domain-specific part, be it software engineering, accounting, manufacturing etc. As such I'm really glad I chose medicine rather than SWE (even though I've been writing and loving code for >35 years, and it was a real toss-up when I went to uni) because:
1. You can still stay very hands on, even as a senior clinician, especially procedurally.
2. If you so choose, there's a lot of variety in what you find yourself doing as a doctor (my mix looks like making clinical decisions / talking to patients / families / doing procedures / performing and interpreting ultrasound / going to other hospitals to retrieve super sick patients and bringing them back in ambulances / mentoring / teaching / coding / managing a clinical service / etc - but there are lots of other options too). I'm not sure if this kind of variety is as easy to arrange as a SWE? (though I suspect I'm about to be corrected, thanks in advance.) Variety is quite important if you're easily bored, which is a common problem for bright people.
3. Although AI is coming to all fields, I do think the impact will look more like "better tools", rather than "job replacement", or "vast reduction in number of people needed", for longer in medicine (at least in my area). As a breadwinner this is a not inconsequential consideration.
Hope you find the career you love, and that it leverages the work and study you've already done in some way.
Re: Ask HN: Tired of being a software engineer, what next?
#53Re: Ask HN: Tired of being a software engineer, what next?
#54> I kind of feel I have wasted my time/life on this career. Software development has squandered the brightest minds on pointless work for decades. Your feelings are not wrong IMO. Even back in the 40s this threat to Real Work posed by the computer's infinite ability to steal time from bright minds was basically already identified: > It's a very serious disease and it interferes completely with the work. The > trouble…
> It's a very serious disease and it interferes completely with the work. what he noticed is playing with computers can steal time from your other work, yes... but if your work is the computer it's not stealing time from anything
I'd argue that he was already catching a glimpse of the engineer trap that is a machine you can spend all your time playing with "engineering" in plain sight because there's no physical waste byproduct for everyone to see is clearly happening.
What amount of "software engineering" actually ship in products that see the light of day? How many "real job" programs have been written that were executed in production for longer than it took to implement them?
There's an endless mountain of wasted "work" in this field. The computer provides this infinite engineering puzzle and IMNSHO it largely serves as a huge mental effort sink depriving the rest of society of bright minds that could be doing something far more productive.
Software folks are regularly burning endless hours on effort to make something nobody knows ever existed six months later.
How many major projects has Google alone funded development of then terminated?
Re: Ask HN: Tired of being a software engineer, what next?
#55Stop chasing dreams instead. Life is not a Hollywood movie. Not everyone is going to get a famous billionaire. Adjust your expectations to reality, and stop thinking so highly of yourself, stop judging others. Assume the responsibility for the things that happen in your life. It is kind of annoying to read your text, it is always some external thing that "happened" to you, and it is always other people who are not up…
Touche!
Re: Ask HN: Tired of being a software engineer, what next?
#56The "I will be happy when" trap is a dangerous one. Work on being content with that you have. Your health, your family, your friends, your hobbies. The fact that you live in 2023 and have the entire world of entertainment and information at your fingertips, something no human in the previous 200,000 years had. > Everyone says ... a true engineer's paradise. I've never had this impression of FAANG. I always figured th…
> I've never had this impression of FAANG. I have. It was a popular myth when I was coming up. I'm the same age as the OP (40, graduated in 2005). Back in the early 00s, google was seen by most as the promised land. Facebook was too, for a while. Those initial impressions, even though they were formed from afar, can be hard to shake.
It kind of still is in terms of compensation. And many equate promised land with compensation unfortunately.
Re: Ask HN: Tired of being a software engineer, what next?
#57Learn to find joy in the little, bottom-up things. Curiosity and humility are relevant. If you don’t, you fail in an evolutionary sense compared to those who learn to do this (it’s why commencement speakers touch on finding your passion — your situation is one on which they’re talking about). Humility: look in the under-looked places for finding joy. And realize there’s always more to learn and to teach. Curiosity: t…
What do you mean by bottom up things? Something similar to building software bottom up vs top down? Simple tinkering?
Re: Ask HN: Tired of being a software engineer, what next?
#58I am in the same boat. 43 with wife and kids depending on my income but I honestly hate what I do. I am currently trying to focus instead of on my work but on myself. I have gotten deep into philosophy and ethics in particular. I will probably try to write a book or do a podcast at some point but I may just stay the course and enjoy having a not monetized hobby.
This is a good way to develop oneself. Doing the same work for a long time eventually takes the initial passion away but we can continue doing it for a living while working on other things. It's like earning a ticket to work on higher things. My job is boring as hell too but I grit through it after which I concentrate on things that make me grow personally. I do enjoy philosophy too but as a lurker only, but do have my own area of hands on.
Re: Ask HN: Tired of being a software engineer, what next?
#59I’m a medical doctor and I wish I became I software engineer instead.
I'm a doctor (ICU) who also does some IT stuff for work (nothing complex, mainly writing small web apps). I really enjoy writing stuff where you know the requirements, make all the decisions, write the code and maintain it. However, doing this has allowed me to get some exposure to what bigger projects with lots of moving parts, data sources, stakeholders, regulatory requirements etc look like - and it's seriously ha…
You would very much enjoy these things for 10 years, or 20 but eventually you get bored of it if you have to do it over and over.
Re: Ask HN: Tired of being a software engineer, what next?
#60Stop chasing dreams instead. Life is not a Hollywood movie. Not everyone is going to get a famous billionaire. Adjust your expectations to reality, and stop thinking so highly of yourself, stop judging others. Assume the responsibility for the things that happen in your life. It is kind of annoying to read your text, it is always some external thing that "happened" to you, and it is always other people who are not up…
>The impression I get is that you must be someone incredibly annoying to work with
I don't get this impression at all, but in any case it seems an unnecessary and rude remark.