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Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
61–70 of 86 posts
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#62I'm trying to break into SE (at 32 from an accounting background), but not having a US/EU passport and living in a third world makes it hard. So I will say that depending on where you are from, things can get tricky. But the usual still stands, you get jobs by knowing the right people.
I don't know you and don't mean to insult but I advise you to change your mentality. Victimhood is a choice. Yes, you live in a 3rd world country where things are harder. But SE is one of the only fields where you don't need a degree, could work from anywhere in the world and still make decent money especially depending on the cost of living in your country. Plenty of poeple live in 3rd world countries and have found…
Empathy. It's a thing.
But seriously, there 8 billion of us on the planet and things can be massively different for different people.
First, software engineering is NOT necessarily well paid anywhere. A lot of that is a usa thing! Even in Canada, developers are far less on the crazy side of bell curve than in usa. None of my friends can make any sense of usa salaries. And in many other parts of the world, IT worker is an office worker. No special unique magic dust attached to profession.
Second, why do you assume you don't need a degree anywhere? That's true in many companies in usa. It's not necessarily the case in all companies everywhere.
Et cetera et cetera. Being In The right city, family, ethnicity, religion, group, caste can also make a massive difference in many places. There's just a zillion aspects to being successful in various situations that not all of us may be aware of.
Sorry if I'm harsh, but having lived in places outside of the North American continent and still remembering their reality / having contacts around the world, the willing, arrogant and patronizing HN bubble sometimes really grates me :-/
(if on the other hand / benefit of doubt, your intent was to encourage the op, I think the message slightly missed the mark... Better luck next time :)
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#63I was a tenured mathematics professor in academia (at UCSD and Univ of Washington) from 2005-2019, and a full professor during the last few years. At 45, I left academia and started a small tech company, giving up tenure and the academic life. It has worked out for me so far, though it often felt like my instincts from academia are almost exactly backwards from the correct instincts for industry. Anyway, leaving the…
Oh my god, SageMath helped me so much when learning mathematics. Thank you, so so much you for the amazing work you've put in, the world needs more people like you.
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#6449 this year. 24ish years ago i went from Baker to IT.
I know thats not at 30... but close enough given the huge change in career trajectory.
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#65Love these threads. I'm mid 30s, coding since young, full stack dev now. Lucky to do something I enjoy. That said, burnt out a couple of years ago, hopped a couple of jobs, but yet to find one that lets me love programming again. Too much BS. Trying to just treat it as a job and save my enthusiasm for personal projects to keep that fire alive, but I'd be lying if I said I don't routinely think about getting out. Always good to read accounts from the side of the fence where the grass is greener.
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#66Yes, I ended my career to make apps on my own or within worker cooperative structures. No more bosses, no more wage labor. It’s peachy.
Hey I'd love to chat with you about tech worker coops. Would you mind?
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#67I was mech eng and switched to cs. BS in ME but MS in CS.
I know lots of others 30+ who switched to cs after 30 as well. Much less going the other way. It's worked out quite well for everyone I know.
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#68Yes, I ended my career to make apps on my own or within worker cooperative structures. No more bosses, no more wage labor. It’s peachy.
Hey I'd love to chat with you about tech worker coops. Would you mind?
I don't actually have one spun up yet but have been taking steps, researching approaches, and have another friend studying them closely for other reasons. But sure I'd be happy to chat. You can email me at the domain in my profile (without subdomain, with anything before the @)
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#69Yes! I switched from software to being a therapist. I wrote about it here: http://glench.com/WhyIQuitTechAndBecameATherapist/
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#70Planning on it and I'm almost 40. I'm in tech now, but in life I really enjoy deep 1-1 time with people more than anything else I do at work. I've got a 5-year plan to leave tech and go back to school to become a therapist, specifically working with people suffering from OCD (and perhaps some other forms of anxiety). At this point it's mostly meeting with people in the industry to hear their stories, with a goal of a…
that's awesome, good luck!