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Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?

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Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?

#1
I work as a fullstack developer. Mostly doing frontend.

I’m sick of the mess of tooling, of the colleagues who code these giant spaghetti messes, I’m tired of standups. I’m tired of the codebase, and I don’t care about what we are building.

But most or all I’m tired of all the minutiae. I just feel like what we are working on, and how we are doing it, is boring as hell. There’s no intellectual stimulation.

Is it time to move jobs, or time to move careers?

What other careers are good for burnt out developers?

Re: Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?

#4
I moved _back_ to Linux system administration after a few years of full-stack web development. I prefer developing software as a hobby instead of professionally, because the latter is just not enjoyable for me — at least not at any of the companies I've worked for.

Re: Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?

#6
I feel ya – also seeking a career change, myself. Is going back to school for some other high-skill field a possibility for you? (doctors, lawyers, engineers, academia, etc.?)

Unfortunately, at least in the US, there are very few other middle-class jobs that someone can get into without a lot of formal education and/or experience. Software dev is (or at least used to be) an extreme outlier in that regard, propelling people up the economic ladder after just a few months of boot camp. I think those days are over, so if you want a comparable quality of life, I think it will take a lot of reskilling and expensive education/credentials (both in time and diplomas) :(

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In the meantime though, I will say this: As a software person, I've found it MUCH nicer to work for smaller to mid-sized companies vs big corporations. The salary isn't as good, but the work itself can be way more meaningful and impactful – everything you do directly impacts the product and customers, vs being a tiny cog in an insignificant wheel. None of the smaller companies I've worked for had the time, patience, or resources for endless Agile crap, for example. The codebases tended to be of mixed quality (sometimes they were homebrewed crap, other times they were OK consultant-written code) but overall, it's very much "not minutiae"... you have way more power over small-biz software like that, and there's a lot of problems to solve since your teams tend to be much smaller and your resources much fewer. All the problems are yours, but you are also empowered to make all the solutions. It's a much more satisfying feeling than "OK, I delivered 14 points this week, hope that shows up on my next review."

Re: Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?

#7
I suggest you try to look for a new job. It doesn't cost you much (other than some time) and you can test if you think the grass is greener on the other side. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't. It can give you a taste of the hiring market, which isn't very easy right now, and that can sometimes make you appreciate what you have. If you are taking interviews and everything sounds boring, maybe that will give you what you need to look at different careers and then start interviewing for those jobs?

Re: Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?

#9

For more context, I develop on weekends and I enjoy that because I can tackle problems I find interesting. But I’m yet to find a job I enjoy that makes me feel whole.

If you enjoy development but not your job, look for a better job. If you have some money saved, try startups, those usually flame out but they are fun while they last and if you're an employee you're getting paid, usually quite well.

Re: Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?

#10
Have you always felt this way about development? Or is this a newer feeling?

If it's newer, you might just be burnt out and taking a step away from the stuff you hate for a while may be enough to regain your excitement and motivation.

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