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Ask HN: Pivot from SWE to What?

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Ask HN: Pivot from SWE to What?

#1

Post by aupra »

I am a mid-level backend engineer with 4 yoe. I come from the world's most populous country. I was laid off 1.5 years ago. I travelled for half of the time, the rest half just passed by doing nothing although I learnt some AI fundamentals.

I hate leetcode and that keeps me away from most of the job opportunities. I have some money left just enough to get by for the next 6 months. I dont want to work here since they dont value humans here. Realistically, moving abroad is tough but I want to! I applied to a lot of startups but not getting any positive response.

Like most of us (?) I like to code for fun but hate it as work. I am not an AI doomer but believe human force would be cut by a sizeable amount in the foreseeable future in SWE. But then what's left apart from doing coding? I dont have any business ideas and doing it here in this country is just cumbersome.

Content creation comes to my mind but it's also tough out there. I really don't know what I should be doing.

1.5 years have gone by. But I want to make the rest of upcoming 6 months of great use in finding my calling. I can chatgpt my problem but I yearn for human responses. Thank you.

Re: Ask HN: Pivot from SWE to What?

#2

Post by tompark »

I'm guessing I'm over twice your age but my situation is similar to yours in a couple aspects. What I decided to do is focus on exploring the new capabilities that AI will allow individuals to do (especially those of us who can code). There are a lot of ppl who are justifiably frustrated with the current state of the tools. But don't get discouraged by that. I've seen A LOT of tech waves. It's still early in the AI era. I won't suggest any particular approach but recommend giving it some thought.

BTW, being an old timer, I also hated the leetcode thing when it became a widespread thing after Google adopted the practice in the wake of The Joel (Spolsky) Test. But you know, years later when I had to go through some interviews, I did spend a few months studying it and it turned out to be pretty fun. But passing technical screenings didn't help me land a job... only connecting via my network seemed to make any difference.

Re: Ask HN: Pivot from SWE to What?

#3

Post by torben-friis »

I see a bit of mixed signal from your post: you like recreational programming, but you hate leetcoding (which are close to puzzles). You mention that the non-technical part of the job (product thinking?) doesn't seem interesting, but you consider content creation which is very much people-facing.

What is it that you like? Not a specific job or task, I mean what is it that you like doing? Solving problems for people, interacting with a team, solving puzzles, deep theoretical stuff?

The intersection of that and what's livable is what is going to work.

Re: Ask HN: Pivot from SWE to What?

#4

Post by smackeyacky »

If the job application requires leetcode, just do it. The worst thing that could happen is you learn something.

I’ve been in the industry since the 1980s. I don’t see AI as any kind of threat. We expected a lot of the waves of technology would reduce the need for programmers but I now view it like Jevon’s paradox: AI will expand IT uses not reduce the number of programmers.

My colleagues all lived through various paradigm shifts (visual programming, no-code, low-code, objects, client server, etc) the work never really changes for the vast majority of programmers doing productivity work like CRUD systems.

Reach out to former co workers for opportunities.

Re: Ask HN: Pivot from SWE to What?

#5

Post by rcbdev »

Why don't you either just say the country you're from or don't say it at all?

Making the reader have to look up which country is the most populous on earth seems like the worst possible way of conveying that you are Indian.

Re: Ask HN: Pivot from SWE to What?

#7

Post by lonesword »

Pivot to being a student again :)

> I come from the world's most populous country.

> Realistically, moving abroad is tough but I want to! I applied to a lot of startups but not getting any positive response.

I was in a similar situation. After being bored doing CRUD, I applied for a masters program and moved to Germany in 2019 (I was 26 at the time). One of the better decisions I’ve made. There is no tuition fee (!!) in Germany for international students, and it is not that hard to get admitted to _some_ university (though actually graduating is hard). Computer science masters programs are usually in English. It is a fairly risk-free way to try out your hand at some research, and if you don’t like it, you can always find some software engineering job.

It’s not going to be easy - university applications are a pain in the ass, you will still have to learn some German e.t.c. But it’s a good way to “reset” your life.

> I hate leetcode and that keeps me away from most of the job opportunities.

One way out of this is to interview deliberately at smaller companies.

Re: Ask HN: Pivot from SWE to What?

#8

Post by janice1999 »

rcbdev wrote: post #5

Why don't you either just say the country you're from or don't say it at all? Making the reader have to look up which country is the most populous on earth seems like the worst possible way of conveying that you are Indian.

Being Indian is probably not the point he wants to make - it's that he has lots of competition, particularity as a developer.

Re: Ask HN: Pivot from SWE to What?

#9

Post by lonesword »

rcbdev wrote: post #5

Why don't you either just say the country you're from or don't say it at all? Making the reader have to look up which country is the most populous on earth seems like the worst possible way of conveying that you are Indian.

I agree with you, somewhat.

But now you have taken the trouble to complain that you had to look up “most populous country on earth” and yet contributed nothing to the discussion.

Re: Ask HN: Pivot from SWE to What?

#10

Post by janice1999 »

If you're worried about AI, content creation seems like the worst possible choice. If you want to future proof your career, I suggest finding a specialty that needs some hands on work, e.g. embedded development. AI is not going to pick up boards, attach probes and debug oscilloscope traces.. a least for a little while yet.
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