Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How to get out of Tech and still make a decent living?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 107 posts

Re: Ask HN: How to get out of Tech and still make a decent living?

#91

Post by charlesdm »

rwallace wrote: post #82

I know of one guy who got burned out on corporate IT and opened a game store. Several years later, each year being just as close to bankruptcy as the previous, he realized it was the corporate BS he was burned out on, not programming per se, and he would have been far better off looking for a different way to earn money with his programming skills, but by that time it was too late, he was too committed to the game st…

I am absolutely incapable of working for most companies, because of corporate bullshit. I much prefer being an entrepreneur, making money online / building great products / dealing with customers. Occasional consulting is doable, because you're usually dealing with decision makers, who cut through the bullshit.

Re: Ask HN: How to get out of Tech and still make a decent living?

#92

Post by sevenpuddings »

Zelmor wrote: post #80
sevenpuddings wrote: post #65

I'd also like more opinions and stories on this topic. My story is somewhat similar, started programming at a very early age, then worked professionally since 13 non-stop (first job writing credit card processing apps). Post-university, I've been in the industry for 15+ years as well. Excuse the rant that follows, but hopefully it will get others to chime in. In University, I made an initial attempt to get out of the…

Why not start a vendor company? Based on the tech stack you know, you can recruit competent people and sell them as business analysts or consultants for a lot of money. They earn well, you earn just as well. That's the kind of thing I'm currently in. Boss-men were two devs some 15 years ago, threw arms in the air in a 'fuck i quit' moment. Started consulting to their previously built business connections, then recrui…

I worked in consulting and vowed to never go back. I suppose my clients would vouch for me but it's been a long time. I also lived overseas so really lost contact with lots of people for extended period of times. Let that be a lesson to the younger.

I suppose picking the right niche it can be better than your average small business custom dev consulting gig or something similar. I'm just so over the tech industry bs. I worked for Microsoft and some other names at times, and I fully admit those experiences can easily make one bitter. I'm trying to be positive and find light in it all, but it gets harder with each passing year.

In any case, thanks. I've had similar thoughts and wanted to find at least one person to partner with, but can't think of anyone interested I trust. Too many of the good people I've worked with are wife/husband kids people and don't want to take on the risk of their own business. One day though.

Re: Ask HN: How to get out of Tech and still make a decent living?

#93

Post by marktangotango »

ryandrake wrote: post #88

This thread is full of personal stories so I'll add mine. Writing software is fun but burned out on doing it professionally for 10 years. Frustrated I was just making my bosses rich and building their dreams not mine. Frustrated at programming's long-term career trajectory (Nobody will hire you after 40). Dreamed of doing my own thing but no capital to start a company. Went into debt for an MBA, goal of getting into…

> Frustrated at programming's long-term career trajectory (Nobody will hire you after 40).

Simply not true. At 40+ I'm making the highest salary of my career thus far, and have no problem switching jobs. Had three offers last time I switched (8 months ago). I post this as a warning to anyone less experience reading this thread and taking this as fact, when it is most certainly anecdotal.

Re: Ask HN: How to get out of Tech and still make a decent living?

#94

Post by ryandrake »

marktangotango wrote: post #93
ryandrake wrote: post #88

This thread is full of personal stories so I'll add mine. Writing software is fun but burned out on doing it professionally for 10 years. Frustrated I was just making my bosses rich and building their dreams not mine. Frustrated at programming's long-term career trajectory (Nobody will hire you after 40). Dreamed of doing my own thing but no capital to start a company. Went into debt for an MBA, goal of getting into…

> Frustrated at programming's long-term career trajectory (Nobody will hire you after 40). Simply not true. At 40+ I'm making the highest salary of my career thus far, and have no problem switching jobs. Had three offers last time I switched (8 months ago). I post this as a warning to anyone less experience reading this thread and taking this as fact, when it is most certainly anecdotal.

To address your nit-pick (and lscore720's): Of course we all know the "nobody will hire you after 40" statement is not literally true. The threat of ageism, however, drives technology workers' desperate need to establish and grow our careers quickly, because in general, our career is expected to plateau early compared to other professions.

Re: Ask HN: How to get out of Tech and still make a decent living?

#95

Post by timr »

uola wrote: post #79
timr wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are new, I recommend that you pick a discipline with long-term proven value, and go as deep as you can into it. If you have a bit more experience, pick a second discipline, and define yourself as the specialist in X-meets-Y. Just don't be a magpie: make a choice, and stick to it. This is the hard part, because it will be excruciatingly tempting to follow all of the other magpies to the new field when they leav…

While they might not realized, many programmers will already specialized in software development. Meaning their career will take them to technical lead, project manager, software architect etc. and not "number crunching".

That can be a valid specialization, but the bar is higher than most people realize. If you're going to be a specialist in software development, it isn't enough to merely work at a company or three and advance through the ranks. You have to become so skilled at the process of software creation that your knowledge is recognized as universally relevant. You have to be in the top percentile(s) of people who do what you do.

It's the difference between being a middle manager at a tech company and being, say, Rob Pike or Jeff Dean. (Maybe that bar is set a bit too high, but hopefully you get the idea.)

Re: Ask HN: How to get out of Tech and still make a decent living?

#96

Post by beagle3 »

mattm wrote: post #87
beagle3 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ageism is definitely a problem in software, but not in other specialized fields, which suggests to me that it is fixable. It will take decades to fix if ever, and the fixed state won't be recognizable. In my opinion, ageism in software exists mostly because it is a fashion business, and (statistically speaking, and rather objectively), older people are not as good at catering to the latest fashions. This also happe…

> It will take decades to fix if ever, and the fixed state won't be recognizable. It will fix itself. Software became popular with the rise of the Internet which didn't happen till the late 90's. If we assume people at that time were in their mid-late 20's, then they would be in their mid-late 40's now. Basically, there just isn't that many 50+ developers out there. In another 10-20 years there will be a lot more and…

I worked with 30 year old programmers 25 years ago. I worked with 30 year old programmers 20 years ago. None of those guys are still coding. Some moved to management, some to consulting (as in, real consulting). None that I'm in touch with is still writing code.

There aren't as many 50 year old developers as younger ones, but there are enough to see a pattern (and for things like the Google lawsuit age discrimination lawsuit[0] - we'll have to wait and see how that works out). Whether it will change when there are more 50 year old developers or not - my bet is that it won't.

[0] http://www.computerworld.com/article/3090087/it-careers/goog...

Re: Ask HN: How to get out of Tech and still make a decent living?

#97

Post by Bar_Code »

You're in tech, so an experience you have that is over 5 years is largely useless. What you need to leverage is your wisdom gained from the 15 years of experience. Wisdom is what separates you from someone with "only" 5 years of experience, but who can code almost as good as you and work for less. So no, there is no respect for experience beyond a number of years.

I've been in tech for over 25 years and I am more engaged than ever in what I am doing. I've been a programmer (front and back end), sysadmin, dba, network engineer, project manager, and product manager. Looking back, through all of that learning, I was becoming a better leader. About 3 years ago I stopped coding and became a full time leader in tech. I now optimize people and teams, not code and systems.

I'm still very much involved in architecting systems, which is where wisdom comes in. If I can't guide them in how to build something, chances are I can provide equal value in telling them how NOT to build something.

I would advise pursuing a role where you can impart your wisdom and leverage your many years of experience to help others and make an impact that way.

Re: Ask HN: How to get out of Tech and still make a decent living?

#98

Post by kzisme »

Bar_Code wrote: post #97

You're in tech, so an experience you have that is over 5 years is largely useless. What you need to leverage is your wisdom gained from the 15 years of experience. Wisdom is what separates you from someone with "only" 5 years of experience, but who can code almost as good as you and work for less. So no, there is no respect for experience beyond a number of years. I've been in tech for over 25 years and I am more eng…

Should there ever be a fear of being stuck with one technology, or language while at a job (or in a career?)

Currently I write .NET but I don't know if that would be the most interesting career to ~only~ write .NET (I'm a recent grad)

Re: Ask HN: How to get out of Tech and still make a decent living?

#99

Post by JamesBarney »

marktangotango wrote: post #93
ryandrake wrote: post #88

This thread is full of personal stories so I'll add mine. Writing software is fun but burned out on doing it professionally for 10 years. Frustrated I was just making my bosses rich and building their dreams not mine. Frustrated at programming's long-term career trajectory (Nobody will hire you after 40). Dreamed of doing my own thing but no capital to start a company. Went into debt for an MBA, goal of getting into…

> Frustrated at programming's long-term career trajectory (Nobody will hire you after 40). Simply not true. At 40+ I'm making the highest salary of my career thus far, and have no problem switching jobs. Had three offers last time I switched (8 months ago). I post this as a warning to anyone less experience reading this thread and taking this as fact, when it is most certainly anecdotal.

I'm just curious but do you have a specialty? And if so is it domain or technical? Like the ruby guy, or the HIPPA guy etc..

Re: Ask HN: How to get out of Tech and still make a decent living?

#100

Post by ZeroFries »

baccheion wrote: post #68

Yes, start a company or create an app (or several apps) that will pull in enough revenue to keep you going. This is either doable, or not really possible at all, so it should be obvious which situation you're in. Also, meditate, listen to brainwave entrainment, maybe spend some time in a sensory deprivation tank, research DXM reset (6.4mg DXM per kg of body weight-- at most once every 2 weeks), then start taking N-Ac…

Do you have any links for DXM reset? Is that similar to ketamine for depression? Interested in your burn-out reversal protocol.
Post reply on HN