About ten years ago I took a year off to teach English in Japan. Within a couple of months I was dying to go back to development.
Trust me, even compared to other white collar jobs, you would not believe how cushy we have it.
Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
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Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#62For 10 years programming has been my thing, but for a while now I have been getting the feeling that programming won't be big in 30 years. If all my eggs are in the programming basket and I can't keep a programming job in the future, I would be out of luck. (presumably because it's a blue collar profession by that point). With that fear in mind, becoming a M.D. actually seems like it would be a good decision. Even th…
I am curious as to why you don't think programming will be big in 30 years? One of my partners (we studied Biomedical Engineering together in undergrad) completed medical school, and then he decided it wasn't for him, and that he wanted to go back to technical work and in particular programming. A big part of his reasoning behind the transition was that he felt a large fraction of what doctors do is very repetitive and could be replaced by computers. I suspect he could give much more detailed reasoning than I can, but I can say that he felt strongly enough about this that he ate many many thousands of dollars of debt to go into programming instead of medicine.
Anyway, I certainly don't mean to discourage your pursuit of becoming an MD--I am just very curious to know your reasoning.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#63For 10 years programming has been my thing, but for a while now I have been getting the feeling that programming won't be big in 30 years. If all my eggs are in the programming basket and I can't keep a programming job in the future, I would be out of luck. (presumably because it's a blue collar profession by that point). With that fear in mind, becoming a M.D. actually seems like it would be a good decision. Even th…
30 years? You may be retired by then.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#64I'm an electrical engineer via a nontraditional path. Like software dev, it still involves large swaths of time spent staring at screens while inside a box.
I've been mulling over the possibility of some kind of work that would be more conducive to my long term sanity. My imagination has me developing and deploying instrumentation for environmental science. 1/3rd screen time 1/3rd workshop, 1/3rd fielding instruments.
I'll figure something out. Probably when 12 hours of daily screentime becomes unbearable.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can I ask how you got started in the field? I actually began my career in Accounting (my undergrad is in it), and still find the world of finance pretty interesting. Somewhere along the line I ended up in Engineering and have been a Software Dev ever since. But I do still think about getting into trading at some point, but not sure how to transition.
How does an accountant end up in "engineering" without going back to Uni and doing an engineering degree?
You know, not everyone needs to do a degree to be good in a field.
There is such thing as a traineeship. Yes, they lose out on a lot of the concepts and focused study, but I'd take sharp trainee over a hand pressed graduate any day.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#66Was a programmer and researcher in AI and security for 20 years. 15 years ago was feeling burned out and started looking for a financial planner for my family. I fell down the rabbit hole learning everything about the field and with the birth of my third child 14 years ago, I quit my job and opened my own business as a financial planner.
Programming and computer research went back to being a pure passion. And I haven't looked back since.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#67After years of software, I discovered that my favorite part of the job was teaching stuff to my peers.
I started by dabbling in teaching:
- Mentored some high school robotics teams in the evenings - Taught night school / weekend classes as adjunct faculty at local universities - Shifted my day job from developer to developer advocate
And then a few months ago I took the plunge... sort of. I went on sabbatical for a semester to teach CS 101 full time at a small university across the country.
It's been a great experience, but it made me realize how much I miss programming. I really miss the intellectual growth that I get from working with professional software developers. I suspect I'll resolve the conflict by going part time in my day job, and picking up more classes as an adjunct.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#68I'm mostly happy with programming, but I often think I'd like to try working in a coffee shop, especially a Starbucks. I spend so much time in cafes as a customer, and I really appreciate the difference that a barista's smile or greeting can make to my day. I'm curious to experience that from the other side for a while. I also read books about retail businesses & brands & Starbucks & customer experience for enjoyment, but I'm sure practice is wildly different from theory, especially at ground level dealing with customers for long hours.
But I've never tried applying, because I have no retail experience, and my work experience is mostly as a lone-wolf remote developer or indie developer (also I'm middle-aged now). Always thought I'd be laughed out of the interview. But I still think one day I'd like to try.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
How does an accountant end up in "engineering" without going back to Uni and doing an engineering degree?
The scare quotes are pretty condescending. How about removing them?
Condescending? Please explain why you see it like that.
When you go to a doctor, you expect that they completed training and are certified to practice medicine. It is the same for the engineering profession. Would you want to work in a high rise building that was designed and built some self-titled engineers who have never been appropriately trained?
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?
#70Yes and I still do. Nowadays I mainly just want to do research in Math/Theoretical Computer Science, but before I also considered becoming a chef or piano teacher.
I should have realized it back then but I enjoyed CS in college much more than software engineering in industry and I miss the difficulty and rigor of the problems.