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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?

#71

Post by hobolord »

SyneRyder wrote: post #68

I'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…

I've really thought about this as well, I'd love to work a couple hours in a coffee shop on a weekend. It's mainly the fact that you get to interact with somebody, make them something, and see them enjoy it immediately.

Sometime's it's difficult for me to get motivated to push out code when it's just for myself.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#72

Post by jchendy »

CyberFonic wrote: post #69
herdrick wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

> It is the same for the engineering profession.

In some countries it is that way. I know Canada is very strict about who can be called an engineer.

In the US, it is not that way. AFAIK, there's no legal definition of an engineer, and anybody can call themselves an engineer.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#73

Post by [deleted] »

CyberFonic wrote: post #69
herdrick wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#74

Post by abawany »

After a particularly terrible period at a large e-commerce company that comprised of endless and useless meetings, stupid product plans to nowhere, psychpaths galore, brutal waste of shareholder vale, and enough process to make Hell seem desirable, I decided that maybe I was not cut out for the original passion of my life, i.e. development. I started to take evening classes in accounting etc. with the aim of getting a CPA. I also left the above corporate Hades around that time and found a situation at a quirky startup, where I realized that software development is truly what I love, particularly when unencumbered by process feces. Off by the wayside went the CPA plan and I went on to learn more things in a year at that startup than I had in many years at other places. I also realized that leaving something that I have loved and lived since I was 13 is a little difficult and that the things that were causing my disillusionment were not related to my passion but to various unfortunate diseases that have come to afflict my industry.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#75

Post by mpoon »

SyneRyder wrote: post #68

I'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…

You should make this happen! I ended up getting a part time over the weekend gig at a San Francisco coffee shop - it was super satisfying to be on the other side.

I made the effort to befriend the baristas since I see them every day anyway. Eventually asked one of them to teach me during slow hours and I started to make my own drink each time I came in. One of them baristas ended up referring me to a different cafe (allowed me to avoid the awkward conversation of a weird looking resume) and I passed the interview by making decent drinks.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#76

Post by memracom »

SyneRyder wrote: post #68

I'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…

In a small town there is less of an age barrier to working as a barista or waiter or similar service jobs.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#77

Post by akhaku »

santaclaus wrote: post #13

Mechanical Engineering -- I work through a different mechanics textbook once a year, or so, for fun. I think I enjoy the theory of how the physical world works more than the practice, which keeps me where I am. :)

I sort of went the other direction. Went to school for mechanical engineering, near the end of it I realized that software development was kind of fun too. As much fun as it is to work with free body diagrams and simulate control systems in Matlab (SimuLink), the development and iteration cycle with physical product is a lot longer, and you end up spending months designing eg a ball bearing. On the other hand, with software, you can get a lot further a lot faster, and it becomes a constant cycle of near-instant gratification.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever thought of leaving programming for something else?

#79

Post by bbarn »

Like some dozen others here, if it weren't for the money.. sure, I'd run a bike shop, with a frame building shop in the back room.

As careers go though, what we do is interesting, ever changing, and an exercise in learning almost every day. Oh, and the pay kicks ass. So, yeah, I've thought it. Lots of us think it all the time, but really, we've got a great job, so while the grass may be greener over there, it's pretty green here too.

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