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Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

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Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#51

Post by asciimo »

rfzabick wrote: post #28

I also had been in software for over a decade and was bored with most of the problems I needed to solve. I switched to security about a year and a half ago (largely pen testing) and I'm much happier. When I code, I care about the problems I'm solving. I also get to break things which is a lot of fun. Switching to security might be something to consider for you as well. It's a change, but it doesn't require huge pay c…

I've thought about this, as well as forensics. How did you present yourself to your first potential security employers?

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#52

Post by [deleted] »

rifung wrote: post #42
cerrelio wrote: post #11

I took two breaks from tech. One was for grad school, which I dropped out of after 3 semesters. Like some others in the thread I found academia to be pretty bad. You're paid shit and treated like a peon. The work was actually interesting, but I knew I could just go back to private industry and make 5-10x as much doing the same type of work. I took a break from "everything" at one point and became a nightlife photogra…

> The work was actually interesting, but I knew I could just go back to private industry and make 5-10x as much doing the same type of work. Don't you have much more freedom in academia on what you want to pursue though since it doesn't have to make money or am I mistaken? I'm considering going into academia because I'd like to do research more on the theory side for which there don't seem to be (m)any industry posit…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#53

Post by anexprogrammer »

To follow on from the little thread from my comment over there [0]...

I was getting far too jaded and cynical about the constant reinvention of the wheel that was never better, just different. Along with the ever increasing crap masquerading as the next must have with added lock-in. We have far too much stuff and need to make less. The dissonance had me feeling part of the problem not the solution.

I'm less wealthy, but the dot com bust taught me to be frugal (or starve). But I'm spending a lot less too. I'm orders of magnitude happier and satisfied. I feel like I'm doing something substantive and feel good about what I do. I have more options and interesting choices in how the second career develops than I expected. I feel fitter and healthier, and I get to see daylight rather more!

The idea of side project or two to keep my tech neurons active appeals, and after 3 years or so out, appeals rather more. If it makes some extra £ so much the better.

Overall probably the best thing I've ever done.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13334774

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#54

Post by iguanayou »

kickscondor wrote: post #19

I guess I should answer this one. I quit computer programming to teach public elementary school during the summer of 2015. I had been planning my exit for five to maybe ten years ago. The pay is nowhere near what one can make as a programmer - but I didn't really need all that money anyway. I teach a technology class - every kid in the school takes it for an hour - some of it involves programming, some of it is letti…

I left the tech world to teach high school. Two years in I felt the same as you do now. Five years in, not so much - and I returned to programming.

I still like teaching and still do it part time, but would not want to be a full time public school teacher again.

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#56

Post by Bombthecat »

callinyouin wrote: post #5

I feel the same way you feel. Growing up I was absolutely fascinated with computers and knew I wanted to be a computer scientist since the age of 12 or 13. Now that I'm in the industry (and not in academia like I initially thought I wanted) the magic is gone and I want to get out, hopefully within the next 5 years or so. It's not that I dislike programming, in fact I still love it, but now that I'm solving other peop…

I was exactly the same!

But I still wanted to keep working in IT.

Now I do consulting.

Maybe that's something you might like?

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#57

Post by 616c »

eplanit wrote: post #33
late2part wrote: post #20

Point of order - most of us don't work in IT. We work in "tech." I love my IT brethren but not all of us do desktop installs and tech support for a living.

Hear, hear! I left "Enterprise IT" and went into embedded systems. The first 2-3 years were exciting and exhausting because it felt like I needed to recall everything I ever learned from my Comp. Sci. education and from my early career -- I had to became a real software engineer again. Rather than some application on a framework on a virtual instance....it's now board bringup, bootloaders, and kernels. I now love my…

So jealous. I'm in a similar boat re awful Enterprise IT work. Do tell how you got into that!

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#58

Post by eplanit »

lotyrin wrote: post #49
eplanit wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hear, hear! I left "Enterprise IT" and went into embedded systems. The first 2-3 years were exciting and exhausting because it felt like I needed to recall everything I ever learned from my Comp. Sci. education and from my early career -- I had to became a real software engineer again. Rather than some application on a framework on a virtual instance....it's now board bringup, bootloaders, and kernels. I now love my…

I spent some time in embedded space after high school and really miss it in these days of drawing pretty pictures on whiteboards to attempt to explain exactly why management can't have what they want when they want it, political negotiations with people that hold the keys to the kingdom (e.g. salesforce admins) to try to be allowed to do my job, etc. Do you have any recommendations for someone trying to get into tech…

Yup, you're in that world. Sympathies!

It's good you have the background -- that's what you can leverage. Maybe start playing around with a Raspberry Pi for a refresher on the HW and basic software, and go from there. I jumped into it by learning Android from the inside out (via AOSP), and was then fortunate to then be forced to learn it more deeply via client who needed a customized version for their new hardware. This was not according to a grand plan of mine though -- I was just so done with IT that it felt worth the risk. I lowered my hourly rates by 50% for one year in order to get a gig in that space. I looked at the loss as an investment in education. If I didn't make it happen within one year then I'd consider going back to what I had been doing. Paying for food+shelter is a great motivator (the carrot), but the horrible thought of "going back" to IT was even more motivating (the stick).

As for the above, YMMV of course. Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#59

Post by big_youth »

voidz wrote: post #43
cylinder wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I ask, would you consider your pre-fatherhood period as ambitious? If so how do you deal with deferring that ambition to be a full-time father? I sometimes feel like this might be the path I take, but I worry about regretting it later down the line.

You know, actually I was very ambitious. But during one of the conversations I had with my girlfriend shortly after we became a couple, I started to realise that my ambitions were motivated by all of the wrong reasons. See, even though I love doing the things I'm skilled at (Linux/BSD system and network engineering) I felt ambitious due to the extreme pressure I felt society had on me; like "if you don't have a job,…

This was enlightening. I've met many women who couldn't articulate it, but have described the same feelings after meeting a husband who supported them becoming stay at home moms.

Re: Ask HN: What did you do after quitting the IT industry and how have things been?

#60

Post by [deleted] »

grecy wrote: post #44

I quit my Software Engineering job and am now spending two years driving my Jeep around Africa. I'm working while on the road, writing for magazines, selling photos and filming a YouTube series. I am having the time of my life, and am extremely happy I made the decision I did. IMHO, sitting at a desk is just not worth it. Life is too short. I'm meeting a ton of people who agree, and are living the kind of life people…

[deleted]
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