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Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

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Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#771

Post by olingern »

nether wrote: post #762
olingern wrote: post #655

I read a kuro5hin post about a programmer turned courier, "A Coder in Courierland," ( http://atdt.freeshell.org/k5/story_2005_3_19_133129_548.html ) and became pretty infatuated with the idea over a five or six months. The recession hit, lay offs began, and then I was a courier. I did it for a little over three years. It had its ups and downs. I returned to software development and have found a cosier community in th…

Aside: ridiculous how influential k5 was on my life. Their first article on coffee turned me into a coffee snob before third wave cafes became the rage. The article on ultralight backpacking started a lifelong obsession, eventually leading me to thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail.

I think it's because people actually _wrote_ there. Since blogging has become a part of the "presence" everyone has to have, a lot of garbage and uninspired things are written on the internet. I wasn't a regular reader, but the things I did read seemed to be more visceral and well written than your average blog post you see today. The guy who wrote, "A Coder in Courierland" had pretty amazing prose.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#772

Post by skj »

eonw wrote: post #722
mattmanser wrote: post #532

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That you have an opinion on this and know the circumstances seems to suggest you know multiple people who have lost their fingers, which would suggest the risk is actually quite high.

anybody that does a lot of machine/wood work knows a few friends with missing parts. whole fingers or partials. i had a roommate for years, was a very skilled machinist... we called him "nine and a half" although he was really only missing about 2mm from his right index finger... state compensated him $10k for those 2mm's though.

I nicked the tip of my index finger on my table saw a while ago, and all my friends called my Johnny-nine-point-nine-eight for a few weeks.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#773

Post by rak00n »

FigBug wrote: post #638
bobhall1981 wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sailboats are a lot cheaper than people think. Did you know there is no technical definition for "yacht"? In practice, it just means "a boat that's nicer than yours". Don't buy a yacht. In Seattle there are plenty of sailboats under 30' that cost less than $10K. The moorage is the expensive part and costs around $400/month.

I've owned several boats and I'm done with that. I now belong to a coop where I pay $650 a year and have access to a 30' Catalina and 24' C&C that I can use almost as much as I want. There is no such thing as a cheap boat. The maintaince is a constant time and money suck.

Is it in Bay Area?

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#774

Post by bjd2385 »

I'll approach this from a different direction. I currently work cleaning a meat room in a local market; machines,floors, scraps and such. It's a dirty job.

But if I could have any job in the world, it'd be what I spend every other hour not on shift doing, and that's programming and solving problems.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#775

Post by truebosko »

Would love to open a classic diner.

Not a grease trap, but quality, but familiar breakfasts, great sandwiches, home-made pies. Superb diner coffee.

A place welcoming to anyone, young, old, family, friends.

Software Development is great. It's been a fun ride, and I've made some amazing friends, learned many skills, and of course, took in a salary that helps pay bills.

Eventually, it'd be nice to try this. There's a rush, and a large challenge to running a restaurant, but a diner brings a simpler focus. It might be a pipe dream, but since I'm not planning to execute on it any time soon, I will continue dreaming :)

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#776

Post by contingencies »

The "what job would you do" question suffers from framing problems. I have always been interested in multiple domains, and have found ways to explore a lot of the responses others have given here (photography, film-making, music, cooking, writing, entrepreneurship) to varying levels. Right now I am trying to learn about physical product design, manufacturing processes and mechanical engineering, re-stringing a sitar, organizing an exhibition of my regionally focused antiques prints and photos collection with a commercial sales element, about to go cycling at 2000m in the Himalayan sun,[0] pick up a German loaf from a friend who did the (also mentioned by others) open-a-German-bakery thing here in southwest China. Yesterday I discovered a mislabeled antique photo online, researched the hell out of it, determined it to be an early and very rare panorama of a major city (after detailed research on three major regional cities in the 19th century), and decided to bid on it, scan it, then re-sell it for cash to a museum. Life is good... for me personally, though it's not always easy taking a less safe route, especially sporadically returning to see friends and family with the play-it-safe approach, nice comfortable investments and cashflow (but absolutely a fraction of life experience) ... once you embrace it you can't go back to 9-5 - except that in the worst case, you can.

[0] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=weather+kunming

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#778

Post by saghm »

mxuribe wrote: post #86

Not in any particular order...And, either one or some combination of the following: * Dance music DJ or music maker - I love me some house music. (Notice I said "music maker" - i.e. a maker of tracks/songs, and not "musician"...i just don't have the formal training to play an actual instrument...however, if time travel existed, then yes a musician). * Indie film maker / director / screenwriter / or even actor/perform…

> Notice I said "music maker" - i.e. a maker of tracks/songs, and not "musician"...i just don't have the formal training to play an actual instrument...however, if time travel existed, then yes a musician.

It's actually much more feasible to teach yourself to play instruments than people realize! Obviously being taught makes things easier for most people, but what really makes a difference more than anything else is just spending substantial amounts of time practicing, which is still necessary even if you do take lessons.

Plenty of famous musicians were actually self-taught, including some who were at the absolute top of their field, like Hendrix, Clapton, and Moon: https://www.joytunes.com/blog/music-fun/15-famous-musicians-...

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#779

Post by devrelm »

creativeembassy wrote: post #244
tjic wrote: post #207

Woodworker. From running two small ecommerce companies I think I've learned enough about MVP, shipping, inventory management, etc. From 25 years as a software engineer I've learned about building tools to automate steps. I'd pick some "hard to find / expensive niche (e.g. Greene and Greene, Art Nouveau, etc.), but offer repeatable designs, not do custom work. That would allow for lots of jigs, fixtures, using cheap m…

I love this. My single regret about doing programming for a living is that I rarely have anything physical to show for my work at the end of the day. I've been looking at hobbies to pick up that involve making things with my hands. This is an innovative way to do both.

I love woodworking as well, and have completed a few little projects since buying a house and finally having a garage/workshop.

But, if that's not something you have the space/money for yet, I think that cooking is a nice substitute hobby. There's a lot to learn with tools and technique, and you get the immediate satisfaction of seeing (and tasting!) your finished product.

Just be careful though -- I've injured myself many more times in the kitchen than in the garage.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#780

Post by andrei_says_ »

return0 wrote: post #749

- Architect (of buildings) - Farmer (been there; my fallback option) - That person who works in the IS18 infrasound station that detects nuclear explosion sound waves in Greenland ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vULUkp7Ttss ) or something similarly monk-ish. I could be a monk but i cant stand religion.

About the monk thing you might be interested in Zen meditation. As non-religious as it gets ;)
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