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

Ask HN: If you were a coder who successfully changed careers, what do you do now?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 69 posts

Re: Ask HN: If you were a coder who successfully changed careers, what do you do now?

#41

Post by Throwaway123212 »

michaelbuckbee wrote: post #26

Respectfully there are two separate things here: 1. The notion that 'coding' is exactly what you're doing now. I think that doing actual development varies far more widely between roles, company sizes and verticals than in other careers. As an example: in my programming career I've done everything from work with Navy SEALS (handheld athletic training software) to attend rock festivals (making sure scheduling software…

Sensible advice. All the positions I've held have been specialized enough that all I do is write code. There are designers, managers et al being paid to do the other half. I believe there are other opportunities where that's not the case, I went out of my way to look for them during my last job hunt but come up empty. I had no problems finding a bunch of codemonkey-SWE jobs. Seems to me that programmers are fairly specialized and replaceable in most orgs.

I'm not opposed to another technical position. Something that leverages my skills to do something more dynamic would be great.

Re: Ask HN: If you were a coder who successfully changed careers, what do you do now?

#42

Post by michaelbuckbee »

Throwaway123212 wrote: post #41
michaelbuckbee wrote: post #26

Respectfully there are two separate things here: 1. The notion that 'coding' is exactly what you're doing now. I think that doing actual development varies far more widely between roles, company sizes and verticals than in other careers. As an example: in my programming career I've done everything from work with Navy SEALS (handheld athletic training software) to attend rock festivals (making sure scheduling software…

Sensible advice. All the positions I've held have been specialized enough that all I do is write code. There are designers, managers et al being paid to do the other half. I believe there are other opportunities where that's not the case, I went out of my way to look for them during my last job hunt but come up empty. I had no problems finding a bunch of codemonkey-SWE jobs. Seems to me that programmers are fairly sp…

I think much of it functions around how small the team is: if you're in a larger org you're likely to be more specialized. My own career has been spent in smaller orgs where I've had a much greater say in how I do things and the types of work I'd like to do.

Re: Ask HN: If you were a coder who successfully changed careers, what do you do now?

#43

Post by zippergz »

sage76 wrote: post #34
dotBen wrote: post #14

Product Management is a great path for software engineers who already have a curiosity for what goes on before and after code is written in their organization. (to be clear, I'm referring to product-management, not project-management) I transitioned from eng to PM in my mid-twenties when I realized I was good but would never be an excellent software engineer. I later did a stint as a Director of Engineering and to th…

I was checking public profiles of product managers on linkedin, and there seems to be a preponderance of ex-consulting + MBA guys in Product management. Very few engineers breaking in without an additional degree, generally an MBA. What do you suggest to engineers looking to switch to a PM role? Also, is there any difference in upward mobility for PMs vs Engineers who want to become engineering managers, especially a…

I think this is highly dependent on the company. I've worked at a few of the top few tech cos as both an engineer and a product manager, and I don't recall working closely with anyone who came from consulting, although there are probably a few. A handful have MBAs, some come from engineering, some have weird liberal arts degrees. It's a very diverse group of people in my experience. It can be a good career path for engineers who are more excited about the problems they're solving and the people they're solving them for than about the raw technical challenge.

Upward mobility is also highly dependent on the company. I've found some companies to be more product-driven, and some to be more engineering-driven (e.g. goog). Upward mobility for product managers is obviously better in product-driven organizations.

Re: Ask HN: If you were a coder who successfully changed careers, what do you do now?

#44

Post by redfloatplane »

chad_strategic wrote: post #38
redfloatplane wrote: post #11

It depends on how you classify "successful" :) I quit my job in order to hike every trail in Ireland with my girlfriend and make videos about it: https://www.youtube.com/toughsoles . We're not making a profit by any means - so, not successful in that regard. But we are seeing the country that we belong to, and I think we're slowly raising awareness about the incredible places that exist tens of kilometres from people…

I would say that sounds pretty fun! Bravo!

Thanks! It is pretty fun! It's pretty hard, too, though, particularly because we don't have a car - it's camping and public transport all the time.

Something I was thinking about earlier today is that the longer I'm away from day-to-day programming, the more I want to think about bigger, open-ended problems. Lately I've been thinking about code synthesis, for instance. I wonder why distance from a desk does that :)

At any rate it's amazing to be outside all the time. I would highly recommend getting outside and walking your nearest trail to every single person reading this! In Ireland, we have a gigantic network of walks, including short 2-3 hour loop walks: http://www.irishtrails.ie/trails.aspx?c=-1&t=-1&l=-1&g=All&f...

Re: Ask HN: If you were a coder who successfully changed careers, what do you do now?

#46

Post by kodis »

Throwaway123212 wrote: post #33
wildmusings wrote: post #21

I quit my software job a year ago now. I loved the company, I had smart colleagues, and the pay and perks were great, but the line of work just wasn't doing it for me. I suspected as much when I started college, but decided to go with software anyway because I had enjoyed coding as hobby since I was 10, and the market for tech jobs was strong. Now I'm starting law school next month. I've had a lifelong interest in th…

I should have put it in the post, I don't have a bachelors degree. I've had one lawyer say I should try to ace the LSATs and apply anyway but that seems like long shot. I think theres also a path to becoming a patent agent without a degree but I get the impression people who do that are pretty exceptional as well.

I had a (not particularly exceptional) coworker with an electrical engineering degree go to work for the patent office. One of the perks was that the patent office would pay his way to becoming a patent attorney in return for a few years of service.

Re: Ask HN: If you were a coder who successfully changed careers, what do you do now?

#47

Post by notDavide »

redfloatplane wrote: post #11

It depends on how you classify "successful" :) I quit my job in order to hike every trail in Ireland with my girlfriend and make videos about it: https://www.youtube.com/toughsoles . We're not making a profit by any means - so, not successful in that regard. But we are seeing the country that we belong to, and I think we're slowly raising awareness about the incredible places that exist tens of kilometres from people…

Hey, very cool project!

As someone who is pondering about doing something like this in the future, i just watched some of your videos.

If I may, i want to give some suggestion. The first one is: consider adding some background music, for example when showing the landscape or walking otherwise it feels a bit empty. The second one is about the format: i think it will help you doing it as a sort of 'daily vlogging'. In this way you do not have the problem of having too much footage around as you mention and also it helps to convey a sense of story, even if it is just waking up - walking - eating - walking - going to sleep. It may also be a more watchable format for your followers if the videos are shorter.

Hope it helps you, keep up your adventure and good luck!

Re: Ask HN: If you were a coder who successfully changed careers, what do you do now?

#48

Post by dotBen »

sage76 wrote: post #34
dotBen wrote: post #14

Product Management is a great path for software engineers who already have a curiosity for what goes on before and after code is written in their organization. (to be clear, I'm referring to product-management, not project-management) I transitioned from eng to PM in my mid-twenties when I realized I was good but would never be an excellent software engineer. I later did a stint as a Director of Engineering and to th…

I was checking public profiles of product managers on linkedin, and there seems to be a preponderance of ex-consulting + MBA guys in Product management. Very few engineers breaking in without an additional degree, generally an MBA. What do you suggest to engineers looking to switch to a PM role? Also, is there any difference in upward mobility for PMs vs Engineers who want to become engineering managers, especially a…

I don't have a degree in anything (including CS, which is probably why as a self-taught programmer I reached a ceiling - but that's another conversation).

When I worked at Uber, a CS degree was a soft-prerequisite for all Product Mangers (they hired me, they hired a few other people without CS but it was rare). I hear Google is the same. At Uber I also saw a couple of Sr Engineers switch to PM.

In terms of suggestions, I would focus on where you already work and see if they have interest in helping you switch to the PM track. There's lots of ways an engineer can straddle the two and begin to do some PM tasks.

I don't know if there's any difference in mobility between PMs and Eng Managers. I would say that generally there are fewer PM roles in an organization than Engineers so that is something to consider, but good PMs are always highly sought after.

Re: Ask HN: If you were a coder who successfully changed careers, what do you do now?

#49

Post by Winterflow3r »

Throwaway123212 wrote: post #36
swayvil wrote: post #9

I was a successful coder for a few years. VB and java. I watched myself and those around me rot, in body and mind. That is some fucked up morlock shit right there. These days I'm a handyman. Carpentry, plumbing, painting. Stuff like that. I still work on my own software projects. Art stuff.

>I watched myself and those around me rot, in body and mind. That is some fucked up morlock shit right there. Basically captures how I feel.

Same. Thanks for starting the thread - I've been thinking about leaving too.
Post reply on HN