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Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?

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Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?

#31

Post by ab9 »

My story is quite similar to yours. I was a software developer for several years. It was intensely disillusioning and after thinking the same thoughts as you, I quit. I've been unemployed for the last year and a half, trying to "figure things out."

It doesn't feel like my sabbatical has been a huge success. But in the future, I might look back and realize it was essential. It's been relaxing, and I've done a lot of reading I wanted to do, but my reading list is still infinitely long (one book references another, ad infinitum). I haven't figured out what my life's work will be, and I feel a bit foolish for ever thinking I would.

You can take this as a kind of warning: a sabbatical may be the best option available to you now, and it may be exactly what you need, but don't expect it to be magical.

Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?

#32

Post by DeusExMachina »

edw519 wrote: post #14

I'm really just a mediocre programmer with really good domain knowledge Your problem is that you have no problem. Let me explain... I believe that the "quality" of a programmer is not how much you know, but what you can do with it. So it you have "really good domain knowledge", then you probably aren't a mediocre programmer at all, you're probably a good programmer or even better. Like many other hn'ers, I love to co…

It's tricky to balance all the cool stuff going on with your ability to just get stuff done. You will never learn everything. You will never become the expert at more than one or two things. It's great to learn, but not at the expense of doing

This is a quote so good that can be applied to almost all fields of knowledge and life in general.

Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?

#33

Post by tkahn6 »

pingswept wrote: post #7

I did the reverse-- I went from majoring in English and teaching high school to embedded systems engineering. It took a few things-- some aptitude for the field, a lot of determination, some money for a master's degree (over the course of 3 years), and a friend taking a chance on me with a summer internship. After about a year, it was pretty clear that it was going to work. I think I could make a similar switch again…

That's a pretty major change. Did you have any knowledge of embedded systems beforehand? Why did you switch? Why not go engineering the first time around?

Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?

#34

Post by tocomment »

rdouble wrote: post #19

I left programming in 2004-2005 to work at a skateboard company. I filmed and edited videos and went skateboarding for a year. It was great. I also only made $8000 the entire year, most of it from fixing the company's web site, so I returned to programming.

Did you have trouble returning? Was it hard finding jobs, getting interviews? Did you have to take a pay cut when you returned?

Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?

#35

Post by mdd »

superk wrote: post #26

I remember after the first tech bubble burst back around 2001 a lot of (young / male) disillusioned devs abondended the internets to become bike messengers (although they returned to blog about it naturally). It was an awesome read - if anyone remembers that and has some links please share. Some points I still remember: - A lot less money (as mentioned here by a few). - A lot less coffee. Being really tired at the en…

A Coder in Courierland: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/3/19/133129/548

Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?

#36

Post by pgbovine »

edw519 wrote: post #14

I'm really just a mediocre programmer with really good domain knowledge Your problem is that you have no problem. Let me explain... I believe that the "quality" of a programmer is not how much you know, but what you can do with it. So it you have "really good domain knowledge", then you probably aren't a mediocre programmer at all, you're probably a good programmer or even better. Like many other hn'ers, I love to co…

great advice (as usual), edw519 ... have you thought about starting a blog with an FAQ mined from your responses from "Ask HN" questions? an easy hack that someone else could even do would be to troll through "Ask HN" threads, extract the ones where your answer was highest-ranked, and slap them together on a webpage somewhere. then that could be manually filtered and curated. i think that this would be a helpful page for young programmers just getting started with their careers

Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?

#37

Post by rdouble »

tocomment wrote: post #34
rdouble wrote: post #19

I left programming in 2004-2005 to work at a skateboard company. I filmed and edited videos and went skateboarding for a year. It was great. I also only made $8000 the entire year, most of it from fixing the company's web site, so I returned to programming.

Did you have trouble returning? Was it hard finding jobs, getting interviews? Did you have to take a pay cut when you returned?

Did you have trouble returning?

No.

Was it hard finding jobs, getting interviews?

No.

Did you have to take a pay cut when you returned?

No.

Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?

#38

Post by famfam »

petercooper wrote: post #15

I don't hate software, but my job has made me realize that I'm really just a mediocre programmer with really good domain knowledge You seem like a prime candidate for promotion to management or a more analytical role. Is this a possibility or something you can work toward?

The irony of Peter Cooper advocating the Peter Principle is not lost on me.

Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?

#40

Post by Random_Person »

I wrote code for the military for 3 years after high school. Writing code for a living took what was my most enjoyable hobby at the time and turned it into a chore. I lost all of my love for it.

So, I abandoned code and became an automotive mechanic. That's a fucking leap, let me tell you. Seven years later, my body was wrecked from arthritis I picked up in the Marines, so I got out of the automotive industry (a job I loved) floated for about 6 months then jumped into IT.

I manned a small computer repair store for a year, worked on some art and such then landed a network admin/tech job for the State. Now, here I am, back at computing every day and wishing I still remembered how to code.

I've now put my mind to learning Python and Java and leaving the VB of old behind--

--but, just the other day I discovered an old application I started in VB5 that got quite close to what I wanted it to do, but not quite. This code is now 10 years old, so I figured SOMEONE wrote it by now. I scoured the web and did not find anything like it. So, now I have an itching to go back through my old code and attempt it all over again. sigh

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