I develope software for 18 years now and left my job 6 years ago when I realized that working the whole day on shitty projects sucks too much. According to Nietzsche, 2/3 of my day wasn't disposable and that made me a slave - regardless of my profession. Today i live with few money, a friend supports me, but the day is mine. Software Development is fun again.
Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?
81–90 of 109 posts
Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?
#82Yeah, I did that. In the 2001 recession, after having mad money thrown at me in the 90's, reality hit and I realized I'm really bad at time and scope management. I spent a couple of years realizing this; in 2003 I decided to focus on one of my clients, do all the programming I could on a particular project to make it interesting to myself, and ended up qualifying for EIC.
In 2004 I got into technical translation, and by 2008 I'd built up the clientele to make considerably more money at it than I ever did with contract programming - plus no scope questions, no need to codify specifications and requirements, no temptation to "drill down and do it right", no debugging, no nothing - just give me a document, I count the words, I translate it, I bill you, you pay me. Done.
I still code - there aren't many translators who can code their way out of a paper bag, of course, so scripting skills come in handy. And I'm slowly developing my own language/programming platform the way I want to. But when I think of getting back into programming for pay, and realize that I suck at programming management and thus would fail again? I stick with translation.
I wouldn't mind working with a technical startup as the coder. But at this stage in my life I'm too risk-averse (kids, orthodontia, college coming up) to risk much on a roll of the startup dice, so I wouldn't be able to devote the focus to it that it would require. But there's no way I'd go back to just slinging code for hourly wages.
Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?
#83isn't that the case with most jobs. At first it was fun or even just a hobby, but when you have to do it for a living it's not the same anymore.
Hobby > Study > Work > ugh...
Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?
#84This seems like the wrong place to be asking that. It's like asking who has left the medical business in the doctor's lounge.
I know, but I figured the odds were good someone around here used to be a professional programmer, and is now doing something completely different, but still a hobbyist and HN enthusiast. I could be wrong.
Existence proof: me.
Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Funny, but not as funny as if it were true. PP is when you're competent and get promoted to something you suck at; Peter's suggestion is the other way around. Sorry to nitpick.
But isn't it true? If someone is succeeding as a programmer, that says nothing about how they'll do as a manager. Therefore pushing for that promotion is a good way to wind up getting promoted to something you such at. Which is the Peter Principle at work.
Are we failing on ambiguity here? If by "it" you mean "the peter principle", then yes I think it's very true.
But here, by assumption, the programmer is not competent (I doubt this is so, but that was the context) and petercooper's suggestion -- a good one -- was to consider getting promoted into a perhaps more suitable position. That's the inverse of PP.
Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?
#86Yeah, I did that. In the 2001 recession, after having mad money thrown at me in the 90's, reality hit and I realized I'm really bad at time and scope management. I spent a couple of years realizing this; in 2003 I decided to focus on one of my clients, do all the programming I could on a particular project to make it interesting to myself, and ended up qualifying for EIC. In 2004 I got into technical translation, and…
what do you mean by translation?
Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?
#87Go back and do a PhD? +'s - When you finish, you should be pretty marketable Pick up a whole new set of research skills Support group shouldn't be a problem in a university environment Potential for coding if you want to. Someone with industry experience will tend to have a good idea of what will work in reality -'s You will take a hit money wise until you qualify You could perhaps look at doing a masters as an inter…
Do - not - listen - to - him !!! PhD is a long and uncertain education path... that leads to an even longer and more uncertain career path. Oh, and you will be 5+ years older that everybody else.
Depends where you do your PhD! It's only 3 years (in theory!)
in the UK/most of Europe.
Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?
#88“Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar.”" -George Carlin
FYI, that's Drew Carey, not Carlin.
Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?
#89I'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…
Like many other hn'ers, I love to come here are check out the latest cool stuff people are doing. Then I hear the 2 voices in my head. One says, "That is so cool - I have to learn that!" The other says, "Big deal, I could do that in BASIC. I may need a few more lines of codes and a couple of hacks, but it will still do the exact same thing."
It's also easy to get discouraged while reading about all of these amazing projects. The internet makes its easy to aggregate all of the top-tier projects and sometimes it feels like you can't compete with these guys. Don't forget that a lot of these people have focused months and years on a single project.
I have a tendency to get caught up in the amazement. I saw a post on a Reddit yesterday about a guy who built and amazing boat dock at his house. Now I want to build a dock and I don't even live on the lake!
Re: Ask HN: anyone ever drop everything and leave software dev behind?
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, I bet there were times that he did. Especially before he was "George Carlin, world famous comedian" and was just some guy trying to land enough gigs to feed himself.
Maybe. It's just as possible he always loved being a comedian, even when it was hard to find work. The point is that he found a job he loved. No one should live under the assumption that everyone hates their job because of a joke.
Really? From what I know about Carlin, he was onto comedy for at least >3 years before he started getting some attention. Before that it was just a job that barely kept his expenses going. And I am pretty sure that was not the kind of world we live in. Becoming famous enough took time back in his time.
I am pretty damn sure there must have been days he would have hated his "job" as a comedian, because it didn't look like it was going anywhere. And remember, this was the era when fighter pilots and airforce people were considered the coolest ones, and he was kicked out before even completing his Air Force enlistment.
So, I guess it would be safe to say, he had doubts about himself, and he was trying to explore what he was meant to do. And I think we can agree, there must have been days when he hated his "job" as a comedian, but just HAD to keep going.
Just because you love your job, doesn't mean you are not going to hate/ don't care about it anytime in future. I don't think Love/Hate are mutually exclusive. At some point, there must be days when they occur intermittently.