Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?

#31

Post by dahdum » Tue, Jul 10, 2018, 7:31 PM UTC

jl2718 wrote: post #29

whorleater wrote: post #7

No, I would've tried harder in school and tried for med school instead

Med school just seems like cheat mode now. I didn’t want to be a doctor because I was certain that computers would replace them. And they did. The work of doctors is 95% obsolete in the advent of better diagnostic tests and internet health information, with ‘AI’ taking the last scraps of relevance. Doesn’t matter. Doctors are a government-protected class, with wages held high by regulation, insurance subsidies, and i…

MDs are limited in quantity due to regulation, as you point out, but that also means the competition to become one is rather brutal. Long schooling, residency, work hours and then most specialities end up with only upper middle incomes.

Doesn't sound like cheat mode at all to me.

Hitting a boot camp and then pulling $100k+ doing web dev is the cheat.

Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?

#32

Post by dahdum » Tue, Jul 10, 2018, 7:34 PM UTC

Absolutely, though it worked out really well for me so that colors my opinion.

I love working on the edge of the future, and in my lifetime the Internet was it.

In another time it would have been aviation, space race, radio/television, or the railroads.

Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?

#33

Post by sincerely » Tue, Jul 10, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

jl2718 wrote: post #29

whorleater wrote: post #7

No, I would've tried harder in school and tried for med school instead

Med school just seems like cheat mode now. I didn’t want to be a doctor because I was certain that computers would replace them. And they did. The work of doctors is 95% obsolete in the advent of better diagnostic tests and internet health information, with ‘AI’ taking the last scraps of relevance. Doesn’t matter. Doctors are a government-protected class, with wages held high by regulation, insurance subsidies, and i…

>The work of doctors is 95% obsolete in the advent of better diagnostic tests and internet health information, with ‘AI’ taking the last scraps of relevance.

This seems like a hugely strong claim. Could you elaborate?

Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?

#34

Post by pmiller2 » Tue, Jul 10, 2018, 8:05 PM UTC

I don’t know, but if I did, I’d get a CS degree and skip grad school, probably ending up with 1/3 the student loans.

Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?

#35

Post by mighty_bander » Tue, Jul 10, 2018, 8:05 PM UTC

Ugh. I know a lot of people who went to electrical or mechanical engineering and wound up doing software, and the pay's better.

I might focus on embedded work, or math maybe, because this web dev world full of bright-eyed, bushy-tailed youngsters repeating the mistakes I made in 2002 is getting pretty old.

Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?

#36

Post by mesozoic » Tue, Jul 10, 2018, 8:24 PM UTC

Probably so. Seems like the right choice still once you actually make the question make sense by removing all of the, well I would have bought Google stock and retired conditions.

Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?

#37

Post by fjsolwmv » Tue, Jul 10, 2018, 8:42 PM UTC

jl2718 wrote: post #29

whorleater wrote: post #7

No, I would've tried harder in school and tried for med school instead

Med school just seems like cheat mode now. I didn’t want to be a doctor because I was certain that computers would replace them. And they did. The work of doctors is 95% obsolete in the advent of better diagnostic tests and internet health information, with ‘AI’ taking the last scraps of relevance. Doesn’t matter. Doctors are a government-protected class, with wages held high by regulation, insurance subsidies, and i…

GPs don't make a ton of money anymore. Most are replaced by PAs. Specialists still have important skills. And all those bioinformatics and medical automation projects rely on MDs.

Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?

#38

Post by fjsolwmv » Tue, Jul 10, 2018, 8:43 PM UTC

pmiller2 wrote: post #34

I don’t know, but if I did, I’d get a CS degree and skip grad school, probably ending up with 1/3 the student loans.

What loans? Grad school in CS is free, and undegrad is easily financed by internships in software developer.

Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?

#39

Post by anxiouspete » Tue, Jul 10, 2018, 8:54 PM UTC

ryanchants wrote: post #24

I cooked in fine dining for 5 years. Then did 5 years in the military. Now I'm coding. If I had to do it all over, I'd probably still do se/dev, just earlier. Sucks being behind my friends when it comes to money/homeownership/etc. After having two careers where money wasn't great, I'm all about the money now.

I'm kind of the opposite. I have a very good salary now at a young age, but I feel that I'm losing my youth. In many ways I would half my current salary to not be stuck in an office writing CRUD - but then I think about all the flexibility my salary provides and go the other way. It's a hard choice

Re: Ask HN: Would you still do software engineering/dev if you could do it all over?

#40

Post by aeternus » Tue, Jul 10, 2018, 8:57 PM UTC

whorleater wrote: post #7

No, I would've tried harder in school and tried for med school instead

Grass is always greener I guess. Most of the doctors I know work tough hours and envy the engineer lifestyle.

There also isn't a huge gap in pay unless the M.D. is specialized, but then you have quite a few years of low-earning vs. engineer's almost instant earning power so probably comes out about even.