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Ask HN: Reasons to stay in Software Engineering

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Re: Ask HN: Reasons to stay in Software Engineering

#21

Post by a3n »

Like EE, the exposure to various Fields is potentially huge. It was my favorite thing about software, after software itself.

With my BSCS, I worked in aerospace, telecommunications, finance focused MoM (we are dated by our buzzwords), manufacturing supply chains, indigent health insurance, auto sales, dark pool trading, and medical device manufacturing.

I'm now out of software because I was a B player, and my freshness date expired.

Now I'm a long distance semi truck driver, and I'm currently sitting in my Kenworth T680 as I write this. It's the ultimate experience if you're a loner.

I miss the money, and the software writing itself, but I've never had a meeting since I started truck driving. I don't miss the development practices churn, or what I call work about work.

I do still automate some parts of my personal administrivia, mostly with python and Bash.

Re: Ask HN: Reasons to stay in Software Engineering

#22

Post by fermienrico »

a3n wrote: post #21

Like EE, the exposure to various Fields is potentially huge. It was my favorite thing about software, after software itself. With my BSCS, I worked in aerospace, telecommunications, finance focused MoM (we are dated by our buzzwords), manufacturing supply chains, indigent health insurance, auto sales, dark pool trading, and medical device manufacturing. I'm now out of software because I was a B player, and my freshne…

Could you please shed some light on what made you pursue Truck driving after being a software developer (besides the meetings of course)? Was it out of choice or necessity?

Re: Ask HN: Reasons to stay in Software Engineering

#23

Post by walshemj »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #13
Raed667 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're privelleged enough to not need a visa.

I think they were referring to remote work.

You won't get paid SV FANG money as a remote even more so if your from WP, Developing countries or even the UK / EIRE.

The Uk has been known for ages as a place to get well trained engineers on the cheap.

Re: Ask HN: Reasons to stay in Software Engineering

#24

Post by cjhanks »

Software interviewing has become necessarily (though unfortunately) adversarial for two major reasons; a lot of people are lying on their resume, a lot of engineers have inflated self-worth. If you're competent... don't worry, you will break through. But keep in mind, experience in this trade has a lot of value - and companies can only absorb so many people with 0 experience at any given moment in time.

That said, should you change your track from pure EE?

My personal experience in hiring has been that people with pure CS bachelors/masters are usually a worse fit for highly technical roles than those with another STEM degree. I think this is because it is harder to teach yourself electrical engineering than entry level software development.

A average candidate knows how to program. A good candidate knows has deep domain knowledge in something. A great candidate has deep domain knowledge and can turn that into code.

Re: Ask HN: Reasons to stay in Software Engineering

#25

Post by sametmax »

Raed667 wrote: post #4
angersock wrote: post #3

The money is so damn good.

Is it? In France it is just "OK" at best. Guess depends on where you are.

Either be a freelancer, or work for American companies remotely. I do both.

French companies pay freelancers not only more than employees, but they are way more annoying with the later. They just give you a better status for some unfair social reasons.

American companies will generally have more interesting projects and higher budgets. They will pay you more than a French company, while it will still feel that it's cheaper for them.

As a freelancer you can still pay for taxes, social security, etc. and yet double what you would had made. Plus you get flexible hours and you can work from home.

The downside is that you can't suck, be lazy, or sick for too long. You have basically no safety net.

Re: Ask HN: Reasons to stay in Software Engineering

#26

Post by plasticchris »

booleandilemma wrote: post #10

I was recently speaking with a recruiter who advised me to “prep” for tech interviews. “Read Cracking the Coding Interview”, he said. “Do some programming problems so your skills are fresh”. I’ve never prepped for a tech interview and I’m never going to read a stupid book that’s supposed to coach me. What am I prepping for? I’ve been a programmer 10+ years. I’ve had 10+ years of “prep”. Is that “fresh” enough for you…

I had your attitude before, with a similar amount of experience. The industry isn't changing it's practices, so seek out more specialized roles related to your experience. This reduces the white board factor.

Re: Ask HN: Reasons to stay in Software Engineering

#27

Post by drvdevd »

booleandilemma wrote: post #10

I was recently speaking with a recruiter who advised me to “prep” for tech interviews. “Read Cracking the Coding Interview”, he said. “Do some programming problems so your skills are fresh”. I’ve never prepped for a tech interview and I’m never going to read a stupid book that’s supposed to coach me. What am I prepping for? I’ve been a programmer 10+ years. I’ve had 10+ years of “prep”. Is that “fresh” enough for you…

I’m in the same boat ... but at this point I try not to feel bitter about it. I feel that if a company gives me an interview like that I’ll just do it - 0 prep usually - and if it doesn’t work out, well I’m probably dodging a bullet because I did learn a lot about their culture right off the bat (and I feel you should be equally skeptical about someone who doesn’t try to gauge your skills in any manner).

For better or worse, this practice will take their company wherever it’s meant to go.

Re: Ask HN: Reasons to stay in Software Engineering

#28

Post by walshemj »

shagie wrote: post #14
wetpaws wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been hearing about saturation for about 15 years and honestly there are no signs of it, not even close.

Some time back I wrote this ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16148087 ) I'd be willing to take either side of a debate for "is there a shortage of people who, when given tight specifications for a piece of software (write a function that takes X as input and provides Y as output) that enumerates all of the corner conditions can produce a program in a language that they are familiar with." At the same time, the…

That does strike me as odd back when I was in my second year of work (no degree) - I came in one day and my boss told me ok we have brought a bleeding edge piece of tech that cost 3x my salary.

"Go hook it up to that PDP get it working and go an talk for Brian and work out with him how to use this to digitise the 3d droplet cloud his experiment is producing.

It didn't even come with a cable just a 20 sheet photocopied technical manual.

Re: Ask HN: Reasons to stay in Software Engineering

#30

Post by a3n »

fermienrico wrote: post #22
a3n wrote: post #21

Like EE, the exposure to various Fields is potentially huge. It was my favorite thing about software, after software itself. With my BSCS, I worked in aerospace, telecommunications, finance focused MoM (we are dated by our buzzwords), manufacturing supply chains, indigent health insurance, auto sales, dark pool trading, and medical device manufacturing. I'm now out of software because I was a B player, and my freshne…

Could you please shed some light on what made you pursue Truck driving after being a software developer (besides the meetings of course)? Was it out of choice or necessity?

Necessity. After leaving a software QA job without the next job in hand, I had one interview in a year. Blame it on whatever you want, that was my reality.

As for truck driving ... "They were hiring."

EDIT: I do enjoy it, it's a big and beautiful country, and the work is pretty easy.

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