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Ask HN: Why did you leave the tech industry?

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Re: Ask HN: Why did you leave the tech industry?

#451

Post by checkyoursudo »

Winterflow3r wrote: post #389
checkyoursudo wrote: post #60

I started out in technical writing a little more than 20 years ago with a masters degree, which turned into building websites. I built websites for a few years, when I became involved in a lawsuit with family/community/environmental org in a really novel and interesting area of law at the time. I thought that was quite enjoyable. So I decided to go to law school and become a lawyer, which I did. Then I was a lawyer f…

Thanks for sharing your story! I work on the machine learning side of things and have recently become very interested in the intersection of machine learning and law - for ex. disputing decisions made by algorithms, usage of machine learning in sentencing etc. How did you find going back to law school after tech?

Law school was fine. Some parts of it were quite difficult, while others were super simple. I had the advantage of already having a lot of experience writing professionally, and exams and papers (and lawyering) require a lot of writing. To do it right, it also takes a lot of reading. Like, a lot.

My best courses, I think because I was already scientifically/technically-minded, were the very math and technical based topics, like tax, retirement, real estate finance, etc, while the ones that I often had more difficulty with were things like family law and criminal law, for example, which were often much less intuitive and much more arbitrary-seeming to me.

Ultimately, law school was pretty easy for me overall. Certainly, I had friends and classmates who thought it was beastly difficult, though I suspect if they looked back at it now, most would say that it wasn't as bad as they felt at the time. It's different for everyone, right? Like anything else, how much you put in is how much you get out. I think that really probably anyone who can make it through an undergraduate program can make it through law school.

Re: Ask HN: Why did you leave the tech industry?

#452

Post by papapra »

newhotelowner wrote: post #319

Worked as a Frontend engineer. Now a hotel owner. Few reasons why I left: - Wanted to try something different. - Incompetent management (Biggest reason), and politics at the workplaces. - I am not good at expressing my self. Not good at kissing asses. Political correctness and all the stuff/ - Getting old (40) - Single earner in the bay area with family. I couldn't afford a house in the area that I was living in. I d…

How much money did you need to start your business ?

Re: Ask HN: Why did you leave the tech industry?

#453

Post by reinkaos »

jonny_eh wrote: post #243
ativzzz wrote: post #235

I've made a few rules for myself regarding working in tech: 1. Do not work for a company where tech is not their primary product. If you are only a cost center, you will be treated like a second-class citizen. 2. Work for a smaller company. Your work is so much more impactful when you are not part of a mega-machine. 3. Work only remotely. The quality of life increase that comes with working remotely is massive, and I…

> 2. Work for a smaller company. Your work is so much more impactful when you are not part of a mega-machine. That depends. If you work for a small company working on a product few use, then what's the impact?

One way of looking at it is your_impact = your_contribution * number_of_users. If you work for a mega corp chances are your contribution is small so you would be better off in a small(er) company.

The more I work as a programmer the more I agree with points 1 and 2. With Coronavirus I'm having the change to work remote 100% of the time and I'm enjoying so far. It's likely that's something I'm going to pursue in the future.

Re: Ask HN: Why did you leave the tech industry?

#454

Post by EdAmante »

explange wrote: post #113
rustyboy wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I ask what your job title is? This sounds like an area i'd be interested in but having only experience with tech i'm not sure of any tips or tricks to finding these hybrid jobs.

My title is just 'researcher' - it's not a well-defined industry so titles are not standardised. Here's where I work in case you're interested: https://www.science-practice.com/teams/good-problems/ My route in was pretty idiosyncratic, and I think that's true of many people in these kinds of jobs. A more standard way to transition into this kind of research/consulting/policy work from tech might be go for jobs in tec…

I'd be interested in hearing about tech and innovation policy orgs in the UK. Currently I think I either want to work in the civil service or in such an org. As you say, it would be nice to have a positive impact on the world.

Re: Ask HN: Why did you leave the tech industry?

#455

Post by str34ml1n3 »

hnick wrote: post #401
str34ml1n3 wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have lived in SE Asia for about seven years. In case anyone is curious, I've been able to live well on about $6000-8000 a year. I certainly eat like a king, since fruits and vegetables are amazingly cheap here. Otherwise my hobbies are inexpensive, e.g. exercise and sports, writing software for personal projects, making digital art, etc. It's not for everyone, but I would have really struggled on a more conventiona…

Are you worried the cost of living will increase over time and price you out? Singapore and Korea were once cheaper too though I suppose most countries aren't on that trajectory.

Fortunately now I'm able to make enough as a freelancer that I'll be able to increase my income if necessary, but that's almost entirely due to having a lot of time to spend on learning web and software development while I've been here so far.

Cambodia is developing rapidly, but somehow I doubt that the kleptocratic government here will manage to turn this place into the next Singapore or Korea :)

Re: Ask HN: Why did you leave the tech industry?

#456

Post by Balanceinfinity »

Winterflow3r wrote: post #404
Balanceinfinity wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a lawyer, but talented paralegals (typically just a college degree) can do very well. Especially ones who can master ediscovery - the production of documents stored electronically.

how do you find the hours in law compared with working hours in tech?

There's not the 24H grind with programming to a deadline. There can be long days, especially when preparing for a court appearance or a trial, and law firms notoriously work their associates very long hours to cover their significant pay checks. Attorneys at firms bill by the hour, so there's an incentive to work lots and lots of hours to be at the top law firms - but there are lots of more human jobs at companies as in-house counsel, or with the government or with a non profit or NGO.

Re: Ask HN: Why did you leave the tech industry?

#457

Post by Balanceinfinity »

collyw wrote: post #447
non-entity wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> realized that I was only a so-so programmer. the real ninjas were so passionate and knowledgeable; I was only successful because of brute force and overworking. I think I'm starting to feel this. I'm neither talented nor educated enough to work on things I truly find interesting and my ability to learn feels like its completely flatlined these days. Unfortunately, I feel trapped in what I do rn, because it's really…

As I age I feel the opposite. I can't work out whats going on as quickly as I used to but when I do I am far more inclined to refactor stuff so that its easy for the next person.

As you age, you just can't bring the same focus and stamina to bear on a project - which is ok, because experience, wisdom, and efficiency can actually make things easier.

Re: Ask HN: Why did you leave the tech industry?

#458

Post by ratkinson »

checkyoursudo wrote: post #450
ratkinson wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love your mentality checkyoursudo. I started in civil/environmental engineering before getting into software development. For the past 5 years though I have been thinking about cognitive science in my free time and all of my idols are psychologists and neuroscientists. Might I ask where are you pursuing a masters in cog sci? This is exactly what I have wanted to do but the schools offering these programs are few fr…

I was living in Germany when I decided to do this. I am studying at a university in Sweden. I don't really know the programs in the US very well. I didn't look at any when I was considering the field. Do you want to try to do a masters and then get into industry, or rather then continue with a PhD?

Ah thanks for the reply, that makes sense. I'm more interested in phd and academia than I am getting into the industry. Unfortunately cog sci still is still a bit of an obscure academic track given its "interdisciplinary" nature. I'm currently trying to find a highly regarded online psychology program I can take post-bacc to bolster my resume to apply for a masters/phd in cog sci in a couple of years. (It'd be easier for me to relocate at that time as well)

Re: Ask HN: Why did you leave the tech industry?

#459

Post by collyw »

Balanceinfinity wrote: post #457
collyw wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I age I feel the opposite. I can't work out whats going on as quickly as I used to but when I do I am far more inclined to refactor stuff so that its easy for the next person.

As you age, you just can't bring the same focus and stamina to bear on a project - which is ok, because experience, wisdom, and efficiency can actually make things easier.

That's why I am forced to refactor it. I'll do worse in interview questions but write nicer code.

Re: Ask HN: Why did you leave the tech industry?

#460

Post by jason0597 »

bradlys wrote: post #373
hinkley wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a coworker at BigCo who would disappear for a month every summer. I wasn't paying attention to other PTO days through the year so I assumed that extra PTO for work anniversaries added up faster than I thought. Turns out they were just taking a leave of absence, every year, to travel, and just eating the pay cut.

When you're at $500k/yr, losing <$50k/yr isn't really that big of a deal.

Very very few people earn $500k/yr at FAANG
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