Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Those who left software development for a different technical field?

news.ycombinator.com

41–50 of 52 posts

Re: Ask HN: Those who left software development for a different technical field?

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My VP Engineering quit and opened a Falafel joint.

Sounds more fulfilling than a stand ups to be honest. Better stories too.

He's very happy. Best falafel in the Midwest (did a tour and charted every recipe, then created his own).

Keeps his crew for years - the normal term is months, especially in a college town. He's brought his management experience from Engineering teams to food prep and cooks and servers, some of who've never been treated like professionals and peers in their lives.

Does catering too, and supplies restaurants with 'snack packs' which are very popular around here.

Re: Ask HN: Those who left software development for a different technical field?

#42
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also want out of tech; I started 15 years ago as a help desk analyst, now I’m an Engineering Manager. The burn out is real, the golden handcuffs are real and I’m just tired of being in this kind of work, thoroughly sick at what I’m seeing in the tech industry from a career perspective, tired of standups, tired of sprint planning, tired of retros, scrum, “technical recruiters”, the resume skill rat race, interviews,…

Uhh my understanding is that, as a teacher, you're mostly policing a bunch of youngsters who are not happy to be in the classroom with you. If you get a couple of pupils who are into what you're teaching it's considered a blessing, otherwise it's squeezing water out of a stone.

Still preferable to what I’m doing now. Shall I reiterate once more how much I want out of this career path?

Re: Ask HN: Those who left software development for a different technical field?

#43
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come on, Carmack isn’t interested in solar. Not when we can literally mine the energy straight from Hell , do you know how many btus we’re talking about here? ...I’m now being told trying to extract energy from Biblical Hell is a bad idea?

Is Hell based heat exchange a second law violation? Ignoring the obvious angry, cold demons

Downvoters aint ever played Doom, hah.

Re: Ask HN: Those who left software development for a different technical field?

#44

You and I are in the same boat, except I've grown to hate not only the culture, but programming too. I've not heard of former devs breaking into other technical fields, but I have heard of them getting into stuff like farming, construction, or trades (electrical, plumbing, etc.). I wish I hadn't spent my 20s dwelling in anxiety. I wish I had moved around, become a trail guide, or got into scuba diving, or even joined…

I badly want to quit and have a small farm.

The idea of being my own boss and not being subject to the whims of my bosses or corporate bureaucracy is very appealing (my company doesn't follow their own policies). I have also been tasked with learning obscure technology such as FileNet or Neoxam. This leaves me feeling like all my effort and expertise is thrown away when the project winds down or gets outsourced. This feeling of my company throwing me away or wasting me has completely sapped my motivation (why try when I'll just be thrown away again? ).

Re: Ask HN: Those who left software development for a different technical field?

#45
post #17

You and I are in the same boat, except I've grown to hate not only the culture, but programming too. I've not heard of former devs breaking into other technical fields, but I have heard of them getting into stuff like farming, construction, or trades (electrical, plumbing, etc.). I wish I hadn't spent my 20s dwelling in anxiety. I wish I had moved around, become a trail guide, or got into scuba diving, or even joined…

30s is so young, though! If you don’t have kids, the world is still wide open to you!

"If you don't have kids, the world is still wide open to you", this is the truth. I would also add 'not married' to that. I'm trapped at my job to support my family, and my wife won't consider moving to a cheaper area.

Re: Ask HN: Those who left software development for a different technical field?

#46
"Maybe it's the money and prestige."

Do you have any examples of prestige?

I wish I had either one. I have never recieved any prestige in my career. The money is ok, but there are trades that pay more than what I make, especially if you factor in cost of living.

Re: Ask HN: Those who left software development for a different technical field?

#47

I went from Software Engineer to Solutions Architect a few years back, and can't be more happy. a) You are still coding somewhat, but just prototypes. It is fun to use the APIs your company builds and help customers with it b) You learn a ton about business. I would call this position more professional consultant, since in the right company, you learn about deals, how much a company pays for what and what value they…

Did you switch within the same company? I have made attempts to apply to Solutions Engineer and Developer Advocate roles to match how my personality has changed over time, but have found that no one responds to my resume / applications, even when I have spent several years teaching, consulting, and building content and demos on the side to supplement my engineering experience and prove I can do the job. I immediately…

No, and I had the same responses. I applied at 12 Solutions Architect roles, and 1 company replied and offered the interview process.

I actually don't know how people choose Solutions Architects. One tipp would be to go on LinkedIn, look for the Solutions Architects at the company you apply for, and ask them how they got hired or just look at their CV.

Right now it can be that the market is dried up and this sales role is especially hard, since many fields don't have active customers any more (or won't get new ones in quite some time)

Re: Ask HN: Those who left software development for a different technical field?

#48
Here is a cool suggestion:

I love doing manual labor for the physical challenge. In many such jobs the apps are crawling into the work flow. I'm sure they exist but what I've seen is lots of management and programming effort not producing the smoothness possible. I'm entirely convinced now that one cant get the design anywhere near perfection without experience doing the work. (where ofc substantial experience is better than some)

A manager together with an intelligent person with substantial development skills can design an UI where things that happen more frequently are easier to do. Then in the real world low frequency tasks may require 8 other people to wait 30 seconds while you tap buttons. It is not a big loss but it feels wrong. With some tasks it would be more convenient if you could operate the phone with one hand.

In my current job it may seem like time for a task is limited so we do a half-arse job. If it later turns out we do have time we want to get back to it but we cant. Checking a box means the job is done (we drink coffee in stead) no one would dare explain to the managers how the real world works. To them a job that takes 100-306 min always takes 203 min. Explaining a hundred tiny annoyances is waaaaaay to much work. Imagine a conversation about sessions that expire after 30 min while 5% of the tasks take slightly longer.

Also common is a complete lack of context with the current task. If the app knows I'm hammering floor boards with nail type 42 it can anticipate a need to order more nails. This feels empowering while navigating to the nail section of the supplies section then scrolling over a list feels as if it interrupted your actual work.

You can only do perfection if the entire feedback/testing loop takes place in the head of a single person. If one has a lot of experience one can sometimes encode the tricks of the trade.

Re: Ask HN: Those who left software development for a different technical field?

#49
post #7

I write firmware for micro-controllers and deal mostly with engineers, techs, other sane code monkeys, and an occasional customer. My occasional dealings with actual mainstream software developers is generally unpleasant. I would suggest firmware or some other job where software is part of the product not the product.

I agree 100%. Sometimes, it's not the type of work but the people you're working with. In the embedded space, you work with a lot more electrical and computer engineers, who, in my opinion, are "generally" a lot more tolerable. My worst experiences so far in both my career and in school were when I had to work with straight CS people. There's a certain personality that gets pulled in to it that can be toxic and hard to work with.

Re: Ask HN: Those who left software development for a different technical field?

#50

You and I are in the same boat, except I've grown to hate not only the culture, but programming too. I've not heard of former devs breaking into other technical fields, but I have heard of them getting into stuff like farming, construction, or trades (electrical, plumbing, etc.). I wish I hadn't spent my 20s dwelling in anxiety. I wish I had moved around, become a trail guide, or got into scuba diving, or even joined…

I've gone in another path: applied programming. I chose a position that also involves programming rather than an actual developer role. Personally the whole standup thing just drove me away

Can I ask what field you went into?
Post reply on HN