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Ask HN: Former software engineers, what are you doing now?

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Re: Ask HN: Former software engineers, what are you doing now?

#61

Post by juniper_strong »

H8crilA wrote: post #34
hellonoko wrote: post #20

1. As absolutely little as possible. 2. Got FU money and was able to do nothing.

How long have you been doing "nothing"? I tried it (sort of) for a year, and found it a little dull.

That's where I'm at. Well not "FU" money, maybe "I would prefer not to" money, job off-shored so I did nothing for a while.

I had this big list of all the things I wanted to do when I stopped working, and in six months, I didn't even start doing one of them. My girlfriend said, "You're still on the computer all day, you might as well get paid for it".

I hate it when my girlfriend is right.

Re: Ask HN: Former software engineers, what are you doing now?

#63

Post by paledot »

I'm in the same place as you are, not FAANG salary but my wife has a FAANG job and we have enough savings to both retire now (early 30s) if we wanted to. I'm trying to figure out what I'd do if I "retired". Tentatively full-time parent part-time tinkerer, maybe put some of my back burner projects on the front burner and see if I can get a bit of passive income out of them. Mostly I'm feeling the lack of time and energy to build things (material and immaterial) for myself.

But, while work isn't a source of joy for me, it is a source of structure. I'm still trying to figure out if my life would be better without it.

Re: Ask HN: Former software engineers, what are you doing now?

#64

Post by ciclista »

cosmodisk wrote: post #51
jeffreyrogers wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on my experience with machinists I think they might mean on a personal level (although the fumes are toxic too). The machinists I've met have been pretty hard to deal with. I can imagine the work environment being unpleasant, especially if you aren't prepared for that.

This is correct. Eventually people can be very nice, once you get to know them, but you either have to be a certain type or simply have guts to tell people to sod off, as then they would start showing respect:) I think this is very similar to construction and some other related industries.

Both actually. Employers are stingy with PPE and you're constantly surrounded by dust, fumes and potentially harmful chemicals. Keep in mind this wasn't some tiny shop that made fences, I was working on military prototypes and aerospace projects.

I switch to the industry during the Obama administration, but after 2016 people were feeling a little too comfortable with their misogeny and racism.

To final straw was my direct supervisor becoming more radicalized into the far right. Not a comfortable feeling when they guy you report too leaves a 9mm with hollow points on top of his toolbox every day. The guy hadn't read a book except for the bible in 20 years, got all his news from Facebook and Fox.

Re: Ask HN: Former software engineers, what are you doing now?

#65

Post by ghaff »

claudiulodro wrote: post #56

On a related note for all the financially independent people I see posting here, how did you get enough money to just peace out? Was it just the tried-and-true strategy of work at FAANG for like 10 years?

It really depends what age people are--as well as family etc.

I do know people who have either done the FAANG thing, the investment bank thing, or beat the odds and won the startup lottery thing who have retired genuinely early because they weren't doing what they actually wanted to be doing--which could include traveling and kicking back.

But retiring 5-10 years earlier than the norm doesn't require much more than having had a string of reasonably well-paying jobs, being sensible with money, and being fortunate enough to avoid financial disasters.

Re: Ask HN: Former software engineers, what are you doing now?

#66

Post by ciclista »

cosmodisk wrote: post #43
ciclista wrote: post #16

I was a full stack web dev and Linux sysadmin for about a decade. Switched to welding and machining - I wanted to make something tangible for a change. The work itself was awesome (legos for grownups) but the industry is fairly toxic IME. Right now I'm working on getting back into IT (Network security).

I kind of did the opposite- went from working in construction and ended up doing development as part of my job. I briefly worked for a pipeline installation company ( oil,gas,etc), where welders were making fantastic money. So a few things on health: Welding electrode design has been improving,so welders get less toxic fumes than they used to a decade ago. People working in fields with pipelines often get joint probl…

See my comment below. I'm familiar with developments in welding, some of my welds are in equipment that are national security related.

Re: Ask HN: Former software engineers, what are you doing now?

#69

Post by zffr »

shahinrostami wrote: post #68

1. UK university academic (on sabbatical, consulting and adapting!) 2. Wanted to try something different... last software engineer post was 2010. I became very interested in Evolutionary Computation, so I went for a sponsored PhD position.

Did you have a background in research before doing the PhD program?

Re: Ask HN: Former software engineers, what are you doing now?

#70

Post by [deleted] »

timkam wrote: post #54

No longer a Software Engineer, but still in "IT" in the broader sense. * Left SE job for a PhD in CS, roughly 50% of a good SE salary here in Northern Europe * Do some Product Management/Innovation advisory on the side I left SE because I found the type of programming one typically does, as well as the Jira ticket-pushing, uninspiring. I still write code, but (almost) only because I enjoy it (a PhD in CS does not nec…

[deleted]
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