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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?

#101

Post by hardeeparty »

juniper_strong wrote: post #61
H8crilA wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Same - I was doing a bit of contract work on the side when I quit. Did some traveling (briefly) and then ended up making those gigs my job. Haven't even touched my FU/1-year-savings money yet after almost a year...

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

#102

Post by jcborro »

cvhashim wrote: post #73
jcborro wrote: post #17

1. Opened a ski mountaineering shop ( https://skimo.co/ ). I backcountry ski most mornings in winter/spring before we open at a casual 11am; work on the site in the summer. 2a. Sick of pointless discussions about languages/frameworks/architectures, none of it matters to low-traffic/low-tech business. 2b. Sick of meetings/arguments to decide what to build. Making business and tech decisions simultaneously is amazingly…

How’s your business going to survive climate change?

Good question since we can see snow/rain lines slowly rise over the years. Certain ski resorts are in danger of losing a reliable snow pack. People will keep skiing, however, and our clientele puts in an incredible amount of effort to find snow to slide on.

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

#103

Post by ciclista »

throwaway234101 wrote: post #97
ciclista wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 d…

> I was working on military prototypes and aerospace projects. How does one get into that? And is the money better or worse than software? I've been looking at switching to welding and machining for a while now, but the pay in my area isn't great. The rest doesn't bother me. I even hear my local pastor is a racist now[0]! [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zkL91LzCMc

Location, location, location. Well, and skillset of course.

I would strongly recommend against it though. The pay is terrible. There was a strong push for a few years to get people into the trades, and there was a strong misrepresentation of what the opportunities are really like.

Keep in mind that government contracts are a race to the bottom. The contracts go to the lowest bidder and since materials, etc. are a given, employee pay has really suffered. Being a machinist is not the path to a middle class life anymore for most people.

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

#104

Post by lukejduncan »

brtkdotse wrote: post #55

Starting this autumn I’ve cut client hours to 25 per week and will use the remaining 15 to try and get a physical print shop going. I’ll be printing stickers, tshirts and banners. Currently toying around which niche to serve.

Election season in the US seems promise if brief

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

#105

Post by grumple »

bouk wrote: post #49
poulsbohemian wrote: post #33

1. Selling real estate, raising kids, planning for various future investments and opportunities. 2. I was in software for 20+ years. It was all I had ever wanted to do from the time I was 13. In hindsight, I’d say you have a phase of the moon in which to make your money and get out. It’s a brutal industry and you will likely face burn out at some point and you need to be prepared for that moment. I was in many differ…

Why do you consider tech brutal?

Do we work in the same field?

It’s mentally exhausting. You get into it thinking you’re gonna build cool shit, instead you jump through hoops for business school grads as they come up with shitty ideas and try to apply their shitty high pressure motivation tactics on you.

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

#106

Post by mcaravey »

1. About to open a bakery next month: https://www.pearlbakery.com

I operate the place as well as being the head baker, and the skills required are vastly different. There is some overlap with soft skills, managing others, attention to details, and so on.

2. Still involved in software, but I discovered years ago that I can’t accomplish much while I write the code myself. The bakery is a family endeavor, but I’m using it as a way to collect as much business experience and capital as possible to be able start my next big thing. But I must say, having time away from a screen is nice too.

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

#107

Post by ericgong »

jameshush wrote: post #74
ericgong wrote: post #41

1. Started a recruiting agency https://www.ericgong.com 2. Everyone hates the recruiting industry so it's ripe for disruption with an actual technical recruiter.

I've looked into doing this. At the moment I've been connecting friends with employment opportunities for free for years (especially my friends in Canada who don't want to leave with remote friendly opportunities in Los Angeles). To get you first paying client, is it as simple as finding a payment agreement online (something like "If the employee stays at company for 90 days company shall pay %x fee")? Did you start…

I left my job a few months ago and just started this business a couple weeks ago. I have some consultants and recruiters in my network so was able to figure out the contracts from that.

I'm early in the journey to find my first client!

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

#108

Post by dencodev »

dclusin wrote: post #100
dencodev wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have kids and never will so that's not an issue. That's a good question. I honestly don't know. I've also tried to recently learn some machine learning/AI stuff and the motivation is just completely gone. It's impossible for me to open my IDE and not dread it. I feel like I have a mental block for learning and I just give so few shits about anything software related right now I can't focus long enough to pick…

Sounds like burnout to me. When I got my current job I was throwing things at the wall trying to find something that could pass as a business. Ultimately I found what I'm working on but ran out of money and it wouldn't generate very much or anytime soon. I got incredibly fortunate and found a job at a big company right before COVID. When I started working I was pretty burnt out myself and found it hard to code on eit…

I have taken a year off in the past and got my current job after that year off. I think I just need to transition to something else. Software is clearly not working for me. I think I need to try something pretty different for a few years and maybe I can come back to software doing something a lot different at that point

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

#109

Post by AnimalMuppet »

juancn wrote: post #86

At one point, a few years ago, I was in your place. Really bored and completely miserable. I got tired of huge companies (one in particular) and went to a "goldilocks zone" startup. By this I mean the ones were they have enough money to pay you well and a reasonable product/business with a high chance of success, but they're still small enough for you to have an impact in the organization (we were under a 100 people…

Been there. It was wonderful... and then pretty good... and then it got kind of boring. (I'm at 11 years.) It doesn't stay goldilocks forever. While it's good, though, it can be really good. Enjoy it while it's good, because it won't be forever.

Things change. People change. Businesses change. Good situations become not so good, sometimes very quickly. If you're in a good situation, value it.

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

#110

Post by itsmejeff »

When I got bored with software engineering, I decided to invest in developing leadership skills and to try to build teams.

Many people (myself included) are motivated by the impact their career can have. The impact of a great leader is exponentially larger than that of a direct contributor (based on the number people they can typically influence, and the amount of resources at their disposal to pursue “bigger” ideas). A great engineer who is also a great leader will garner more respect from their team, and will be more effective than a great leader who was not a great engineer.

I’m currently a Director of Engineering, and have a goal of becoming a CEO. This is something I never remotely considered, and even scoffed at early in my career.

The transition has been difficult and exciting. I considered myself to be an excellent engineer, so transitioning to a role where the new challenge is how to convince other brilliant (but possibly less honed) technical minds to do things has been extremely fulfilling. It forces me to think harder about my habits as an engineer and why they are important and how I can communicate that — it also forces me to have humility and admit that some of my habits may not have been as good as some things other folks are doing. It’s been extremely fulfilling, and I’m much more excited about my future than I was during the last few years I was a software engineer.

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