I'm curious what are some easy career pivots as a developer looking to stop coding, whether it's a different function in tech or a completely different industry/role?
Ask HN: What are some non-coding roles that a developer can easily switch to?
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Re: Ask HN: What are some non-coding roles that a developer can easily switch to?
#2I rarely see people mention it but documentation writer/tech writer is a full time role at bigger companies, especially SaaS companies with large/complex APIs.
Writing API docs, user guides, blog posts, how-to guides, etc...
Pay is usually less than dev but still high.
Re: Ask HN: What are some non-coding roles that a developer can easily switch to?
#3I went from SDE to an escalation engineer. Programming experience is helpful but not required, and I’m only writing code when my team needs tools. I’m on call six weeks per year. It’s a better work/life balance than the SDEs I work with. I earn about 2/3 of what SDEs make.
The career progression isn’t great. Basically it’s just management, EPM, or back to SDE.
Re: Ask HN: What are some non-coding roles that a developer can easily switch to?
#4I rarely see people mention it but documentation writer/tech writer is a full time role at bigger companies, especially SaaS companies with large/complex APIs. Writing API docs, user guides, blog posts, how-to guides, etc... Pay is usually less than dev but still high.
I don’t get why people don’t bring up documentation more often either. Having good documentation is a telltale sign that the software you write is high quality. Sometimes you even learn if a feature is stupid based on how you can describe it.
It’s sad to see how many great open-source projects get overlooked on GitHub because they’re poorly documented.
Re: Ask HN: What are some non-coding roles that a developer can easily switch to?
#5Sales engineering / Solution Architect. It pays well and is can be 50% technical 50% business.
Re: Ask HN: What are some non-coding roles that a developer can easily switch to?
#6Product Manager?
Re: Ask HN: What are some non-coding roles that a developer can easily switch to?
#7DevOps is like a hybrid, the percentage of Dev vs Ops can vary by person, and company. I am 95% Dev, 5% Ops, others are the exact opposite.
Re: Ask HN: What are some non-coding roles that a developer can easily switch to?
#8I am curious to understand why you want to stop coding?
Re: Ask HN: What are some non-coding roles that a developer can easily switch to?
#9Testing if an office has a distinct role (more common in defense and aerospace).
Process improvement (a ton of overlap between the ideas here and with program from a general systems perspective).
Some management roles (advising at the C-suite level, or running teams but not coding anymore).
Instructor (using expertise to teach within your current org or at schools or professional training companies).
Technical writer (if you have the writing chops or can develop it).