41–50 of 98 posts
I’m almost 40 and I’ve never held a job for more than 4 years. They were good jobs too, but after a while I get tired of it or bored and I need to find something else. I know tons of people that “found their passion” and knew exactly what they wanted to do when they were in school. I never had a passion for anything… I need to constantly change what I am doing. The only difference is that I stuck to the same industry…
In software, you're never doing the same thing twice.
There are 101 things that you can try but there is one thing you must do..is to keep trying.
I’m almost 40 and I’ve never held a job for more than 4 years. They were good jobs too, but after a while I get tired of it or bored and I need to find something else. I know tons of people that “found their passion” and knew exactly what they wanted to do when they were in school. I never had a passion for anything… I need to constantly change what I am doing. The only difference is that I stuck to the same industry…
In software, you're never doing the same thing twice.
Maybe you're a person who works to live? If so, embrace it. Those who enjoy their work are often the opposite: they live to work. You could try tech or any number of other jobs (EMT always sounded fun to me.) But your goal should be to find something that you can tolerate, clock out, and lets you live your life. Stop putting "fulfilling work" and "career" on a pedestal and have fun.
What brings you to Hacker News? Are you looking to get into development?
I enjoy the discussions here (for the most part) more than the other social media options. I've done some courses in data analysis, as well as python. I usually lose steam after self teaching after a few months though. I've found it hard to break in without a degree.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24670746
If you are interested in tech, but want to go a more Linux/sysadmin route vs programming, then there are definitely avenues to get a foot in the tech door that don’t require a degree, or really necessarily, any certs either. You do kinda have to really want it and love it more than the average other person though.
A datacenter or hosting NOC (*nix oriented if at all possible; most NOC tech roles will be heavily Linux) Technician can be a fairly easy in, and has the potential to take you down a good career path. The great part about this particular entry level (usually) role, vs some other entry level IT role, is that you will learn a broad swath of internet/networking/linux/DNS/hosting/ security fundamentals that can easily jumpstart you into whatever specific tech path that you discover that you are most interested. After some experience and finding that out, you can then more fine-tune what your next job/role/tech path will/should be and look like.
Good luck and I wish you the very best! Stay positive and interested and it’s going to be fine!
One thing to try is talking to a therapist about all this. There are a number of conditions that can lead someone to a life like yours, most of which can be managed with some coping skills.
Therapist might help. Ppl have told me to do that, and I guess I’ve technically been once or twice a long time ago before I could make the decision myself BUT… I don’t think there is necessarily anything wrong with OP for feeing this. There’s a reason why Office Space is popular. I sometimes think there’s something wrong with the people I know who like their bullshit jobs or take their work seriously. Either deluded…
A number of years later one of the developers I worked with had many careers before working as a programmer, he cleaned power plant reactors, lived in Africa as an aid-worked, before eventually settling down and learning to code at around 50 years old. He was a fantastic developer because of his life experience not in spite of it, and moreover a great team member because he could provide some much needed perspective.
—- Perhaps check out this thread. Might give you ideas and/or inspiration.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24670746
If you are interested in tech, but want to go a more Linux/sysadmin route vs programming, then there are definitely avenues to get a foot in the tech door that don’t require a degree, or really necessarily, any certs either. You do kinda have to really want it and love it more than the average other person though.
A datacenter or hosting NOC (*nix oriented if at all possible; most NOC tech roles will be heavily Linux) Technician can be a fairly easy in, and has the potential to take you down a good career path. The great part about this particular entry level (usually) role, vs some other entry level IT role, is that you will learn a broad swath of internet/networking/linux/DNS/hosting/ security fundamentals that can easily jumpstart you into whatever specific tech path that you discover that you are most interested. After some experience and finding that out, you can then more fine-tune what your next job/role/tech path will/should be and look like.
Good luck and I wish you the very best! Stay positive and interested and it’s going to be fine!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I've found it hard to break in without a degree. You don't need a degree if you have substantial projects and put them on your resume. Your resume just needs to convey that you have actually done significant programming work and that you're good at it. If you don't yet have a portfolio of projects, you can start building it now.
Yep this. It will take a while to make some projects that you'll be happy to display publicly but this is the cheapest route to go.