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I am getting out of software development after 10 years of coding
11–20 of 108 posts
Re: I am getting out of software development after 10 years of coding
#12I really think people who leave software engineering altogether mostly failed to find a company that respects engineers/pays well. If you are good at the algorithms interviews, you can make ~400k with 5 to 8 years of experience. Do that for a decade, and with some saving and basic investing, you are basically done working. On the other hand, fail to pass the algorithms interview, you are essentially stuck at 140-170k…
> It all comes down to a test. And willingness to relocate, possibly across the world. And feasibility of getting an US visa. Or facing much, much stiffer odds if you want to be paid that well as a remote worker, since the number of remote spots with that kind of pay is incredibly small compared to the amount of people fighting over them.
And timing.
Sometimes good opportunities are at times when you're not ready for them. We all get some sort of a "shot" but it's very difficult to see sometimes, or to make the risky move of accepting it.
Re: I am getting out of software development after 10 years of coding
#13Author should seek work as a founding engineer where the task is anything but granular and they’re in full control over the stack and don’t have to glue a bunch of fads together.
Re: I am getting out of software development after 10 years of coding
#14It seems like he would be far happier at an early stage start up. Not granular. Not chopped up. Better not be detached from users.
Re: I am getting out of software development after 10 years of coding
#15I really think people who leave software engineering altogether mostly failed to find a company that respects engineers/pays well. If you are good at the algorithms interviews, you can make ~400k with 5 to 8 years of experience. Do that for a decade, and with some saving and basic investing, you are basically done working. On the other hand, fail to pass the algorithms interview, you are essentially stuck at 140-170k…
I wish I was stuck programming for 140k
Re: I am getting out of software development after 10 years of coding
#16Good luck to the author.
For me, I didn't have any choice in the matter, but that's water under the bridge. I'm actually glad it happened.
> This time it will just not be on a payroll anymore, but on my own time, on my own terms, and for fun!
I'm having a blast. The only really annoying thing, is that lots of folks seem to equate "having fun coding," with "writing bad software."
Nothing could be farther from the truth (at least, in my case).
Re: I am getting out of software development after 10 years of coding
#17“ For instance, I could be fulfilling any of these roles: …kitchen helper…”
Has developing software really gotten worse in the last 10 years, have expectations gotten higher, or what? I’ve been around 20 years and (anecdotally) for me it’s better than it ever has been. I’m a mobile developer and not a web dev though, how much does language matter in job satisfaction?
Re: I am getting out of software development after 10 years of coding
#18Granular? I'm tired of having to learn about AWS and Kube and Gradle and all the things that are outside the IDE.
Re: I am getting out of software development after 10 years of coding
#19I would recommend that SWEs who feel this way but still like coding try their hand at data science/data analytics/analytics engineering.
We're still early enough in the data world that it's easy to find that sense of ownership over the whole "data product." You probably won't get paid as well, although it's possible, but the pay won't be bad either.
Re: I am getting out of software development after 10 years of coding
#20He was in the wrong kind of company and felt like a useless cog. In my opinion, that's a pretty thin foundation for a drastic job change.