Have you thought about doing something in robotics or control systems, or something similar. There are plenty of programming areas thats deal with electro-mechanical things that are more tangible.
Ask HN: Has anyone gone from software to physical engineering?
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Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gone from software to physical engineering?
#32I’ve started doing stuff like this as a hobby, in the garage. It energizes me and I end up taking that energy back into my SWE job. But I’m sure if it was my full time job then it would get the life sucked out of it.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gone from software to physical engineering?
#33As an engineer who got into software I would advise against this unless you were really motivated by learning new things.
However, from your statement, I would ask the following question: What is it you are looking for? It sounds like the underlying project goals might not be interesting enough and if you found something more meaningful/impactful it might be more stimulating?
I constantly think about different careers and grass is greener kind of thought process and come back to first principles. What is it I want out of life?
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gone from software to physical engineering?
#34Two suggestions for burnout: 1) Always change companies, change industries, and/or change locations multiple times before trying a career change. Unfortunately, if you are the type of person who gets burned out in software then you’re almost certainly going to get burned out in other engineering disciplines unless you learn how to manage your stress and self. Better to learn stress management and burnout prevention b…
To address both of these also consider looking for software engineering at a company that is not primarily a software company. Especially if it is a small company, there may be significant opportunity to try something else/get experience with it while still being in a more comfortable career position.
I don't have a super specific suggestion for somewhere to look, but anecdotally I worked for a small aerospace company and for some time was working on software/networking but was also physically turning bolts assembling a spacecraft, building test equipment, etc., some of the time.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gone from software to physical engineering?
#35As an engineer who got into software I would advise against this unless you were really motivated by learning new things. However, from your statement, I would ask the following question: What is it you are looking for? It sounds like the underlying project goals might not be interesting enough and if you found something more meaningful/impactful it might be more stimulating? I constantly think about different career…
> As an engineer who got into software I would advise against this unless you were really motivated by learning new things.
Why?
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gone from software to physical engineering?
#36I've done the reverse - I would recommend studying engineering, but I would not recommend the job market for physical engineering.
I studied Engineering Science with Computer Science, did some Electronic Engineering before focusing on software.
Studying diverse fields of engineering is intellectually stimulating and creates lots of transferrable skills (Who knew all that math I learned makes learning ML easy?). You will be open to jobs both in physical and software engineering + It's harder to be self-taught in physical engineering.
..Just be aware the job market for physical engineering is orders of magnitude smaller than software engineering. You will have less choice and lower pay. Most of the smart engineers I know with degrees from good schools ended up in software.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gone from software to physical engineering?
#37I was a mechanical engineer before this. Keep in mind that mech engineering that requires a 4-year degree is different from being on the fabrication side that does machining/building. The latter is the hands-on, blue collar work where you're on your feet all day. The engineering is a desk job 90% of the time. Sell your back vs. sell your brain.
Yep. Machining is fun, but it doesn’t pay.
It's fun until you have to rework the same part for the 20th time that day and your back is aching after driving into work at 6 am.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gone from software to physical engineering?
#38This is exactly what I did. After graduate school (focused on the wireless networking space) I was really burned out on software development. Important context is that my undergraduate degree was in mechanical engineering, even though I ended up moving straight into CS afterwards. I found a job as a machine design engineer at a company that designs computer controlled milling machines and I've loved it ever since. 90…
If you're willing to code firmware, there are also a number of jobs related to prototype building and "design". People need someone to build their CES demos. This is far more likely to get your hands dirty making actual functional systems, without all of the supply chain ODM and contract manufacturing complexity. You'll learn the importance of using good connectors and blinky debug lights. Stanford has a Design Division within the Mechanical Engineering department. Another place to look is medical, if you like rigorous testing and prototyping.
However, prepare for the fact that you will never make as much money.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gone from software to physical engineering?
#39As an engineer who got into software I would advise against this unless you were really motivated by learning new things. However, from your statement, I would ask the following question: What is it you are looking for? It sounds like the underlying project goals might not be interesting enough and if you found something more meaningful/impactful it might be more stimulating? I constantly think about different career…
> As an engineer who got into software I would advise against this unless you were really motivated by learning new things. Why?
Its a very big level of effort to get an engineering degree and pass your professional engineering exam. Assuming you are in North America its about a 4 year process. As such there are large opportunity costs and I don't know many engineering programs that are evenings and weekends though I am sure they exist...
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone gone from software to physical engineering?
#40I was an aerospace major who worked mainly in software. It’s two very different worlds. A degree is a must. I wouldn’t say physical engineering is harder than software, but like say medicine the corpus of knowledge required as a baseline is much larger. A lot of the job is analysis, and you just have to know the math, the heuristics, etc. You’ll also be a much smaller cog in a much larger machine. You can’t single ha…
(I couldn’t help but look at your profile)
And then what motivated your move from software to law?