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Ask HN: Developers who switched careers, what are you doing now?

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41–50 of 344 posts

Re: Ask HN: Developers who switched careers, what are you doing now?

#41
I went and worked on Wall Street. Good experience and the work could be interesting but honestly got to the point where I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my life to the extent necessary to stick it out. Heading back to tech in a more business oriented role that I think will be better for me, and money is the exact same for now. It won’t ramp up as fast but I do think the lifetime upside is similar in compensation and immeasurably better in health and happiness.

Re: Ask HN: Developers who switched careers, what are you doing now?

#42
post #2

Moved to renewables. Wanted to try and help with climate change and needed new challenges. Solar is a fantastic industry. Lots of room for improvement feels like internet did in thr mid 90s. Just a ton of enthusiasm and a sense you're part of something big and important.

Did the same but as a dev. Created this list for my fellow devs who want to do the same https://github.com/pogopaule/awesome-sustainability-jobs

Re: Ask HN: Developers who switched careers, what are you doing now?

#43
post #2

Moved to renewables. Wanted to try and help with climate change and needed new challenges. Solar is a fantastic industry. Lots of room for improvement feels like internet did in thr mid 90s. Just a ton of enthusiasm and a sense you're part of something big and important.

Could you give a sense about what the interesting problems there are? I get the sense (knowing nothing) that it's maybe similar to ML in the sense that only a few top research labs does all the fun stuff. The internet in the 90s had tons of low hanging fruit just about anyone could pluck.

Re: Ask HN: Developers who switched careers, what are you doing now?

#44
post #6

Switched to remodeling houses and landscaping. I switched because this is better. Healthier. Saner. Happier. More in line with my long-term goals and general growth.

How did you get into remodeling? I like design and making things, it sounds interesting. Is it like those HGTV shows?

I was an old carpenter's assistant parttime for many years. And developed software part/full time for many years. Mixed together simultaneously. A gradual segue punctuated by several decisive acts

Re: Ask HN: Developers who switched careers, what are you doing now?

#45
Product Management. I hate it, but I was too stupid to get into FAANG as an SDE and my personality type better matches the role. I love coding and have done it my whole life and for 10 years professionally but at the highest level I’m simply not as smart as other people

Re: Ask HN: Developers who switched careers, what are you doing now?

#46
post #6

Switched to remodeling houses and landscaping. I switched because this is better. Healthier. Saner. Happier. More in line with my long-term goals and general growth.

Any photos of your work? I work on houses in my spare time too... but its not a full time thing.

Re: Ask HN: Developers who switched careers, what are you doing now?

#47
post #7

Not sure if this is what you mean, but I 'switched' from an ML consultancy to entrepreneurship. I now build and market my own projects ([1], [2]) and try to gain enough ad revenue to replace my former salary. Started 1.5 months ago, and enjoying every minute of it! No longer occupying my mind with corporate power dynamics saves a lot of cognitive bandwidth, but to my surprise it has been replaced. I thought I'd feel…

The first site is useful, but the second feels parasitic and slimy to me, sorry.

Re: Ask HN: Developers who switched careers, what are you doing now?

#48
post #10
post #7

Not sure if this is what you mean, but I 'switched' from an ML consultancy to entrepreneurship. I now build and market my own projects ([1], [2]) and try to gain enough ad revenue to replace my former salary. Started 1.5 months ago, and enjoying every minute of it! No longer occupying my mind with corporate power dynamics saves a lot of cognitive bandwidth, but to my surprise it has been replaced. I thought I'd feel…

I did something similar. Building is the easy part. Getting meaningful traction is difficult. My own projects: https://cxo.industries https://tradecast.one

I like the "Copy successful traders if you don't know technical analysis." feature. I've always wanted that as an option for stuff like this.

Re: Ask HN: Developers who switched careers, what are you doing now?

#49

Product Management. I hate it, but I was too stupid to get into FAANG as an SDE and my personality type better matches the role. I love coding and have done it my whole life and for 10 years professionally but at the highest level I’m simply not as smart as other people

why do you hate it? (ur personality matches dev better than pm? not sure how to read your comment)
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