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

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

#101

Post by pavlov »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #77
cellis wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Au contraire. “faang” ( with the exception of the “n” ) engineers aren’t on average smarter than gen pop devs. They are simply willing to grind leetcode and put up with a lot more behavioral stressors ( large companies are incredibly difficult to prove impact and all the low hanging fruit is done, so the fights are more bitter because the stakes are lower )

Being willing to do the interview process is part of it, yes, but this idea that they’re all just average is completely wrong. Highly paid big company engineers are some of the most talented developers out there. The companies invest great resources into making it that way. The idea that they’re all just average devs who did LeetCode for a month and now they’re paid twice as much is a comforting fiction for non-FAANG…

Since supply of these jobs is so limited, how do you know whether that’s true or not?

It may be a lottery ticket where a 30-day investment increases your chances of winning to 1:100 from the default of 1:10,000. It’s still unlikely that you’ll get in.

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

#102

Post by barbarbar »

robodale wrote: post #71

Walked away from 20 years of software development last year. I've been day and swing trading stocks for last 2 years. I'm now trading full time and doing great. I don't miss the daily stand-ups, scrum meetings, planning meetings, "quick chats", one-on-ones with management, weekly department meetings, monthly company meetings, and late night critical support calls one bit!

How do you deal with the stress related to trading? Isn't it hard mentally when it goes "not your way"?

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

#103

Post by k8sToGo »

robodale wrote: post #71

Walked away from 20 years of software development last year. I've been day and swing trading stocks for last 2 years. I'm now trading full time and doing great. I don't miss the daily stand-ups, scrum meetings, planning meetings, "quick chats", one-on-ones with management, weekly department meetings, monthly company meetings, and late night critical support calls one bit!

How much did you need to make day trading worth?

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

#104

Post by Cloudef »

matsemann wrote: post #80
robodale wrote: post #71

Walked away from 20 years of software development last year. I've been day and swing trading stocks for last 2 years. I'm now trading full time and doing great. I don't miss the daily stand-ups, scrum meetings, planning meetings, "quick chats", one-on-ones with management, weekly department meetings, monthly company meetings, and late night critical support calls one bit!

Sorry for the blunt question, but how does it feel to go from something where you make something valuable to ...that? (At least I feel what I do give me meaning)

Tbh, i dont really feel i ever do anything valuable with software either

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

#105

Post by djstein »

smugma wrote: post #61

I was a SWE at a FANG. Left to get an MBA, then went back to FANG to do other things. Finance, Operations, Product. My role now still has me involved in solving problems, and I will still review technical architecture (eg why are you proposing a GraphDB for this highly structured data, how are you going to address the fact that Cassandra is eventually consistent, etc.), but it’s a lot more people and solutions driven…

Sounds like what I want to do. Do you believe this transition was worth it? Did you see a pay increase or cut? What do you see in the career trajectory?

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

#106

Post by dageshi »

matsemann wrote: post #80
robodale wrote: post #71

Walked away from 20 years of software development last year. I've been day and swing trading stocks for last 2 years. I'm now trading full time and doing great. I don't miss the daily stand-ups, scrum meetings, planning meetings, "quick chats", one-on-ones with management, weekly department meetings, monthly company meetings, and late night critical support calls one bit!

Sorry for the blunt question, but how does it feel to go from something where you make something valuable to ...that? (At least I feel what I do give me meaning)

Mastering something like trading to the point where you can earn a living from it is probably pretty meaningful to a lot of people.

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

#107

Post by hieu229 »

Ayesh wrote: post #25

Not a switch per se, because I still work on IT related stuff, but I started a bakery and a retail store (two separate businesses). I hired a chef and a manager to do the work professionally, and I pay for wages, rent, material, etc. But I get to learn the immense efforts it takes for a brownie to be on a table, for a cake to bring a smile to face, and a cheesecake to melt in the mouth. It was a fresh experience, and…

Try banana bread too!

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

#108

Post by ryandrake »

robodale wrote: post #71

Walked away from 20 years of software development last year. I've been day and swing trading stocks for last 2 years. I'm now trading full time and doing great. I don't miss the daily stand-ups, scrum meetings, planning meetings, "quick chats", one-on-ones with management, weekly department meetings, monthly company meetings, and late night critical support calls one bit!

Good luck to you! I remember back in the late 90's / early 2000's when The Stock Market Only Goes Up, and 1/4 of my software peers quit to "become day traders." Well when the bear market inevitably came, I started seeing them back in scrum meetings... Do your due diligence and and preserve your capital :)

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

#109

Post by dplgk »

robodale wrote: post #71

Walked away from 20 years of software development last year. I've been day and swing trading stocks for last 2 years. I'm now trading full time and doing great. I don't miss the daily stand-ups, scrum meetings, planning meetings, "quick chats", one-on-ones with management, weekly department meetings, monthly company meetings, and late night critical support calls one bit!

I've been exploring day trading recently and have not yet found the angle that works for me and also fits my lifestyle/budget. It's hard to find reliable sources of education on the topic because it seems like so many materials are teaching hindsight technical analysis that looks good on paper but is really just BS to sell a e-book or Discord subscription. I'm still exploring what time frames I want to trade and if I should go with option strategies or stock scalping. Do you have any advice for learning materials?

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

#110

Post by JKCalhoun »

matsemann wrote: post #80
robodale wrote: post #71

Walked away from 20 years of software development last year. I've been day and swing trading stocks for last 2 years. I'm now trading full time and doing great. I don't miss the daily stand-ups, scrum meetings, planning meetings, "quick chats", one-on-ones with management, weekly department meetings, monthly company meetings, and late night critical support calls one bit!

Sorry for the blunt question, but how does it feel to go from something where you make something valuable to ...that? (At least I feel what I do give me meaning)

My guess is that you do the more "meaningful things" in your spare time. Likely day trading affords you a little more of that?
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