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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?

#221

Post by gmays »

jrumbut wrote: post #219
gmays wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, have you leveraged your tech background to help the business? I'm in a similar spot--my wife bought a retail business (gift shop + dress boutique) with her sister around 2018. My tech background made some things easier, like modernizing how they operate (bluetooth scanners, iPads, inventory management vs. the old clunky stuff that was in place). Retail is a hard way to make a dollar, but very interesting…

> What if they turned that into a service where people submit who they need a gift for + their budget and the store sends a gift to the person? I've built sonething like this ~3 times as a consultant and I've never seen it get meaningful usage. Somehow it still sounds like a genius idea. Maybe if they have a following that is personally loyal to them it will work well? I hate to be discouraging but I might see if the…

Thanks for the insight--that's a good suggestion!

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

#222

Post by bradly »

I left tech in July and I'm building furniture and woodworking now. I had been doing Rails since 2007, ending my career with a great 4.5 year stretch at Apple and was ready for a break. Two to four weeks off a year just isn't enough for me and my family and simply getting paid 10-20% more wasn't going to change our life.

I'm loving it. I don't sit or stand in place for eight hours a day. I'm learning a ton. I'm engaging with both local builders and master craftspeople. I get to share my work with family, friends, and neighbors. There's a lot of volunteer opportunities that don't require anything but showing up and willingness to help.

If anyone is interested in leaving tech for woodworking, feel free to reach out. My contact info is in my profile.

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

#223

Post by sandoze »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #117
sandoze wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here’s the thing. If I could just code without being a slave to a scrum master or being product micromanaged.. I would never leave the industry. I worked five years in mobile gaming when the Apple Store first opened. Released 13 titles, had my hands in a half a dozen others, three teams in two countries, 15 employees at our height (95% remote). Never had a standup, planning meaning, grooming.. etc.

I'm surprised you made it 5 years. It seemed like the App Store collapsed to free within a year or two.

We made the switch from paid, to ad driven, to freemium/IAP for our in-house games.

Zynga was one of our biggest clients. Hasbro came in second. As well as a few white label advergames (eg. Vans shoes). We rarely made more than a small cut on profits (if that) and were generally paid upfront and on delivery.

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

#224

Post by Fishkins »

ac2022 wrote: post #187
kimsant wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you can find something meaningful (very easy), or start your own business (easiest moment in history to rise 1million), or teach in a bootcamp... There are 100 options. Wasting a wonderfull mind just because... sad

Sadly, there not many options if you want comfortable life and do good at the same time. My fiends and I really wanted to do good when starting our careers and looked at many non-profits, all of them pay sub-market rates. And then we learned secondhand that most of these non-profits were run by narcissists leaders with worse office politics than regular offices. We got jobs in regular companies building some of most…

> And then we learned secondhand that most of these non-profits were run by narcissists leaders with worse office politics than regular offices.

I've worked for a tech-focused nonprofit for the last decade, and know people who have worked for other tech nonprofits. My experience (direct and secondhand) does not match what you said here. There are lots of good mission-focused tech companies to work for (both non- and for-profit). If, as a sibling comment suggested, you want to bring clean drinking water to the world, I know people who have worked at charity: water and enjoyed it.

It's true the pay will usually be below market rate for software engineers. It still can be much higher than most people in US[0] will ever make, and not an obstacle to living comfortably (by any definition of "comfortable" I consider reasonable). It's possible it could make it more difficult to buy a nice house in a central location in one of the more expensive cities, but that's true for most people and needs systemic changes to address it.

0: I assume we're talking about the US, since that's where the really high tech salaries are (and it's the place I live and have experience)

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

#225

Post by bjelkeman-again »

Now me, and part of my former team, are building and operating circular food production systems. I got fed up with building data systems to just make more money. I needed to work on something that made a positive impact in the world.

The previous change also moved in that direction, but it was still in software, but then we started a foundation and built data systems that supports countries that receive development aid, and those organisations that supported them.

The work is super rewarding. But more work than either of the previous half a dozen startups.

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

#226

Post by marcrosoft »

soared wrote: post #167
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #129

I'm in the process of transitioning out of a FAANG SWE position to be full time in property development. There's not enough houses for people to live in. Most people hate you for "driving up prices" and "gentrifying neighborhoods" - but it leaves me much more satisfied than engineering. After paying ~40% tax for a decade and paying ~3x what the Fed and State spend per Capita over a lifetime - it's nice to see my work…

Always feels weird when someone in the top 1% of earners, making over $500k/yr, complains about taxes.

Why? They are the ones that end up paying the most.

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

#227

Post by burntoutfire »

c0nrad wrote: post #200

Going back to school for Physics (age 30). It'd be cool to understand why the universe exists before I die.

> It'd be cool to understand why the universe exists before I die.

I'm affraid physicsts aren't interested in this question (as it can't be answered by science).

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

#228

Post by Eextra953 »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #129

I'm in the process of transitioning out of a FAANG SWE position to be full time in property development. There's not enough houses for people to live in. Most people hate you for "driving up prices" and "gentrifying neighborhoods" - but it leaves me much more satisfied than engineering. After paying ~40% tax for a decade and paying ~3x what the Fed and State spend per Capita over a lifetime - it's nice to see my work…

Can you expand on you how transitioned to property development? Where there any books or classes that helped? I am interested in doing something similar but I don't know where to start.

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

#229

Post by sixstringtheory »

sprocket wrote: post #93

I worked full time as a software dev from about 1999 until 2010. It was never really all that fulfilling for me, although I was pretty good at what I did. I was laid off in 2010, and spent the rest of the year milking goats and sheep, and making cheese in France and the UK. When I returned home in late 2010, my wife and I moved to a more rural location, bought a small herd of goats, and started building a cheese plan…

I haven’t left the industry but do live rurally and have considered getting some sheep for personal cheesemaking. Do you also shear them on any regular interval? Is that even necessary for any reason? If you do, do you sell the wool? I’ve seen it going in farmers markets for quite high prices, although I’m not familiar with the processing requirements.

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

#230

Post by cellis »

weatherlite wrote: post #211
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 )

I'm sure the average Google dev is of higher intelligence than the average dev at Coca Cola. No disrespect to anyone but how wouldn't it be the case? I can't make it into FAANG btw, I get too stressed during interviews or I'm not a quick study enough (I don't really have the energy to self study for months preparing for an interview) or a combination of the two.

I’ll concede this point in specialized areas: these companies are able to pay top of band for ML researchers and data scientists. 10 years ago I’d have agreed that G and F had the best. But now, knowing many many engineers who work there, my anecdotal and very subjective assessment is that they don’t exactly demonstrate an advantage. Especially if the task is pure ( non leetcode ) development of a software product, I would even go so far as to say they’re at a distinct disadvantage.
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