221–230 of 463 posts
It truly would be a restart, and unlike software development, I'd have to move to where the job is, not the other way around like we're all used to.
Just something to consider.
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Sounds like an interesting path you’ve taken. Do you have any memoirs or blog post about it?
Thats a good question, and no, I haven't written them up yet. I probably would title it "Adventures in ADHD". I grew up in a rural region and so ended up in university for agricultural science, but midway through my second year I was accepted into the Air Traffic Control school. My best friend was driving long-haul tractor trailers across the USA and since I had a half year waiting for my ATC school to start I went t…
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> the opportunity to remove my finger with a table saw This is a solved problem. SawStop will reduce the injury from amputation to somewhere between laceration and a pinch.
Looks like the price has finally come down a bit, but it did seem to be $2000+ for something with a saw stop, but only $200+ for a regular table saw, making it out of reach of many home handypeople. Interestingly, as I recall, nearly as many people are injured each year from power tools as are injured in vehicular collisions (in the US) and way more people drive than use power tools. There is a solution, yes, but the…
As a hobbyist in a small shop, I bought it as my "best saw i'll need for a very long time".
The $200 saws are pieces of garbage that anyone who pursues the hobby for more than like a few months will rapidly discover the flaws of. Best bet is middle-road to get like a dewalt for $400 or so but even that has flaws compared to the sawstop.
I used to work as a compiler engineer in the US for several years, before deciding to try starting over at the age of 30, in pure mathematics. I moved from the US to Paris in pursuit of an affordable mathematics education, and spent two years in a Masters program. I did have a considerable amount of savings, but it was very risky nevertheless: if it didn't work out, I'd be out-of-touch with compilers, and it would be…
I like this response very much. I'm in my mid-40s now and worked in many different sectors and positions before ending up in my current career. Even negative experiences, such as washing out as an air traffic controller after 2 years, have been beneficial in my current position. First, they provide some humility and empathy toward people who are struggling and, secondly, they give me alternative lenses toward viewing…
If you want a cautionary tale, here it is: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3134322 The coffeeshop fallacy (2011) It‘s easy to get blinded by how incredibly privileged the tech bubble is and have had a better experience so far just trying to find a great non-toxic spot in there. YMMV, good luck!
Especially if you've done it your whole professional life. The type of people who see a major tech company charging for lunches in the company cafeteria and then write articles about them trying to starve their employees would curl up and die the first time a customer screamed at them because their pizza had black olives on 60% of it instead of half.
Whilst I wouldn’t be seen dead working in a place like that, y’all really don’t know how good you’ve got it.
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Wow! I've been dabbling in real estate investment as a potential escape hatch from tech and I'd love to hear more about this!
What can I say. I bought an old school house around 2 miles from my house spent a fortune turning into a mixed use building. Each classroom is a studio apartment. I had a fiber line installed. I guess the only thing I can say is that 8 units was a magic number for me. The idea is that if one should pay about 25% as rent. 8 units represent 200% of the average income of my town. The downside is that all the serious bui…
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I think they were using it as shorthand for all of the physical risks that physical fabricators have, rather than saying circular saws are the one single risk and there is no mitigation.
People might find it fun to know there is a literary term for this -- synecdoche! > a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in Cleveland won by six runs (meaning “Cleveland's baseball team”) (in this case, "circular saws" representing the whole class of dangerous power tools)
Still waiting for that World Series win.
One now runs a couple of Airbnb places, one inherited and one bought - making the same money they used to make in a low/mid IT role in the UK - and working far far less. In fact they are starting to get bored but not yet too worried about that.
Another friend started a cupcake business which I thought was a poor idea as the market for cake in London was pretty saturated. 5 years in they have a few employees and are making great money - BUT they work so damn hard, as many or more hours as when they worked in IT. but for now they still love it.
1. Full-time musician. Too hard even if you are extremely talented and good at self-promotion. I am good at what I do but I am not a first-call instrumentalist or a charismatic frontperson.
2. Mental health field. I found that the starting pay was too low, didn't relish the idea of going to grad school again, and I found that the training process was too intense for me -- I require a lot of alone time and recharging time.
In both cases I wanted to switch because I had let myself burn out. A key to preventing burnout for me is finding a role where I don't have to sit in multiple meetings a day and where I can work less than 40 hours a week.