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Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

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341–350 of 463 posts

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#341
I'm in the midst of creating a financial planning firm serving tech professionals looking to take sabbaticals and mini-retirements (i.e., my former self).

Probably too early to give you an informed opinion but I've enjoyed the ride this far. I have professional excuses to continue learning new things and I get to feel like I'm helping people while occasionally building useful tech tools for my practice.

My colleagues are generally kind nerds, which fills my soul, and I've really enjoyed connecting with them over the past year and a half. Admittedly, I've been exceedingly fortunate in having a large buffer and low personal expenses.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#342

I left tech ~6 years ago to pursue medical school. I'll be graduating and starting residency soon. A significant number of my classmates express regret for choosing medicine, and a lot of them fantasize about pursuing a career in tech, instead. I feel pretty well inoculated against this, having had a varied life and a collection of very different work experiences before med school. I'm happy with my choice. My work s…

I've been wrestling with this decision for a couple years now. I've slowly knocked off remaining pre-reqs, but haven't fully dived in - which would be leaving my job and becoming an MA or ED tech and doing dedicated MCAT studying. I work for a tech company that you and your fellow classmates have no doubt used during medical school. The massive financial hit is one of the big reasons I haven't made the jump. It doesn…

Great hearing from you! I think you're taking a wise approach. I inverted things from the way that you did them-- I spent a year studying for the MCAT alongside work (had taken all the prereqs 10+ years earlier as a part of my degree). I used MCAT prep as a litmus test for my seriousness about the whole thing, and after it went well I quit my job to stack up post-bac courses and tick the various remaining application boxes.

It's funny that you say that about the lottery-- my wife and I were unsatisfied in our careers and were very focused on financial independence/early retirement and had set a pretty aggressive retirement date. As we were each thinking through what we would do on the other side of retiring, I realized I'd probably make the run at med school that I'd been considering for a long time. At that point, it stopped making sense to wait.

There's no question that it's a pretty significant upheaval. Fortunately, my wife has been very supportive throughout and even encouraged me at several points to make the jump. We had to move across the country, and we've had a kid in the process. Timing with COVID ended up working out well, as we don't really have the feeling of lost time and opportunity that others seem to.

Good luck in making your decisions from here-- it sounds like you've been thoughtful and intentional about the moves that you've made, and I hope you figure out what's best for you and your wife.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#343

I'm on a hiatus from tech after nearly 20 years at a FAANG, I'm now an airline pilot. The money sucks and the hours are long, but somehow the simplicity of the mission (go from A to B, don't bend any metal) appeals to me. Being able to switch the phone off after work, not having to worry about stupid office politics, planning, or performance reviews is quite liberating. The view from my office desk is unbeatable! I'm…

That sounds so appealing. I would love to learn more about how you got started on the path. Do you mind connecting with me through email (in my profile)

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#344
post #56
post #43

Dropped out of tech, arguably more by force than choice. My lifestyle, finances, social life, even country of residence (and by extension my love life) were all balanced on top of that little MacBook Pro. Used it for work, used it to socialize, eventually my brain refused to let me mediate my entire life through a computer any longer and I burned out. Now I work at a hotel! Receptionist, barista, waiter, even some ma…

I would guess the one big difference is respect. For some reason, there is no respect for tech workers.

If you’re in SF, NYC, or another major city, anyone not in tech or an adjacent field sees you as a techbro gentrifier who is ruining their city. That makes it hard to make friends. You’re basically starting out at -20 reputation with 60-70% of people you meet.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#345

I'm on a hiatus from tech after nearly 20 years at a FAANG, I'm now an airline pilot. The money sucks and the hours are long, but somehow the simplicity of the mission (go from A to B, don't bend any metal) appeals to me. Being able to switch the phone off after work, not having to worry about stupid office politics, planning, or performance reviews is quite liberating. The view from my office desk is unbeatable! I'm…

> I'm now an airline pilot

How did you make this move? I've day-dreamed about this, but curious to hear details from someone who did it.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#348
post #41

It is important to understand that everyone has sometimes escape phantasies (teachers, therapists, baristas, founders, medical doctors, professors, developers, etc., they all do) because something is making them truly unhappy in their day-to-day job and they assume other people happier. Finding about the root cause what makes you unhappy will usually lead to more satisfying results than just running after to become a…

The computers are the good part of the job. Unless I'm dealing with npm.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve lived in some of the most expensive cities in the U.S. Childcare at 4,000 is upper quartile of expensive cities. You’ll find many places where it’s half or less of that price. Private schools at $50k a year are either going to be boarding or some of the more expensive country day schools. Even Sidwell, where Obama sent his kids, is cheaper than this. And finally we get to university education. There are many sch…

>Childcare at 4,000 is upper quartile of expensive cities. You’ll find many places where it’s half or less of that price. Private schools at $50k a year are either going to be boarding or some of the more expensive country day schools. Even Sidwell, where Obama sent his kids, is cheaper than this. Most of the people on this site aren't farmers living in Rural Iowa so idk how relevant the cost of living in places like…

> I had a job every summer in college and through grad school, this was only ~10 years ago and it paid for exactly 0% of my tuition.

It also digs into time that you could be socializing, or as professionals call it "networking". Having a job during school also is downward pressure on your grades, it makes it very hard to have top performance in your classes. Which excludes you from most scholarships.

Anecdotally I had two jobs most of my time during university, one on weekends one on evenings.

I wound up with less debt (note, not NO debt, just less) than most of my classmates but the tradeoff was that I basically entered the workforce basically already burned out and that was a seriously negative impact on my early career.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?

#350

I'm on a hiatus from tech after nearly 20 years at a FAANG, I'm now an airline pilot. The money sucks and the hours are long, but somehow the simplicity of the mission (go from A to B, don't bend any metal) appeals to me. Being able to switch the phone off after work, not having to worry about stupid office politics, planning, or performance reviews is quite liberating. The view from my office desk is unbeatable! I'm…

> I'm now an airline pilot How did you make this move? I've day-dreamed about this, but curious to hear details from someone who did it.

I started taking flying lessons about 7 years ago, and about 4 years ago I got my instructor certificate. I taught people how to fly on weekends and after work until my 1500 hours came up, then I applied to an airline and got a job.

The flight instructor thing was actually occasionally rewarding, especially when people landed the airplane by themselves for the first time. Seeing the look of joy and satisfaction on their faces is one of the better parts of this whole flying thing. :)

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