Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech? • Hacker News Board

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

#401

Post by subungual » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 2:39 AM UTC

dxscorp wrote: post #375

subungual wrote: post #313

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 have been considering this, when I think about what I would do if I had freedom to do anything. The commitment is obviously daunting, but I am considering dipping my toes in some pre-reqs and MCAT to see how serious I would be about it. I'm 29 now, just curious how that matches up to your timeline? Were there a good number of older students in your classes as well? Cheers and congrats on almost finishing!

Thank you! It's definitely worth dipping your toes, I'd say. I made the call to try it at 29 and matriculated at 32. There's one person in my class who is a decade older than me, another my age, and several who were in their late 20s when we started. The average age of med students is slowly climbing, and there are plenty of nontraditional students out there. I wish you success regardless of what you decide!

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

#402

Post by ChatGTP » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 2:46 AM UTC

TuringTest wrote: post #304

stochastimus wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Money buys choices, simple as. What you do with those choices, and how much meaning they bring to your life, is entirely up to you.

Or, to put it another way, everyone has choices, but the choices of the poor are all bad.

He’s not saying it’s good to be poor, he’s saying it’s not good to be stupidly rich.

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

#403

Post by roland35 » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 3:04 AM UTC

fwlr wrote: post #86

GoToRO wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Obviously I can’t speak to your experiences, but I definitely got more respect working as a developer than I do as a receptionist.

This seems a little bit ridiculous to be honest. I know some developers don't feel respected, but I think a lot of this is due to poor communication skills honestly

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

#404

Post by 000ooo000 » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 3:46 AM UTC

tayo42 wrote: post #316

siva7 wrote: 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…

so how do you all make tech tolerable? Bonus points if you work in ops like SRE or something

I could use this advice too. I love programming; it was a teen hobby prior to making a career out of it. I inherited some elements of my old man's work ethic ("If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right", "Do it right the first time", etc) which I think are, at best, a low priority, and at worst, incompatible with the way software is built in the majority of software gigs. Value first, quality ..maybe.

So I'm attempting to reconcile the reality of modern, corporate software development with the way I derive satisfaction/meaning from my career. Boiled down, my naivete about our relationship with work, which is undoubtedly encouraged and exploited by society, has started to wane, and now I'm trying to uncouple how I get meaning/satisfaction from how I get money.

New years resolutions aren't for me but this year I tried to start loosely viewing things in my life like investments, specifically in terms of ROI. It's more of a reminder of how to think than a spreadsheet. I imagine myself as having an 'energy' budget. Sometimes I spend some energy and I get some back; other times I get nothing in return. As far as my career goes, I need to spend X to get my pay check, which eventually converts to energy. Sometimes I spend X+Y, hoping I get something more, like recognition/education/satisfaction. Sometimes that Y is engaging in a debate in peer review. Sometimes it's trying to anticipate one's manager or "showing initiative". The important thing is to track Y and if there's no return, mark that as a bad investment to be avoided in future. I burned out a couple of years ago because I was spending Y like mad with zero regard for the ROI, or at least with the vague expectation there would be some ROI one day.

Obviously this is not novel, or even a good analogy ("all models wrong; some useful"), but this framing is a (potentially) temporary way to adjust my thinking and behaviour from the brainwashed, single-minded, career-focused, please-notice-me-ceo-daddy track I started out in after school/uni.

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

#405

Post by 000ooo000 » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 3:50 AM UTC

theden wrote: post #61

As someone who's tried/trying, here are some thoughts from my experience (DevOps -> Jazz Musician) - The general pay and flexibility of a tech job is too good, it's easy to forget how privileged it is to be in a position holding a tech job. A lot of people out there are struggling, the fact that we can imagine starting over (and maybe have the time and means to do so as an option) says it all - It's hard to escape th…

>not being able to save money for situations where I could help my parents and whatnot in the future definitely made me feel at unease

Interesting point. Thanks for your post.

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

#406

Post by vt85 » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 4:31 AM UTC

counttheforks wrote: post #329

mdorazio wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a quick note on this since I ran into the same wtf? moment a few years ago. 1) Saw Stop holds a number of patents that legally prevented anyone else from adding the same tech to their saws. Most of the patents didn’t expire until 2021, but a few are still effective until 2024. We will probably see other manufacturers add similar features in 2025 as a result. 2) SawStop built its reputation on being a premium bra…

Another point to show how deeply unethical the US patent system is. I wonder how many people have lost appendages because of these patents and the exorbitant pricing?

[dead]

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

#407

Post by opportune » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 4:33 AM UTC

endymi0n wrote: post #2

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!

Agreed completely. As soul sucking as corporate software can be, we are very fortunate to be able to earn a great living for doing something (often) mentally stimulating and physically easy.

I’m sure many a barista fantasy has been crushed the first time having to deal with an unruly or argumentative customer, clean diarrhea off the bathroom walls, etc. Yeah, you have less to worry about once your shift is over, but your shift might really suck.

In our culture it sounds cringe/like bragging to make these kinds of comparisons punching down (to which I retort that the “back to blue collar” fantasy started it) but at this point in my life I don’t think I’ll ever have to put up with crap like that for money in the future, and I don’t plan to. Why would I do that?? We get paid several multiples just to tell computers to send little packets of data formatted just so from here to there.

All you need to do to be happy is what you’d be doing at your barista job anyway - stop giving a crap about your job after regular working hours, and stop trying to find an existential purpose in repetitive, draining tasks. Once you can do that, you reap all the benefits of higher pay with less bullshit

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

#408

Post by atom058 » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 7:17 AM UTC

SamWhited wrote: post #391

shaman1 wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you considered cashing out? Meaning selling the house so you get you equity back. Maybe you can use that to move somewhere more affordable and start over.

I've thought about it, but I don't think that's actually an option. Renting is just going back to throwing money into some asshole landlord making profit off of other people not wanting to be houseless, and everywhere else where I'd have any possible desire to live is getting more and more expensive too, so even though I'm lucky in that my house has gone up a lot it doesn't actually do me any good if I want to buy ag…

I hope/pray you find a way

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

#409

Post by maCDzP » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 7:33 AM UTC

artagnon wrote: post #66

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…

Your story brought me joy! I am really happy that you had the opportunity to follow your passion, and did! And that you are happy with the decision you made while still seeing the negative consequences.

To me that is a truly a life well lived.

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

#410

Post by Beegle » Sat, Mar 04, 2023, 7:50 AM UTC

Some really great stories here. Mine is really boring. I was a software dev./architect for 23 years and have been a bus driver for three.

You should try branching out hut don’t lose your networking and don’t let your skills slip until you know for sure you don’t want to go back. (or perhaps can’t go back because AI is doing everything for us)