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Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

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Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#81

Post by mmsimanga »

pmarreck wrote: post #56
svnt wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went back and re-read but I still can’t find where the poster said “judge my mom’s career.”

It's just sad because so many people accept this kind of mediocrity as the norm, when I absolutely believe it doesn't have to be. If you actually enjoy your job, the technology space, and your coworkers (all achievable in theory), then no matter how old you were, those other asks would be givens. And in addition, you'd be 100% likely to be more successful and have some pull when you need some emergency (or necessary)…

I am not going to dispute your opinion but rather point out that people are different. Some people don't mind maintaining old systems and some people love being the person who created a new systems D using new technology. Both sets of people are necessary in our field of development and his mother sounds like she is fine with maintenance type of work.

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#82

Post by devwastaken »

runnerup wrote: post #12

Universities use a lot of OracleSQL (almost all of them), are generally very accepting of older workers and have a working environment that is friendly to aging workers. The salaries aren't excellent but the comfort is high.

Universities do not need any more career retirees. That Is how higher education has become mostly noise.

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#83

Post by runnerup »

devwastaken wrote: post #82
runnerup wrote: post #12

Universities use a lot of OracleSQL (almost all of them), are generally very accepting of older workers and have a working environment that is friendly to aging workers. The salaries aren't excellent but the comfort is high.

Universities do not need any more career retirees. That Is how higher education has become mostly noise.

If they wanted different employees they could pay to attract “real” talent. But jobs that pay $130k in private industry pay $80k at Universities. Honestly the guys I work with are very good at creating stable, long-living solutions with minimal maintenance requirements. They're not ambitious but they’re careful to create solutions which don’t have technical debt.

Management OTOH often shove poor solutions down the pipe after meeting with vendors.

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#86

Post by chaostheory »

jmye wrote: post #37
chaostheory wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

State and federal tend to use MS SQL, but I guess some federal agencies have the budget for oracle

The difference would be irrelevant, based on OP’s description. She ought to be able to plug into literally any SQL dialect if she’s doing junior/mid-level analyst work.

Her title is db admin and that’s the position she’s gunning for. They’re going to expect senior level skill beyond just creating queries.

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#87

Post by Yujf »

scarface_74 wrote: post #76
lopatin wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The career path you're describing is exactly what she's trying to avoid. That's what "downshifting" means.

I am all for downshifting: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36306966 I never intended to make a life long career at BigTech and was never planning on staying at Amazon for more than four years. I was always planning on going back to smaller less stressful companies and I’m still in the process of decontenting my life. But “coasting” in the technology field is just not realistic. Eventually as she has seen, the gr…

Coasting is entirely realistic. There are still many jobs that require knowledge that has been releatively stable, that are not stressful. And it is perfectly fine to want them id you realise pay is going to be less than you could get in other positions. You are just being an asshole.

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#88

Post by MichaelRo »

>> It's all fine work, but not for her, not at this stage in life.

>> She wants to find a place to be comfy and write some SQL scripts, analysis, and data modeling here and there, where she will be both happy and useful. Pay is not a priority.

Sorry but your mom is about my age (nearly 50 that is). "At this stage in life" is reserved for 30 years from now, someone has to break this to her.

Sounds like the private sector is not for her and that's fine but probably should have considered her options earlier. A teacher position doesn't pay developer money but it's also not nearly as stressful and volatile and "get paged on Thanksgiving weekend to fix some random crap".

On the other hand some people are just not cutoff for the level of workload in the private sector (not just programming, try sales or stacking shelves at Target for a change) and are just professional complainers. Someone I know, in his late 20s was stating "it's too late for me to learn something else, I'm done. finished. terminated". Pursued by his mother (now 75+) he did start a teacher's career and is now 25+ years into it with a nice salary and benefits. Of course it's not enough and he constantly complaints of kids being the worst and teaching the absolute most stressful environment one could imagine. For the record he did try to switch to a sales career, lasted two months and came back penitent.

So while the usual supportive shoulder is the default for your mom's case, I'd recommend investigating if there isn't some similarity to the person I know.

Show her this: https://imgur.com/a/zzUoNWC

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#89

Post by veidelis »

scarface_74 wrote: post #72

I’m sorry as someone who is 50 years old and started programming as a hobbyist at 12 in assembly and professionally at 22, I have no sympathy or advice for anyone who is not willing to transition to newer tech and according to you is actively ignoring clear transition paths. My advice is for her not to be lazy and take advantage of the opportunity to transition to some newer tech. Context: I got my first and only job…

Isn't Oracle SQL still one of the most advanced databases? To some it may be the "new tech" you're talking about. I wouldn't use Oracle SQL for other reasons, but purely from technical standpoint it's one of the most advanced things in it's niche.

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#90

Post by quickthrower2 »

Yujf wrote: post #87
scarface_74 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am all for downshifting: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36306966 I never intended to make a life long career at BigTech and was never planning on staying at Amazon for more than four years. I was always planning on going back to smaller less stressful companies and I’m still in the process of decontenting my life. But “coasting” in the technology field is just not realistic. Eventually as she has seen, the gr…

Coasting is entirely realistic. There are still many jobs that require knowledge that has been releatively stable, that are not stressful. And it is perfectly fine to want them id you realise pay is going to be less than you could get in other positions. You are just being an asshole.

Agree with that. Look at the rest of the world. A car mechanic, electrician, teacher or chef would need to keep up to some extent, but not to the crazy levels of tech. Using the Chef example "Yes you are cooking 1920's Chinese cuisine this week, then next week we'll chuck you on a 3 course meal for vegans that is suitable for orbital space flight"
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