Ask HN: Any advice on navigating this job market or pivoting out of tech? (US)

My next piece of advice is to adjust your expectations for what a good job is. When I graduated I was burnt out and had an unrealistic expectation of what work entails. I dreamed of following a passion, which was already pretty vague for me. After a few years passion jobs become regular jobs. There's a video on YouTube [1] that might ground you. Programming jobs are great all things considered because at root the supply demand mechanics are more favorable than for most jobs, even now.

My last piece of advice is to not pivot and stick with it. When I started college after the dot com crash everyone said programming as a career was dead, it was all going to be outsourced. Then when I graduated after a master's in 2008 the job market was awful. I persisted and it's worked out. (I like the work and like solving problems. To be paid well to do work you enjoy is like winning the life lottery.) The market will recover, programming will be hot again, and frankly after all these years the predictions of doom just seem like wishcasting from people who resent those who are able to program.

Welcome to adulthood, it's not easy. There are rough patches. You need to work through them, and this patch is not even that rough compared to the slog other less fortunate people have to go through every day of their working life.

You have a great opportunity ahead of you. This is just a setback.

[1] https://youtu.be/4hiVQf9MPzg

There are plenty of teams out there that even modest software skills would dramatically improve!

As was previously mentioned, consider your other interests and strengths (even outside of CS). What companies would benefit from those skills and motivation?

Academia has a completely different framework for dividing folks up by teaching discipline rather than job occupation. You'd be surprised how your existing might fit a job role that isn't traditionally a direct fit from CS discipline.

For example, in operational roles, organization and communication skills are impactful, or business process analyst type stuff, where understanding systems and how sw tools are built around them could be a good place to start.

Hopefully this is helpful!

Ps hang in there, we all find our way!

Sounds like you aren't cut out for a job, so start a company.

Make software people want and build a company around it. I've done that five times, and the first time I was a sophomore in college. Turn your knowledge and education into money. Find a business person who has a problem you can fix. See if others have that problem. Make an app that solves it and ask your first customer to refer you to friends. Pretty soon, you'll have made a great job for yourself, and probably make enough to hire another student developer to help you build.

You probably won't become a billionaire doing this, but you'll make good money and most importantly, learn a lot in the process you can use to do it bigger and better next time.

I have always found game development more appealing (tools programming, game design and gameplay programming in particular), but chose to not go for that path, fearing that I wouldn't be able to handle such a notoriously cutthroat industry. I know that it sounds like I threw in the towel there without even trying, but for a long time I had a terrible, painful chronic condition, and it was only recently that I became closer to normal after years of trial and error with different treatments. This condition made me always strive for the "easier" path (webdev), which was a big mistake in retrospect.

To be completely honest, CS is definitely not my biggest passion, but it's the next best thing. From early on in my childhood dream was music and storytelling, always. My dad was strongly opposed to me pursuing it as anything other than a hobby. I think he was right, and I'm still glad he stopped me from enrolling in music school (twice...).

Sorry, I'm just kind of rambling about personal stuff here, but your comment made me think a lot. Thanks for the reply.

If you want an AI-resistant job, look at the trades (plumbers, electricians, etc.). There's a huge shortage, the pay is good, and it will be a while before robots are dexterous enough to have an impact there.

Don't bother with translating. It's already being impacted.