261–270 of 463 posts
I would actually like to be a doctor but it’s not really feasible starting down that route in my 30s
If anyone has attempted this I would love to talk.
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By most measures, yes. Tech workers get more money, better hours, easier working conditions, and will impress your partner's parents more. But I'd wager the barista gets thanked more often, and their customers like them more.
I'm going to guess you have never worked a service job. It sucks. People suck, you get yelled at, insulted, demeaned, shit pay, long hours. Tech work is the cushiest job ever. It takes almost no effort to get into, you get paid insanely well, and skills are always in demand. What is there to complain about?
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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…
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 brand in addition to being safer. So the quality of components, materials, and build is a lot higher than what you get in even a mid grade dewalt saw.
I still wouldn’t buy one at their exorbitant prices, but hopefully the “accidentally removing fingers” problem will be better solved in a few years.
Has anyone tried freelancing part time as a developer while starting their new career? I am considering freelancing so I can focus on making and selling shoes. I don't need to go all in on making shoes right off the bat, but having an extra 4 hours a day to do the non-tech thing I enjoy doing would be great. I would still be making enough money to cover the bills while I work on the new career.
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>why would you just accumulate savings without using them for living an interesting life? Having kids. Not that you have to do this with kids, but it is a reason
I don’t understand Americans POV on this subject. Other than providing tutors and making sure their children are in the best secondary schools, I don’t understand the American obsession with paying for college. The best way to prepare your child is to let them experience reality not coddle them. - A luxury university diploma will not guarantee a good job - There are other educational opportunities besides an expensiv…
A local 4 year degree at my city's state run university is around 18,000 to 22,000 per year for tuition. And that's without room and board.
In comparison a private liberal arts school near me is $65,652 per year for tuition alone.
To me the state option is still pretty darn expensive especially if you are also paying for the kids room and board.
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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.
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.
Pun intended? :)
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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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This is why it's so important to mix with people from outside of your bubble. HN has some of the worst examples of people who don't know what they have. The discussions around salary are particularly amusing. I'm lucky because my partner is a nurse so I never forget how easy my job is. I also grew up in a poor family and I haven't forgotten what that was like. Honestly, if people would go and spend a long time in a c…
For me it's not that I don't feel lucky or enjoy my job in a general sense I guess. I just don't want to do the same thing over and over again my whole life. I started programming on a Commodore at like 6 or 7 years old and have basically never stopped now that I'm in my 40s.
I’m still in tech and absolutely still love AI / ML research. That said, I’ve started a farm. Mostly because: (a) I enjoy being independent and growing the majority of my own food enables that (b) its very satisfying to provide for yourself and family (C) there’s a very real possibility that AGI takes away many jobs; having land, your own resources, etc is real wealth (D) I can work 100% remote and hire someone where…
Thank you for sharing your experience, I'm really interested in this! I daydream daily of going rural while still building technology, also I agree with you that real wealth like land is essential for the future given current trends for jobs (Adam Smith spoke in his time about the real wealth of owning land), I suspect but not sure completely that starting a family in a farm will be advantageous since most education…
For instance, I was never particularly interested in high profit (that requires scale). I instead targeted minimal work and small income.
My one suggestion is to buy land with a house already on it. My land is not near my house, I planned on building a house on the land but it’s is a huge pain as it’s off grid. I’m slowly completing the necessary pieces.
I think you’d be best off scaling out slowly. Depending on what you want to do, you can often lease land. I found several farms already leasing their land and attempted to purchase (they fell through). When you try to start yourself there’s a lot of startup costs (hundreds of thousands). To mitigate that you can get 100 acres, lease 95 of it (someone else will farm it) and start small.
What I did required me to put all the money upfront and learn in real time. Much harder and imo not for the faint of heart.
Biggest thing that helped me was getting to know all the neighbors and meeting them ahead of time. Find a good community that’ll help (obviously you have to help back).
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…
This sounds like a total win. You studied what you wanted, didn't completely wipe out your finances, and successfully re-opened a door you thought may have been permanently closed. I view self actualization as a far more important component of a life well-lived than your savings balance.