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Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

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Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#291

Post by geff82 »

fegu wrote: post #288
geff82 wrote: post #232

While I am happy with being in IT... If I could try something completely different, I would do "Iranian Studies" at the university of Marburg, which is nearby as I have some unexplainable love for Iranian culture and language (to the point I found a girl from there and married her). I'd try to work in research at university or as a consultant for businesses that are interested in the country. The other boy dream not…

I would also prefer cargo planes. Less people :)

Seems to be a thing for nerds :)

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#293

Post by Fnoord »

aerique wrote: post #281

I would do some climate activism, become a crew member on a Sea Shepherd boat. That, or help out my political party ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_for_the_Animals ) since we have elections early this year. The party's name is unfortunate and its Wikipedia description as well. It is more well-rounded than that and also is the best party in the parliament wrt privacy, civilian rights, etc. (dutch link: https://w…

Is Judo your current hobby?

You could consider to take a sabbatical for a time on the Sea Shepherd. I don't have the right personality for that (I'm too withdrawn/passive, not social enough) but I have a lot of respect for people who devote time, energy, and money against the strong tide of corporate selfishness.

Your party's name makes it sound like a one issue party. I recommend to change it, or merge with GL/SP.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#294

Post by jimbokun »

up_and_up wrote: post #246
pc86 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless moving out of SF/NY is a deal breaker, it's not necessary to make $100k+ a year to have a solid middle class life. You won't be driving a BMW making $55k a year but you won't need to eat Ramen to make the mortgage payment either. Obviously kids make this harder and my perspective is certainly biased as my wife and I don't plan on children so our nut is much lower every month than our friends with kids in HS or…

> it's not necessary to make $100k+ a year to have a solid middle class life Depends on your circumstances. 100k with one salary?

I'm in a similar situation to you, (similar salary, 2 kids instead of 3), and think you are being hyperbolic claiming "100k is nothing honestly". I think maybe it comes down to the definition of "basic life".

Sure, 100k can go very fast with kids, and it won't make you independently wealthy, but many people manage a "basic life" and even saving some money living on far less.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#295

Post by hunterjrj »

gravypod wrote: post #11

Welder. It's everything that makes a skill desirable to learn. Very easy to start, impossible to master. Pays reasonably well too if you can find work. Also most welders are people who don't put up with much BS so it's refreshing coming from pretty much any other field.

There was a study done recently linking airborne manganese (below federal occupational safety levels) and neurological symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease.

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/manganese-exposure-puts-...

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#296

Post by conorcleary »

tjic wrote: post #207

Woodworker. From running two small ecommerce companies I think I've learned enough about MVP, shipping, inventory management, etc. From 25 years as a software engineer I've learned about building tools to automate steps. I'd pick some "hard to find / expensive niche (e.g. Greene and Greene, Art Nouveau, etc.), but offer repeatable designs, not do custom work. That would allow for lots of jigs, fixtures, using cheap m…

Look into producing beehive equipment; even if you're not a beekeeper, there is a constant and large demand for high quality, low price woodenware. Fairly easy to set up jigs and it is easy to find blueprints. By the end you'll be a beekeeper anyway ;)

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#297

Post by ttcbj »

jimbokun wrote: post #286
whynaut wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For #2 I have thought considerably about this as well. It seems to boil down to two things: 1. Lack of awareness. In many of these environments "software engineering" doesn't really mean anything to anyone, especially if few households own computers in the first place. Growing up in Detroit, my Dad lugged in our first (huge, ancient) PC when I was in the 4th or 5th grade - if I had simply been pointed in the right di…

As for 2, I think that's where the life experience of the parents weighs heavily. For example, I'm deeply saddened when reading about scam private universities, because they prey upon people who value the ideal of "education" and really want to succeed, but don't have the people around them with enough experience of higher education to distinguish the good schools from the scams.

Couldn't agree more. Also, again from "Hoop Dreams", it was as though the basketball players believed that having entered college was going to transform their career prospects in itself, regardless of what they learned. If you see college as some sort of mysterious potion, then you might think any college will transform you. You don't see that college is at best a tool for developing skills that are relevant to building a career.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#298

Post by morgante »

I wish I'd had the opportunity to work in finance/IB for at least a little while. It's something I was always interested in, but would have taken more work to break into (vs. getting great-paying jobs for tech pretty much right out of high school).

Or consulting. I think I'd pick up interesting skills there. I might still follow this path by getting my MBA.

My biggest frustration is that professionally it's very easy to top out in tech. I'm still quite young and already make more than most developers. Really the only way to significantly level up professionally is to take on more risk (by founding a company).

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#299

Post by JDiculous »

Entrepreneurship. It's a lot of upfront work, but you've got the ultimate upside in terms of money, control over one's lifestyle, impact, and fulfillment.

But more realistically, I'd probably pursue product management because it seems interesting and isn't hard to transition into as a developer.

If I didn't have to worry about money, then I'd be trying to make the world a better place, doing things like spreading awareness of and advocating for a basic income.

Re: Ask HN: If you were to switch career, what would you do?

#300

Post by mrlyc »

planteen wrote: post #186
kbart wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"When the tech world moved away from me (doing mainly embedded C for the last thirty years might not have been the best idea for my career)" Strange, why do you say so? We live in the era of IoT and everything has at least one chip inside them. I also do system/embedded programming, but never felt the lack of possibilities to advance my career.

I'm also systems/embedded and the OP made me a bit nervous. I have been primarily writing C (with some C++ and other languages) for my career of ~8 years. It seems like there are enough jobs available. Certainly not as many as web dev, but at the same time I have been able to work on things I consider interesting (spacecraft, MRI, automotive). OP, what do you wish you had done differently? Web? Enterprise Java dev?

It depends on where you live. Embedded and device driver jobs disappeared after Australia's electronics industry died and went to China. Six of my friends working in that area moved overseas, four to the States and two to England.

I wish I had learned C++ but my KISS alarm went off when I looked at the language, which is a bit of a worry as we say downunder. I avoided learning C# as I found Microsoft's business practices to be utterly repugnant.

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