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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?

#71

Post by lopatin »

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)…

:(

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

#72

Post by scarface_74 »

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 at $BigTech at 46 based on my decades of experience as a bog standard enterprise dev + two years of AWS experience at a startup as a (full time) consultant working in the Professional Services Department. I didn’t open the AWS console and didn’t know anything about “cloud” until I was 44.

When I got Amazoned three years later I was able to find a job in three weeks working full time at another consulting company where I am leading “Application modernization” initiatives (cloud + app dev).

If she isn’t at “a stage in life” where she can retire and she hasn’t gotten over her addiction to food and shelter, if she wants to stay in the industry, she has to evolve.

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

#73

Post by lopatin »

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…

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

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

#74

Post by scarface_74 »

lopatin wrote: post #16
bellkoan wrote: post #7

Banks have a lot of data analyst type jobs that could be good for this. They require a knowledge of SQL to generate reports but do not fall squarely under IT and so would rarely expect those kinds of project work.

That's a good idea. She knows finance/markets stuff too. I guess I thought banks had kind of cut throat cultures, but I agree that it's not necessarily like that in all departments. We'll for sure check out analyst positions at some of the banks.

A certificate without experience means absolutely nothing. No one takes them seriously when hiring.

Source: I have six (7?) active AWS certifications and at one point 9. I knew going in they were worthless and just got them to know what I didn’t know and as a guided learning path.

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

#76

Post by scarface_74 »

lopatin wrote: post #73
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…

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 ground underneath you is going to change.

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

#77

Post by tempaccount420 »

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…

> addiction to food and shelter

Pretty funny way to put it, yet very sad that this is the reality.

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

#78

Post by ParetoOptimal »

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)…

> in addition, you'd be 100% likely to be more successful and have some pull when you need some emergency (or necessary) time off.

One shouldn't need pull for necessary time off, much less emergency time off.

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

#79

Post by lopatin »

hobs wrote: post #29

My primary searches would be for something like Reporting Developer, Reporting Analyst, Report Writer, Business Analyst (for a very established business where most of the responsibilities are actually getting stuff out of a database). I would be looking at small to medium businesses that have been around for awhile, many of them have "legacy" databases that nobody knows how to query, and someone conversant in SQL wou…

Thanks for the specific recommendations for searches, as we don't know the analyst space too well, but it sounds like reporting or analytics at a small/medium established business may be exactly what she's looking for.

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

#80

Post by cheema33 »

> ..she is now given responsibilities and workloads that are much more suited for a young, ambitious, competitive dev who wants a promotion.

This is the sort of thing that ChatGPT is really good at. It will not do all of her work. But it will be a big help in getting direction, answering technical questions etc.

I am quite old myself. Over 50. I use ChatGPT everyday to learn new things or solve issue when I get stuck. It has increased my productivity several fold.

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