If I were to transition from software engineering, I'd prioritize a role that meets the following criteria: 1. Minimizes screen time and doesn't rely heavily on computers for productivity. 2. Allows me to disconnect after work without constant notifications or calls. 3. Offers stability, requiring minimal adaptation to new trends or technologies. 4. Lastly, and more importantly, not easily replaceable by AI in the ne…
1. Electrician. It's not something you can just jump into, even if you're the type who can grok 100% of the theory, equipment, and electrical code overnight. Even after you're all trained up, you have to rank up through various levels, most of which require working under someone else for X number of years. It takes a decade or more before you really have much of a choice of what you get to work on, and start making decent money. In other words, it's a serious career change on-par with doctor or lawyer, just with much less pay.
2. Aircraft mechanic. I love planes. Aircraft are expensive machines. Getting them repaired and maintained and also extremely expensive. So being an aircraft mechanic should be lucrative, right? Sadly, no. I don't know where the money goes, but most aircraft mechanics make significantly under under the median wage and don't have much flexibility on where they can work.
3. Pilot. I would LOVE to fly airplanes and get paid to do it. But this is also another whole career in and of itself. The training costs are extremely exorbitant. A regular job would have me away from home more often than not. According to Real Pilots, airlines are some of the worst employers to work for. But all that aside, I would be a poor pilot because I have a hard time mentally keeping track of numbers. And pilots have to memorize and juggle an insane (to me) amount of numbers just to land safely. I couldn't memorize more than about three numbers for more than 10 seconds or so even at gunpoint.
4. Real estate investor. Lots of people get surprisingly rich from this. But it is a lot of work. The idea is pretty simple: buy a run-down house at a discount, fix it up well enough to rent, re-finance it to get your money back out, and then you effectively have an income-producing property for free. Take that money and go do the same on another one. The problem with this is that the devil is in the details. Every deal is different and unless you're lucky enough to have a mentor willing to share resources and vet your deals, you are GOING to mess it up. I tried this and it didn't work out for two big reasons: 1) I can stay on top of projects, but running all aspects of a business myself is not for me. And I could not find anyone that I trusted to partner with. 2) The sudden large increase in interest rates in the middle of my rehab meant that refinancing was not a viable option. I was forced to sell the property after it was done. I broke even monetarily, but gained a lot of wisdom. I might dip my toes into the water with a simpler strategy in the future, but that's a good 5-10 years off.
5. YouTuber. YT was nice in the beginning, but has consistently been giving the shaft to content creators while keeping all the profits for themselves. On top of that, I found that I really hate editing video.
Right now, I've made peace with the fact that my current destiny is getting paid fairly good money to sit in front of a screen for 8 hours a day. The goal at this point is to sock away as much as I can into index funds, to grow it as quickly as possible, and retire early enough that I can essentially devote my whole day every day to hobbies, grandchildren (if I have them), and friends (if I have them).