Ask HN: I can't do development any more, what should I transition to?

Consider specializing on some technology (e.g. Javascript) and focus on that.

What about the typical career moves - design, product, sales, or management?

Why did you get into development anyway? You'll probably find some clues there as to where to go.

Technical project manager, product manager, product owner. Engineering manager. Scrum Master. As long as you enjoy leadership any of these options should do quite well. Being technically-savvy is usually an asset in these positions, and you should be able to make good money.

Are you someone that gets energy from working with people or working solo on tasks? I used to have a similar challenge, I stopped enjoying my technically demanding job until I realized that there was just as much value to be had from my time share my experience and skills with other geeks in my field. It made what I do enjoyable again and also got me to accept my value as a story-teller and education when I had convinced myself that I probably would only ever have my technical abilities to lend to my job.

I'm in the same position. Management wants a full stack / multiple stack midlevel dev for like $85k per year. I think the expectations are ridiculous, especially since they wont train.

I loved the first 3 years of my career, but then the company showed its politics and started to screw me over... and over...

I'm upvoting and hoping to see some good responses.

How about a technical support role? You still get to solve technical problems and you're helping/interacting with customers directly without being responsible for shipping new features or fixing production downtime incidents.

I've wanted to leave the industry for a while for various different reasons and it seems the golden handcuffs are very real. The only realistic options seem to be moving towards adjacent business roles (various management, business, or customer facing roles mostly) as you'll see these are pretty much the majority of suggestions you'll see on these threads. Occasionally you'll see the person who left for a trade or something completely unrelated to tech, but ofc with those you risk starting from the bottom again and not making anywhere near your target salary. IT roles can make around what you want, but i imagine you'd be unable to start in roles paying that without experience.

Another option, which may be unpopular is to find a less demanding job. No one wants to hear it, but theres a plenty of development jobs, especially in non-tech companies where you don't have to be that good, you won't do much outside the standard 9-5 hours, pay what you want,and you can coast at for a very long time as long as you aren't a total incompetent. These ofc come with their own issues, but it might be the most realistic option you have, although you haven't gone into much details as to why you want out.

How about relocating or going fully remote with company from overseas? I feel like US market is 10x more demanding than European.

It was React/GraphQL/Apollo that broke me. I liked it better when just knowing ruby and sql were good enough. Those jobs are still out there but they’re getting harder to find.

I work as an application engineer for a SaaS company and I do a lot of troubleshooting up and down the stack, but I do not write code except for some console apps or scripts. I do a lot of DB work, some DevOps stuff like cert renewals, custom reports, write bug tickets, etc. The job is not that stressful and I earn close to what you are looking for in terms of salary. I actually expect the amount to be in that range in the near to mid term after some restructuring of our department and reevaluation of the position. They are actually going to be hiring in Q4 for two similar positions, possibly remote. Please let me know if you have any interest!

Field Application Engineer or Solutions Architect are excellent transitional roles to other things. You get to work with customers, a variety of customers. Then you arent stuck being with the one customer (whatever product company you are working for). Variety is good.

If you work with a range of external customers, opens more avenues for escape, also. Pure development is pretty tedious, you are treated like a cog.

Not enough people talk about how much software engineering actually can suck. I couldn't stand having a "SCRUM MASTER" breathing down my neck, demanding timelines for every bug, dragging and dropping tasks on me.

Specialized consulting, narrow your focus. Take an aspect you enjoy and are decent at, narrow in on that and then work for yourself. It's difficult to get started, highly rewarding as you get rolling, and can eventually pay very well. Part of the point would be to stop wearing every hat, pick the hat/s you want to wear and do those. You don't have to be great/elite at the hat you choose, you just have to be good enough.

My advice would be to think about what you do want out of work. You can straightforwardly make that money as a math teacher, a welder, a healthcare administrator, a banker. All of those are “less technically demanding.” Hell, you can make more than that as a truck driver, if you can handle hazardous materials. Some of those options may be attractive to you, others not. Ask yourself why you feel the way you do about each, and work from there.

Another thing, though. Depending on how old you are, 7 dev jobs is a lot of dev jobs. You should consider whether you think the technical demands are really what’s making you unhappy. Because that many changes, depending on career length, suggests maybe you’ve given up too easily on a few. A successful career change requires both optimism and commitment. So keep your chin up, zero in on what you do want, and consider whether leaning into your current career and doubling down on your commitments could get it for you. Otherwise, best of luck. Go pick up a welding torch/green visor/trucker hat.

Look into Salesforce. You might do well as a Salesforce administrator. You can set up your own small "org" and do their training, Trailhead, try some administrative training and see if it's up your alley.

I wonder if a government job slinging PHP would do the trick? Pension too.

Management.

If the problem is you really dislike it, then I’d start with what you do like and go from there.

If the problem is stress, consider discovering the source of that stress and if there’s a solution besides leaving the industry.

Take a look at this video: https://youtu.be/G2SqqjRn_c0

Project manager. Lots of companies need a PM that has some of the technical knowledge you do to help make decisions on processes.

What about it stresses you out? Is there anything about the job that you like?

Maybe try PM role? You have been working for long, you might have an idea how things work in shop.

Here, the most of cognitive load of will be talking to people, thinking how to design product and getting work done.

Okay, this might seem a lot at the moment but this is something to think in your position.