I went for a Master's in Education and became a teacher. Teaching computer science and math so still STEM adjacent. I'm still teaching a decade later and I've moved abroad to teach at international schools, currently in Bangkok.
I look at law as software engineering, in an esoteric language, on non-deterministic hardware (people), who are adversarial by the way. How your code runs changes based on the person reading it and what their goals are.
I did not leave SE (yet), but I'm currently studying sustainability / waste management / etc. It's going great so far, I can recommend going a different or additional route, if you are able to.
I studied psychology, almost did a double degree. Then some post-grad work in psychotherapy. After a couple of years of STEM maths, rats and stats was easy. The biggest gain was that I was better equipped to handle negotiations, etc in my tech / business work.
I left CS for a non tech degree and then ended up back in software development years later as a career pivot. I don’t regret anything and the timing worked out.
I considered that. My BA is in Poli-Sci but minored in IT and had some background in it from the military.
I know a few lawyers, including my roommate from undergrad, and they strongly advised me no, with the caveat that you'd better go in and treat it like the priesthood -- whole-soul into it.
I bought a farm and quit tech, but I was management scum, not a SWE (though I did have some under me a couple jobs ago). There's a lot to learn. I'm not really doing this for the money, rather as my contribution to the community and environment, but it would be chill to make some anyway as a further validation of my process.
doesn't require a lot of land or money, esp. if you're just doing a hobby farm.
depending on how rural you're willing to go, and how much labor you've got to throw in, you can get a lot of land on the cheap. tractors, air seeders, watering -- that can get expensive, but may not be needed.
Several years back I left software for about 3 years to achieve required professional military education for an officer and two military deployments. Being deployed in the middle of the Covid lockdowns was not fun and the combination of these events were too much time away from the family.
I have already abandoned a software development career for data science and enterprise API management, which is much better. I still super enjoy writing JavaScript, but not for work. In the corporate world of JavaScript your leadership is often shit and your peers are entitled children drowning in insecurity looking out for themselves on a sinking raft. After my next my next military promotion my children will be out of the house and I will make just as much in the military as I do as a senior developer. Something to think about.
If I ever win the lottery I'm dropping software engineering to do music somehow. I play guitar and learn music theory as a hobby, but only at a beginner/intermediate level with not enough time to practice and get to the next level.
You can get to the next level without needing to change careers. I just hit a new plateau on the guitar last month and I’ve got a full time job that sometimes requires weekend work, two young kids, and a wife getter her PhD. The trick is that I don’t do anything much other than play guitar in the 2-3 hours a week that I have to myself!
It is also very focused and goal oriented practice as I don’t have the time to otherwise mess around.
FYI, it seems to me like all your comments might be automatically "dead"? I don't know if there is some auto moderation process in the background or if they're all getting organically downvoted or something? But every time I see one of your posts, in any topic, it's gray and dead.
I vouched for this one because it seemed reasonable. I know I struggle with making time for practice.
I'm a data scientist, but it's becoming more uninteresting to me - not ml itself, but ml in companies. I've been thinking about studying cognitive psychology or cognitive neuroscience, but most classes are in person. :/
Anything else that interests me, STEM or non-STEM is pointless without a PhD or a decent masters program at least. I don’t even have an undergrad degree. I was more or less willing to bite the bullet until I got laid off and had to start oissing away my savings trying to find another job I hate this time with less pay less enticing benefits in a shittier market, and it doesn’t seem like it’s possible now or in retrospect. Even if I did manage it, I’d have to lose basically the rest of my life to go all in on one thing in hopes it works out.
FIRE is retiring early and cashing out. Often achievable for a lot of STEM types, esp. those with access to FAANG tier salaries.
Hit the $1.4 million mark, which has a safe draw of like 35-40k a year without lowering principle, and then chill.
Chill doesn't imply not working, just working on your terms, and a part-time job as a mechanic might be unsustainable normally, but with a FIRE background you could make it work.
>so I'm leaning into car maintenance...I don't see any realistic way to maintain my income
Plenty of money to be made there, even as a hobbyist out of your garage. Unfortunately, most of the real-world work is also tedious, that part is hard to escape in any job.
I suffered burn out from the Y2K and dot-com bubble. Left CS and worked at a winery for a year and a half. I went to grad school for Chemistry and then did a post doc in Cancer Biology... 20-some years later, somehow that all looped back around to Data Science. I guess I left CS, but not really STEM fields.
I dabbled with the idea. that's how I created/chose this username - for that specific topic ad asked here. I realised pretty much nothing else pays, at least not in my corner of the world and I could not afford to take a gigantic loan to go elsewhere to study after working and being financially independent for few years. Even the tuition was not free anywhere, exorbitant fees and no scholarship of course (and it was obvious). Also, if I had to keep a day or night job to support whatever else I worked or studied full time I figured that whatever wasn't really worth it. Some kind folks offered to guide but over the time it was drilled down into me that in the end it's about the money. I made peace with it.
I left to study for a masters in philosophy. Found it incredibly meaningful and enjoyable. I am however back in tech now as a product manager; I haven't yet been able to chart/imagine a reasonably stable career related to or within philosophy.
When I decide to quit software engineering (after I've made enough money I guess), I'm interested to look into microbiology, because mushrooms and fungi are really cool.
I left STEM (non-CS/software) and became a firefighter-paramedic in 2006. I spent 14 years and left in 2020 when Covid was the rage. From 2010-2015 I got a masters in CS as a back up plan in case I got hurt or sick and couldn't do FF/PM. After I graduated in 2015 I worked a couple of remote part time jobs and then went full time developer in 2020 when I left the fire department.
The STEM (non-CS) was boring AF! I use to joke that I did more math balancing my checkbook than my job which required an engineering degree.
There are a lot of things that I miss and don't miss at the fire dept. I miss dinners at the FD. We would sit down to a nice, home-cooked meal, laugh, argue and rag on one another. I don't miss getting a call at 2 a.m. for constipation (true story). I worked 24 hours on / 48 hours off, thus if I took one shift off it was a total of 5 days I had off...miss that. Definitely don't miss the politics between management and the field - typical politics of every other job I've had regardless if blue collar or white collar.
I am a linux administrator/software developer. I left IT in 2016, went back to school nearly got a PhD in History before returning to IT in 2022. I enjoy being a Linux admin and missed that, but I also missed the income that I can get in IT. If I started right out of High School I could have probably made History work over the long haul, but starting later in life I just couldn't afford the deep cuts it entails.
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[ 5.0 ms ] story [ 162 ms ] threadWhat do you think the biggest mistake that people who don't last as a teacher make?
But the money in software is pretty good and I need it. So maybe when I'm 50 years old after 10 years.
My day job was writing cpp and elixir, although I kept my job and returned to it. I've been thinking about leaving software completely though.
I know a few lawyers, including my roommate from undergrad, and they strongly advised me no, with the caveat that you'd better go in and treat it like the priesthood -- whole-soul into it.
depending on how rural you're willing to go, and how much labor you've got to throw in, you can get a lot of land on the cheap. tractors, air seeders, watering -- that can get expensive, but may not be needed.
"The best way to make a small fortune in farming is to start with a large one"
I have already abandoned a software development career for data science and enterprise API management, which is much better. I still super enjoy writing JavaScript, but not for work. In the corporate world of JavaScript your leadership is often shit and your peers are entitled children drowning in insecurity looking out for themselves on a sinking raft. After my next my next military promotion my children will be out of the house and I will make just as much in the military as I do as a senior developer. Something to think about.
It is also very focused and goal oriented practice as I don’t have the time to otherwise mess around.
I vouched for this one because it seemed reasonable. I know I struggle with making time for practice.
Anything else that interests me, STEM or non-STEM is pointless without a PhD or a decent masters program at least. I don’t even have an undergrad degree. I was more or less willing to bite the bullet until I got laid off and had to start oissing away my savings trying to find another job I hate this time with less pay less enticing benefits in a shittier market, and it doesn’t seem like it’s possible now or in retrospect. Even if I did manage it, I’d have to lose basically the rest of my life to go all in on one thing in hopes it works out.
But those are all FIRE-like activities, I don't see any realistic way to maintain my income in another field unless I go into extremes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIRE_movement
Hit the $1.4 million mark, which has a safe draw of like 35-40k a year without lowering principle, and then chill.
Chill doesn't imply not working, just working on your terms, and a part-time job as a mechanic might be unsustainable normally, but with a FIRE background you could make it work.
Plenty of money to be made there, even as a hobbyist out of your garage. Unfortunately, most of the real-world work is also tedious, that part is hard to escape in any job.
There are a lot of things that I miss and don't miss at the fire dept. I miss dinners at the FD. We would sit down to a nice, home-cooked meal, laugh, argue and rag on one another. I don't miss getting a call at 2 a.m. for constipation (true story). I worked 24 hours on / 48 hours off, thus if I took one shift off it was a total of 5 days I had off...miss that. Definitely don't miss the politics between management and the field - typical politics of every other job I've had regardless if blue collar or white collar.