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Ex-devs who quit programming as a job, what do you do now?

20 points by Brogrammer69 ↗ HN
About me:

> Learnt to code 10 years ago to build stuff for the sheer joy of it and hopefully make some projects into some fun software business

> Got seduced by high SWE salaries and trapped in that life

> Lost my soul and passion over the years with multiple burnouts

> Got disillusioned with startup culture / working at any software company for multiple years now ]

> Still seduced by the comfy life, good money, yet I'm burnt out / zoned the f out

> Want to quit and perhaps be a farmer / garbage man / construction worker instead, little to no mental stress

> Want to start passion projects which I fantasise will make money but I'm curious if they'll even make any money at all

About you: what do you do nowadays after quitting being a SWE? How hard was it to transition? How was your financial security like before / during the transition? Any advice for someone who is fed up with that industry?

21 comments

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h2odragon
Farming and construction work have plenty of stress. All the more so if you're the kind of person to become involved with the job.
Dutchie987
Not me, but a good friend. He was a well-paid developer but got fed up with the inevitable management shenanigans.

He now sells hamburgers and hotdogs at festivals. He only works in the summer months (when the festivals are held) and enjoys life the other half of the year.

I envy him greatly.

ranger_danger
How does he make enough money to survive? And more importantly, enjoy life?
cjk2
Dunno I know someone who doubled their hedge fund salary running a cheese sandwich wagon.
moltar
Can’t speak for the OP. But I knew the guy in Canada selling Polish hot dogs. Apparently he cleared about 150K (20y ago) working half a year. The other half he went to Poland. It’s all about the location. His was right next to a uni busy street.
Dutchie987
While I don't have figures, he's doing very well.
gaws
> How does he make enough money to survive?

He probably saved a lot of money from his days of being a "well-paid" developer and has since lived off that.

ProllyInfamous
One of my favorite human interactions was two decades ago, after meeting a ski-town shuttle driver. Man was approximately sixty years old, then, and explained that for half the year he drove this bus in winter conditions (higher pay), and then the majority of the year (spring - autumn) traveled wherever his heart/feet desired.

At the time, I hadn't yet begun medical school but knew it probably wasn't going to pan out for me (it didn't thank god!). Instead, I became a union electrician and worked in data centers for several years, then began my own residential service (would not recommend the latter; homeowners are in aggregate not-ideal customers).

I'm currently in no hurry to figure out "what next," other than for reasons of ongoing sanity. For two years I was primarily an electrical inspector, but it gets really exhausting when nobody ever reads your inspection report until pending litigation... so who knows; thankfully my savings allow me to be in no immediate rush/concern.

tl;dr: selling hamburgers sounds nice (although not sure on the financial$-aspect).

noemit
product management. same money, more variety, less hours (imo). Although now that I have product experience I think I could have protected my energy more as a SWE.

After I quit SWE I tried to get public-facing jobs like making juice at a juice bar. I was told over and over I didn't smile enough or have the personality for public-facing work.

I think it's a fantasy to have a "regular" job. It's not really as relaxing as you think. Everything feels like a grind eventually. But jobs with a lot of variety (Like product or other types of management) I think are slightly better.

caprock
Can you elaborate on how being a PM changed your view on protecting your energy in SWE?
baerrie
Just sharing my take but basically most devs don’t care at all and are super inefficient. If you care even a little and take some responsibility for the greater good of a code base then you are a better dev than ~90% of devs in my experience. It has very little to do with hours spent working
austin-cheney
Enterprise service management: APIs, proxies, batch data fetching, and so forth.

I was a JavaScript developer. I loved writing JavaScript applications, but nobody else did. Most people were cowardly terrified of the work and I got tired of working with cowards. There is nothing you can suggest that won't be discarded out right when people are afraid or lying about their motives.

_nalply
Retired from programming early. Still programming when it's fun. Caring for my family. Enjoying life.
dan_m2k
Started a challenger media business, still stressy, but I have purpose and I have much more satisfaction in life
moltar
Not me. But maybe this can inspire you. A person I worked with in Canada would go on leave for the winter and operate a snow plow. Then he’d return to a dev job once the snow melted. Mind you this was a low stakes tiny company maintaining some Mickey Mouse CMS in a niche. It was for all purposes an SMB tech. So the salaries weren’t the SV windfall style but they were not too bad for the local market.
orev
This kind of work can definitely lead to a type of malaise, and the idea of doing something purely physical becomes attractive.

I recommend traveling somewhere for a week or so. Like the outskirts of Mexico City, a remote village in India, or a rust belt city of former glory.

Realize that most people in the world live more like that than a typical SWE. After you’ve regained some perspective, rethink if you really want to become a garbage man.

Find a hobby that satisfies the need for physical activity first. Exercise, cooking, woodworking, etc. Anything that gets you away from a screen.

beej71
I teach CS now after 20 years in industry. I love it. Get to help people, geek out, learn stuff, and I work 8 months a year. Glad I got that MS all those years ago!

I got lucky financially. (Not millionaire tech lucky, but lucky for an average worker.) Not only does this gig pay well for a teaching position, but I bought a house here a decade ago so my mortgage is small.

I live frugally and am cash flow positive while my pension (!!) vests...

As I aged, the expression "YOLO" took on a new meaning. I could never work in a place again that didn't have a mission that I was fully committed to. It used to be the money and tech was enough, but not anymore.

Recommended watching: _You Can't Take it with You_ starring Jimmy Stewart.

MattPalmer1086
I quit and moved into information security. It's not for everyone, but I got really interested in it, both theoretically and practically. I write code outside work on things I want to, and I'm much happier that way.

I guess changing career cost me money and time. There were some financial challenges, but I'm glad I did it.

If there isn't something strongly attracting you, maybe you need to take a break?