[HN Gopher] Ask HN: How can I stay gainfully employed when I jus...
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Ask HN: How can I stay gainfully employed when I just want to
"coast" as a SWE?
In my immediate family there is no precedent for following a
career. I'm the first one to graduate college, so I approach my
jobs like how my dad treats his blue-collar job. Just doing
something that pays the bills. I do like programming otherwise but
not with the pressure to be super-ambitious. I want a software
engineer job where most people are basically coasting, but everyone
seems to look down at my slow career growth. They expect a "story"
in my resume with a definite "beginning" and "end" with development
and accomplishments in the middle. Sorry, but I haven't yet
adjusted to that mindset and I don't know if I can. This worked
fine for me in 2010, but in 2015 and beyond it has gotten way more
difficult to get job offers. I never even have a proper FT job. or
retirement accounts. I'm now a part-time freelancer that chases
after short projects but doesn't earn enough for a livable salary.
Is this the industry telling me I'm not cut out to be a _career_
programmer? Am I just now limited to using programming as a hobby,
to tinker around with home projects while I take a job in something
very different? I don 't know what else I'd like to do (that
doesn't require returning to college) and I don't like where that
possibility is heading for me. I just wanted to model my career
after the pacing of my parents' jobs since that is what I have been
most accustomed to in my life. Is there still room for older but
lower-end programmers who work like this?
Author : indamez
Score : 13 points
Date : 2021-03-29 21:25 UTC (1 hours ago)
| bellyfullofbac wrote:
| One time I got an offer to be some small company's (it wasn't a
| tech company) tech guy that would maintain their PHP website and
| probably do tech support for employee's PCs. I was really hating
| my work back then, but if I had taken that offer it would've been
| a career dead-end, a relaxing job but nothing challenging or
| exiciting, and I would've probably been too lazy to move since
| I'm not very ambitious either.
| sigmaprimus wrote:
| OK I'll bite,
|
| Sigh....
|
| I wrote this and have reread it multiple times, I know it wont be
| a popular comment but it still needs to be said as "Get your head
| out of ass" is too simple of a response. So here goes...
|
| You have never had a full-time job, and don't consider yourself
| very ambitious. You haven't saved anything for retirement and You
| just want to coast through life? Like Your Dad did? Maybe ask
| him?
|
| I don't have many ideas other than keep doing what your doing or
| get a tent and move to a park, or crime until You get locked up.
| I understand that some states have three strike laws so there's
| that.
|
| On a more positive note, if You are currently just part time
| freelancing then You probably have some spare time to try out
| other ventures until You find one that works, or just keep trying
| to get more likes and shares for your social media and a higher
| ranking in what ever mmorpg your currently winning at instead of
| winning at LIFE, which is the ultimate RTS game.
| icedchai wrote:
| Have you considered getting a software job at a bank or insurance
| company?
| indamez wrote:
| I apply to those kinds of companies sometimes (I apply to tons
| of different places, almost indiscriminately) though I don't
| see banks and insurance companies ever get back to me.
|
| I hear their interviews must be very easy to pass. The
| interviews that I do tend to get never result in offers, though
| I can go anywhere from 1 to 4 rounds.
| a3n wrote:
| The people at Wells Fargo seem to be coasting.
| phendrenad2 wrote:
| I've been noticing this too. Everyone wants to hire an ambitious
| go-getter who aspires to become Top Hotdog Ultra Tech Lead or CEO
| someday. I just want to make the websites go until I retire. I'm
| not looking to become a millionaire or retire early. I look over
| at my friends who became Mechanical Engineers. They have better
| lives. They have time for their families. They generally work 9-5
| like Mad Men. I wonder what went wrong in our industry where that
| isn't possible.
|
| I think the solution is to give in and become the monster. Become
| hyper-ambitious like everyone else and try to become CTO of a
| midsize startup by the time you're 40 or whatever. Or "drop out"
| and retrain as a mechanical engineer.
| ryandrake wrote:
| I made the decision early on in my 20s to bust ass and drive
| hard, and then retire when I'm 40. Then I would have all the
| time in the world to coast and do what I want. Trouble is, I'm
| over 40 now and still busting ass just to keep head above
| water. There is something about software that makes it so
| workaholism and burnout is the median, normal track.
| airhead969 wrote:
| Find another field where you're happier. Chasing money isn't
| worth it.
| hindsightbias wrote:
| Look at traditional firms, banks, public, utilities. IBM, GE,
| BofA, state/federal.
|
| Skill in niche areas where everyone else is at retirement age
| (mainframe integration stacks/web). Everything else is chasing
| flavor-of-the-month and you'll work 60 hours just to keep a
| resume current. Expect to have to lead a team or move into
| architecture at some point.
|
| Traditional firms will blow smoke about innovation, tell them you
| want to work on an MS or MBA at nightschool or something
| attractive to an interviewer and then stall until you figure out
| the org and find a place to camp.
| indamez wrote:
| I come across some companies from the financial industry when
| I'm sending in online applications. Places like DRW, which by
| the way never replied back and I sent in my application two
| months ago. Same story with state jobs, I never hear back from
| them.
|
| How does one usually get knowledge in niche and very old areas?
| I don't know anyone personally that works in mainframes or
| systems. My professional knowledge is focused on vanilla
| JavaScript, PHP, MySQL and Ruby. Not too current, but also not
| old enough to be associated with retirement age devs.
|
| It would be awesome if a firm would let me work on a MS on the
| side and have it paid for but that sounds like a unicorn
| scenario. In my experience most companies neglect training on
| the job.
| anon_tor_12345 wrote:
| >Places like DRW, which by the way never replied back and I
| sent in my application two months ago.
|
| DRW is a prop shop with a workload comparable to any FAANG.
| Most certainty not a place you would be able to coast.
| yuppie_scum wrote:
| One word: Academia
| mb7733 wrote:
| The schedule / lifestyle of an academic is almost opposite to
| the 9-5 'just a job' the OP is looking for.
| neuroticfish wrote:
| guess it depends on where you land. i'm in academia now and
| it's absolutely horrifying. understaffed, constantly dropped
| into new projects while other ones are on fire, tons of
| overtime, professors don't respect your standard 8-5 schedule,
| frequently working weekends, under endless stress,
| unappreciated, etc. i write software in a research facility,
| not university IT, so YMMV.
| quickthrower2 wrote:
| Are you in the US? The Europe/UK work culture might suit you
| better.
|
| Also a weird tip is change jobs every 2 to 3 years. Companies
| tend to get less cushy and more process oriented over time. Find
| the company that isn't measuring time on tasks etc.
| el_dev_hell wrote:
| > Also a weird tip is change jobs every 2 to 3 years. Companies
| tend to get less cushy and more process oriented over time.
|
| Hell is an agile sprint system that has been optimised to
| require 10 hour days.
| a3n wrote:
| You could consider trading stocks and other assets in an
| automated way.
|
| https://duckduckgo.com/?q=day+trading&t=fpas&ia=web
|
| https://duckduckgo.com/?q=swing+trading&t=fpas&ia=web
|
| https://duckduckgo.com/?q=trend+trading&t=fpas&ia=web
|
| https://duckduckgo.com/?q=back+testing&t=fpas&ia=web
|
| https://duckduckgo.com/?q=automated+trading&t=fpas&ia=web
|
| https://duckduckgo.com/?q=book+financial+instruments+weiss&t...
| BitwiseFool wrote:
| Do not do this. Automated trading is hyper competitive and only
| feasible for institutional investors.
| indamez wrote:
| I won't and it sounds just as unstable as my last jobs. Even
| if I wanted to I certainly don't have that kind of money to
| throw (monetary net worth < last stimulus check)
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(page generated 2021-03-29 23:03 UTC)