[HN Gopher] Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the...
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Ask HN: What tech job would let me get away with the least real
work possible?
Same as the popular question from 2021:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26721951 I'm asking again as a
lot has changed in the past few years especially w.r.t LLMs, coding
agents etc. copy pasting from the op: "I'm an average developer
looking for ways to work as little as humanely possible." - I
really don't care about the product I work on. I just want to do
some task/project and checkout. - Fully remote will be ideal. -
Salary can be on the low end. - I feel the world currently is too
hyper-capitalistic and I don't think I fit in well. On top of that
my country has a billion+ people and everything seems like battle
for scraps. Unless I hit home with some indie hacking/side
project, I don't think this will be possible. I believe there must
some niche apps/plugin/extension/ssydev roles for some crm/cms etc
that might fit the bill. Few point to note: - No, I'm not that
depressed. I'm just deeply unhappy with the current state of
things. - No, I'm not giving up on life. - It may look like I'm not
be good fit for tech/programming jobs. But I still like tech and
solving tech problems. I just dont want my life to revolve around
it. - It could be that im not challenged well in my job. But I'm
not sure whether I'd like to be drowned in work as well. Thanks
for any advice or hostile/dismissive comments you provide I
appreciate it.
Author : makemethrowaway
Score : 49 points
Date : 2026-01-02 20:24 UTC (2 hours ago)
| eimrine wrote:
| webcam/drugselling if IT-related, pentesting if the real IT.
| isk517 wrote:
| You may want to adjust your view of the world if you think
| making a living wage webcamming or selling drugs doesn't
| involve hard work.
| xenospn wrote:
| State schools is what you want. Strict 9-5, no overtime, no
| expectations, insane bureaucracy that makes everything slow down
| to a crawl. You can spend years there without doing anything at
| all.
| zerr wrote:
| "Part-time" is the keyword you are looking for. Besides coding,
| if you want to get into bullshit jobs, become an agile coach,
| scrum master, product owner, etc...
| c0balt wrote:
| If you like tech (sw dev in particular based on the roles) enough
| to do it but can't motivate yourself to do it for a job, consider
| making it a hobby and changing careers. Don't ruin your passion
| by making it a chore.
|
| Jobs that are "low effort" are rare, usually you need one of:
|
| - time: job is time consuming (think monitoring cameras for N
| hours a day)
|
| - physical: job requires physical work (think sorting boxes in a
| warehouse or janitorial work)
|
| - skilled: job requires certification/skill (think electrician or
| engineering)
|
| - social: job requires interacting with humans (think customer
| support or sales)
|
| Depending on you skillset/preferences select one or two and
| search for vocations/jobs. Jobs usually have a mix of them (and
| there are likely some more categories). Jobs always require
| effort, that's why people are paying for it. If you want to
| reduce time look for "part time" jobs.
|
| If you are fine with mid-low pay, take a look at jobs in public
| institutions (Education, Government). They tend to have rather
| good long term working conditions and are commonly open to people
| changing careers into public service.
| lm28469 wrote:
| Find a smallish company that exists for 15+ years and isn't
| acting like they're about to solve the biggest problem in human
| history or boasting about 12 gigabillion percent of growth in the
| last year. There are plenty of them but they easily fly under the
| radar, especially in older industries (real estate, newspapers,
| banking, &c.). You can try working for a governmental or non
| profit thing too
| technothrasher wrote:
| Yep. There are plenty of small manufacturing companies that
| have embedded programming projects that aren't sexy or cutting
| edge, but are just little STM32 or similar chips running bare
| metal no-OS code for all kinds of simple little devices for
| different industries. I've been doing that work for the past
| twenty years. It scratches my engineering itch, but also lets
| me work pretty independently, put in my mostly stress free 40
| hours a week, and then go home and not think about it.
| bigfatkitten wrote:
| Defense industry. You get paid reasonably well to work at the
| pace of your government customers, who are almost never in a
| hurry.
| i_love_retros wrote:
| But you'd essentially be making things to kill people. And
| those people are often innocent civilians.
| readthenotes1 wrote:
| "I really don't care about the product I work on. "
|
| Literally the first sub-qualification
| dmoy wrote:
| In the US, I guess, maybe, depending on the specific defense
| contractor? I dunno if I'd classify it as the type of low
| effort OP is looking for.
|
| Also it sounds like OP is in India or China. In China, that is
| definitely not how defense industry work works. Idk about
| India.
| ekropotin wrote:
| Scrum Master or Project Manager. However, I'd assume in the
| current market these jobs are not easy to find.
| i_love_retros wrote:
| I feel exactly the same as you my friend.
| yunnpp wrote:
| I suppose I am on a similar boat wrt job satisfaction and the
| direction things have gone and are going in this industry. I am
| also one step ahead of you, from the sound of it, in a job that
| doesn't require me to devote my life to it and gives me time for
| personal projects, gym, and just figuring out shit in life. This
| is not to boast, but to give you a heads-up: I haven't figured
| out much of anything just yet, and I am not strictly sure my
| current position is significantly better than what was before it.
| Perhaps slightly better, with more time to think, and having
| somewhat detached myself emotionally from the job. Which is to
| say, if you can take a break altogether with somebody else
| supporting you financially, I'd do that and really consider
| things as an "outsider" to your own life. Also talk to people to
| get more perspective. Otherwise, I think I concur with the other
| suggestions given here.
| cicko wrote:
| <3
| userbinator wrote:
| Government-related jobs.
| singpolyma3 wrote:
| Literally any job in big tech
| zackb wrote:
| This is what I kept thinking as well. In my experience big
| companies can't get things done and people fly under the radar
| all the time not doing anything.
| singpolyma3 wrote:
| Yup. I've worked for several different big tech companies and
| the majority of people there did very little and no one
| really cared.
| dystopiandevel wrote:
| This is not my experience whatsoever and someone who works 50+
| weeks for big tech. Especially with decreased value for the
| human element in favor of AI there are now more demands than
| ever. Engineers have become much more expendable.
| captainkrtek wrote:
| 50+ weeks? so a year?
|
| I've been in big tech for 12+ years now. The first handful of
| years are definitely a grind to earn your spot, get a couple
| promos. After that though, it can become quite a bit easier
| to coast if that's what you're looking for. People know you,
| know you're probably valuable cause you're "senior" or
| "staff" and still here, and likely leave you alone. But yeah,
| as a newer engineer these days, it still requires the initial
| commitment to earn the privilege of coasting in a big tech
| company.
| alphazard wrote:
| Entire roles have been created for people to do this, in exchange
| the headcount makes your manager look more important. In tech
| alone there exists: product managers, scrum masters, middle
| managers of all kinds.
|
| If you want to stay in tech, look for roles that can be filled by
| someone who doesn't know how to build or sell the product. Every
| business has to deal with supply and demand, the further you are
| from those things, the more likely the job is bullshit, and not
| doing it will be unnoticeable.
| jere wrote:
| Government jobs. But my experience tells me that getting away
| with doing nothing is very corrosive to the soul and will be
| regretted later.
| JumpCrisscross wrote:
| State or local. They're hard workers federally.
| guywithahat wrote:
| I agree on both points; government work can involve very little
| real work with no real stress of being fired. Similarly, doing
| meaningless work will destroy your soul and will make you hate
| your time in the office even more. I'd even go so far as to say
| caring deeply about your profession is a western value, and
| trying to work as little as possible is going to be difficult
| in a western country
| nesk_ wrote:
| I've been working part-time for two years, works great for me!
| It's not easy to negotiate--and not with every company--but
| feasible.
| guntis_dev wrote:
| A colleague of mine is developing an internal tool nobody needs
| in a large IT corporation. Since it's not client facing, there's
| no rush from project managers. It's dragged on so long that other
| internal tools have already implemented most of the needed
| functionality - so there's no good value proposition now. The
| only argument keeping it alive is sunk cost fallacy. Colleague
| works minimal required 3 day weeks, spends maybe 2 hours in the
| office drinking coffee, and tells me how he enjoys life with lots
| of hikes and outdoor activities.
| ashleyn wrote:
| This accurately describes many tech jobs outside of FAANG or the
| startup scene. Lay low, close your tickets, and invest
| aggressively into the S&P 500. You'll be done in about 12 years.
| Most you'll need to worry about are fudging annual "goals" that
| have nothing to do with the actual work.
|
| Really this sounds like apathy and disillusionment with the state
| of the mainstream, a sentiment i _understand perfectly._ I would
| encourage you to consider web contracting for local businesses or
| communities you 're a part of. You'll have to take ownership of
| what you do and care about it, but consider that will be much
| easier to do when you actually do value what you're a part of and
| what you're doing. When it's not making gambling apps, slop
| generators, or DRM for juice presses, you might be surprised at
| how your outlook on work changes.
| FabioBertone wrote:
| I would aim... Away from the glare of the software world.
|
| There are plenty of smallish companies that just bob along. If
| you pinch your nose for long enough you quickly become
| indispensable, and your productivity will rarely be very
| challenged.
|
| But... Be aware. "Bullshit jobs" can be enjoyed only by the right
| mind. Most people find them miserable anyway, it doesn't really
| matter if they are easy, or low effort. (This means also that I
| disagree with recommending to become Project or Product Manager -
| when those roles are properly useless... They are also soul
| crushing, with layers of stress on top)
| mknbvcxz wrote:
| I had one of these. Comfortable income; not big tech but well
| over USA median. Remote. Put in 5-15 hours a week.
|
| Strongly recommend against it.
|
| What I would recommend instead is have a hard look at what's
| causing pain in your current situation. Try and get as concrete
| as possible. Try going one level deeper from 'world is hyper
| capitalistic' to what hurts. When I talk to people that express
| similar views there is usually some other deep hurt that is going
| unaddressed. ie 'im not being valued for my work', 'I have a deep
| fear I will not be able to provide or be valued', 'I like tech,
| but the current structure of tech employers doesnt fit well with
| me(weird noises in offices are deeply uncomfortable)' etc.
|
| It's almost counterintuitive but 60 hard hours / week at
| something you enjoy and thrive in will be easier and feel better
| like 5 hours at something you hate. Most everyone has a desire to
| feel valued and needed, so look for what that can be for you.
| Note prestige of impact != internal satisfaction. If you enjoy
| serving tea, then doing that for little money (and lots of time)
| will feel better in the long run than doing a few hours of tech
| work you despise.
|
| Also... strongly recommend tuning out from the internet / news /
| social media. Sensationalist headlines can obscure our felt
| experience of life.
|
| Reading between the lines of your post, Im not sure if what you
| want is a job with low hours or to solve your deep unhappiness?
| If I told you I had a job that paid well but you would still be
| happy would you take it?
| frizlab wrote:
| idk... If I had a job where I could put 5 to 15 hours a week
| and get a pay, I'd fill all my time with something else! (Side
| projects, sports, etc.)
| austinjp wrote:
| Agreed. I walked past a high-end fashion store in a major
| European city recently. The big glass door was locked, with a
| sign explaining that the shop was open, the door was locked
| to prevent theft. There was one young woman inside staffing
| the shop, sitting behind a counter. I envied her, I could
| happily take minimum wage for a year or so, sitting at a desk
| all day with very occasional interruption, while I tap at a
| laptop working on personal projects. Unfortunately I'm not a
| glamorous 20-something European woman.
| mknbvcxz wrote:
| That's what I did. Hobbies & Side work. Traveling!
|
| The key is to set boundaries, learn which 5 hours of work are
| important and manage expectations well. Im convinced you get
| most of your work done in the first 20 hours of the week and
| there's diminishing returns after that. Manual labor scales
| pretty linearly with time. Software development not so much.
| markus_zhang wrote:
| That's like a dream job for me. I'm going to use the rest of
| the time to hack on OS kernels instead of losing sleep over it.
| The thing is, people rarely get to work on what they are
| passionate about. At least I literally have seen none, after
| spending so many years in 5+ companies, none of my team is very
| passionate about the job, which is understandable.
| MrMember wrote:
| Find a role at a large "non-tech" comapny in a large department
| on a mid sized team. I had several jobs like that and the amount
| of effort required in the average day was minimal. Probably less
| than an hour a day of actual meaningful work. You'll hate your
| job but it's extremely easy and pays decent.
| hbogert wrote:
| I can understand you are like this. Just be upfront about it
| during interviews. You might be surprised there are companies
| which are absolutely fine with that.
|
| I'm on the other end, I do think your life should revolve around
| the thing that you are doing 8+ hours a day. I currently have
| colleagues which are the same like you and it feels I have to
| pull them through the mud. Just be upfront about it and find a
| good fit ( I too should find a better fit 8) )
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(page generated 2026-01-02 23:01 UTC)