If you were to quit your developer job today and move away from the tech world for a little while, what job would you do? Or what domain would interest you?
I would move to sales. Sales is the only skill that helps you make money <i>fast</i>, if that's your goal. What I really mean by that is as you get better at Sales, you increase your "personal conversion rate" - which I define as a person's ability to convert someone into a paying customer.<p>When you're good at sales + you're already a developer, you can build your own Saas and sell them (like most solo founders do, except excel them at selling it).<p>When you're good at sales + you work for someone else, you can still get rich fast by taking up a commission based job (most tech startups I know of these days, provide around 10%).
Not realistic, but when I was 13 or so my father worked for the Forest Service, and we spent a week at a cabin in a California wilderness one summer. While we were out there, we ran into a young guy who was working a summer job where he wandered around the wilderness, camping and taking notes in a little book whenever he heard an owl. I've always wanted to get paid for something like that. Of course you can't demand $200 an hour, and it probably gets scary at night.
I would be a carpenter or custom furniture maker. My childhood was spend working with grandfather creating broad range of wooden products starting with kitchen furniture and finishing with music instruments. As an electrical engineer I could create new electrical tools my grandpa never imagined and be way more efficient than he was. Also open source CAD tools open new horizons.
I would teach kids in a more non-traditional, activity based way. No tests, just real world activities and projects that they can apply to real life. Unfortunately there are too many politics in the education system and teachers can't fully teach in the ways I would want to. It's all about the numbers and what looks good on paper.<p>I do some of this on a small scale now but I run my own project based workshops or after school clubs in order to bypass the system.<p>Examples of clubs I have ran:<p>- Learn how to build an automatic solar powered plant watering system<p>- Learn how to build your own retro arcade system<p>- Learn how to build a battle bot and battle it against other classmates bots<p>- Learn how to program [name of game]. I focus on 1 game and try to cover most of the basics. After they get the core game programmed, they are able to customize it or program another game with the concepts they learned.<p>For most of these things kids utilize critical thinking, math, programming, electronics and engineering.
I wanted to ask the same question more or less the same way because I have had enough with technology.<p>I know nothing else apart from fixing computers and I really suck at programming, therefore I'm doomed to switch career.<p>Plus, I'm old for technology.<p>My problem is I'm an introvert who gets easily exhausted, both physically and emotionally.<p>If I could only get hired as a hand crafted shoemaker <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tbwiv1NHR4" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tbwiv1NHR4</a> or as a carpenter that works again the traditional way of hand crafting...<p>I want to stop dealing with technology; just use my computer when I feel the need to or so I can pay my bills; nothing else, nothing more.
If I were to change careers, I think I’d go into politics and become some type of political operative. I like the process, I like the issues, I like the strategy. It would flex a completely different set of mental muscles than my software engineering job and to me, that would be quite a welcome challenge.
If I were unconstrained by economic imperatives to feed me and my family, I‘d love to try my hand at writing for tv/movies - it’s one of the most creative jobs around.<p>If I still had to provide, then I’d be curious about plumbing - the sort of job that cannot be automated or offshored.
Nothing.<p>Let me explain. I would live with just the bare necessities, see the world at my own pace, free of all obligations and demands, fix a bike here or there, help out people wherever I could.<p>That's obviously unrealistic in this rat race society and the times we live in, but perhaps that's part of the allure.<p>On a more grounded level, something in concert/stage production. I love live music shows, festivals and theater productions. It's not nearly as glamorous as most people think, but the stories you'll have are amazing and outrageous.<p>On a realistic level, I would stay within my current job profile (technical product owner or some such similar title), but switch to a company working in the area of improving the environment and lessening human impact.
I’ve started down that path somewhat. Having spent the past few years in an advisory/post-sales/consulting role, my interest in using computers has been stifled by idiosyncratic takes on enterprise architecture, and I just want to <i>do</i> stuff that matters to me.<p>As a start, I’m turning to creative hobbies that let me use computers in a creative way:<p><a href="https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2018/12/22/2258" rel="nofollow">https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2018/12/22/2258</a>
Something involving food, maybe line cook/prep and work up? I love to cook at home-and sort of miss the hustle and grind working in kitchens during college.
I think a realistic job would be industrial designer or architect. An unrealistic one would be photographer or writer. Maybe working in the film industry.<p>My self christmas gift was a some gear to start shooting short films as a hobby that I will write, direct, photograph, and produce/compose the music. I think that's better than spending my free time coding and being burnt out.
Isn't it a bit presumptuous to assume everyone here is a software developer to begin with? :-)<p>I <i>did</i> switch careers this year, away from software development. I'm now working as a stagehand in the theatre.<p>(I'm still working on Strukt and a couple other projects in my spare time. Expect version 1.6.1 in couple days, probably.)
Some form of agriculture is pretty appealing. More scope for being outdoors during daylight hours, and (somewhat) more tolerance for people who prefer to work alone.<p>The money side of things doesn't look great, though.
Arborist/tree cutter-downer person. All the fun of climbing and crevasse rescue skills combined with being able to use a chainsaw attached you your belt. The videos in YouTube look fascinating.
I am in a weird IT/marketing/devop/instructor position right now. Today I was pondering different what if I had begin a nurse degree (my intention was to go into ER or pediatric) or had stayed with pychology. I am glad I didn't follow through with journalism though.<p>I'd like to be able to tinker with farming machines. But I don't enjoy being around people who work in that field (unintentionnal pun).<p>I think I'd like to work in the woods or in environnental oriented NGO. I must find a way to concile both.
I would write. Im not sure if that means novels, short stories, movie scripts, or something else entirely. It would be interesting to be a travel or food writer.
High performance driving coach. I've done some of that as a volunteer for a car club I'm a member of and I really enjoy it.<p>Downside is that if anything, there's even more travel than I have with my current job.<p>Another option I tend to look into from time to time is sourcing and inspecting classic cars and motorcycles for overseas (ie, non-US) buyers. That's something that I've done occasionally as well, but it's very cyclic work.
I’d like to be a criminal defense lawyer, especially in the realm of vacating wrongful convictions that are based on unconstitutional rulings/Brady violations or helping those who are innocent and should be exonerated based on DNA or other evidence.<p>Every so often I debate going to law school part-time. But I feel a little trapped by my tech career and how much I’ve done and progressed so far.
I got incredibly close to be able to become a dance movement therapist. I spent more than 500 hours in a self experience / education group and even lead a group session myself obviously under supervision. But dance education is required by the ADTA and I don't have that so I won't become one, alas. Now, that would be a pretty big change, wouldn't it?
I would like to try something new but Im afraid I wouldn’t be able to switch careers entirely - software development is the only thing I know how to do. Part time is much more feasible though. I can make a comfortable living by doing dev three days a week. For the rest of the week Im considering volontereing for some climate change cause.
I am a product manager currently thinking about trying a career in software development. I have coded for a few years on the side but never professionally, and my computer science background is limited to basic algorithms/leetcode. Wondering if any developers here think a PM background would be a boon for a new dev.
If I were to switch my first career would be mechanic. It doesn't pay like it used to according to many I have talked with but I love working with machines. My dad was a mechanic at one point and I never lost interest in seeing him fix stuff that I thought couldn't be fixed.
I'd love to be a pilot. I've wanted to be a commercial pilot my whole life but when I was getting ready to go to college the job market was absolutely terrible. It isn't a whole lot better today.
I'd love to get back into music at some point. Not sure which direction within that I'd specifically want to pursue, but it's something I sorely miss doing.
Would want to try my hand at cooking, although not really sure if I would enjoy high-pressure restaurant cooking as much as I do for myself & my family.
business or finance combined with original passion of electrical engineering. I probably will still go that direction as I find that those who control the money are in control and I am tired of being a peon subject to other's deals.