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Careers After Tech?
theinfobox asks: "Is anyone else burned out on tech jobs? Or, has anyone tired of the never ending hunt for tech position? I know a lot of people who have and they are now looking at other career fields. I am almost at that point myself. What career fields are you considering after leaving the tech industry?"
In good times and bad, they have a job.
My advice: stay away from retail at all costs. Try something secretarial, in hospitality, or even manual labor. Anything is better than being told all day why your reservations about hard-selling extended warranties are invalid, and that if a product is carried by the company, there can't ever be anything wrong with it, etc. Keep your dignity at all costs.
Oh, and find a job with consistent shifts, if it's hourly. Nothing sucks more than noon one day, 8am the next, 3pm the next. Especially when instead of giving you the schedule the Wednesday before, like you were promised, they decide that Sunday morning is a better time.
I'm optimistic, personally... 23:00-07:00 5 nights a week, with a 2-day break, and no micromanaging bosses.
TO BUY A NEW CAR WOULD MAKE YOU SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE.
never finished my degree before. now i am in the middle of my major for marketing management. I think I will try to do something with real estate.
how do you like them apples?
YES, there is a McDonald's in Hanoi Square.
The dotcom "boom" saw a lot of weenies with MCSE's and dipshit "IT guys" like the one in the new apple switch advert "I used to hate macs, now I are one", vinnie pipsqueek.
If you're considering going elsewhere because of the tech slump, I say, good riddance. Too many idiots who didn't understand technology got jobs in the boom anyway. Companies were so desperate for warm bodies that they lowered the bar for hiring to such a level that it was pathetic.
IF you aren't a real engineer-- and by real engineer, I mean someone who learns new technologies in their spare time, someone who wouldn't be cought dead without a computer at home-- then you won't considering leaving.
I worked with a guy once who didn't even have a home computer. He called himself a programmer. Yeah, sure, and I'm a lawyer. He was proud of the fact that he didn't have a computer.
And given the postings of many of the people on slashdot, I think there are a lot of such posers here. (If you think a x86 gets as mauch work done in a clock cycle as a powerpc, you qualify as "not a technical person")
Go back to working retail and leave the entry level jobs for real engineers who simply lack experience (like college students etc.)
Yeah, and you guys panned the ipod too: http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23
Powweb is better than WazooWeb.
Don't know if I'll get applauded or flamed for this but oh well.
I have no doubt that your are a bigger "techie" than me. I have never hand built a computer, I didn't learn to code anything in grade school and I've never had anything to do with a railgun. I do however enjoy the things that computers help me accomplish. That's why I'm a graphic designer (and html programmer -a not always easy job that is not very respected around here). I moved into tech because the idea of interactive and functional design appealed to me a lot more than static pretty pictures in a magazine or on the side of a box.
But you know what? This industry drove the joy of design out of me. I'm sick of the mess that every project becomes. I'm sick of rushing through everything to get it out the door. I'm sick of political in-fighting between departments.
I'm hoping that this 'tech" guy can leave the industry behind and let me start enjoying design work that I do for my own fulfillment. In my opinion, the tech industry takes a lot more out of you than it gives back.
Whoever said that you should turn your hobby into a career should be shot. All that does is turn your hobby into work and all that entails (manager, deadlines, 8 hours a day of your "hobby"). I'd prefer my hobbies to stay enjoyable.
As for what I'm turning to, teaching. I'm going back to school for my teaching certificate so I can teach graphic design and adobe apps to high school kids. Maybe a little down tha line, a law degree or my own (non-design) business.
-matt
You end up smelling like pizza, but it's an easy job, and you get to eat a lot of pizza. 'Managers' only make $10 an hour but it's better than a lot of other jobs. Besides, it factors 'food' right out of your monthly expenses.
For retirement I plan on being a crotchety old geek that teaches mathematics and computer programming in a community college somewhere nice. I figure it would be good to teach night courses since I hate mornings and I would be giving real world experience and direction to kids and young adults who really need it.
If tech doesn't work out in the near term, I'm planning on trying to "retire early" and getting a teaching certificate. Most fun I ever had was teaching a College level Programming class to freshmen. I might not get the college freshmen with a certificate but maybe I could get the High School seniors?
[signature]
So you're saying that you can't have a life and be a programmer at the same time? Do you really think that's true, and how long do you think you can continue to hold two full time jobs (as you put it)?
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I kind of think along the lines of BitGeek (above). Over a decade ago, my area of the country was flooded with unemployeed workers from the oil industry. They were doing the same things... getting jobs at Sears, etc. But for the most part, it wasn't your more skilled petroleum engineers who delivered results that were placed on the sidelines.
There WERE a lot of marginal hacks that were hired over the past few years and tried to pass themselves off as computer professionals. For the most part, you're seeing them as the ones losing their jobs, and having trouble finding new ones. "You can't do that to me! I am an Internet Professional!!!" (For some reason, I'm reminded of a scene from the Internet personality Ben Brown here.)Your better employees aren't having as much problem.
And people who are hiring right now know that the market is flooded with B-list players. They're common, and generally unwanted. It is only a matter of time before they give up and look for jobs elsewhere. Really, this isn't a bad thing.
http://www.tefl.com/t tp://www.asiatefl.com/
http://www.teflasia.com/
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After we sell this company, with any luck, I'll have the money to essentially "retire" at 27 and get a job as a Journeyman Union Electrician here in Detroit. Sparkys are always needed, and I've been doing it as a hobby for some time. I could work light hours (about 20 hours per week) and make reasonable money, enough to live on, so I can save my "sales" money for down the road. That's what I want to do when I grow up. Quite frankly, 10 years in IT is long enough for me :)
Again, all of your time is spent on the computer except for "a couple of hours". How long do you expect to be able to keep this up? Why would you want to do something that deprives you of becoming a well rounded person?
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You have to pass a test. A respected test, not a technical certification test.
And you have to have apprenticed for a period of several years under another licensed engineer.
Programmers are not engineers.
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A lot of script kiddies and other people that have never programmed professionally in their lives.
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Actually, an x86 can get *more* work done in a clock cycle than a PPC. Depends on how well the task adapts to each chip's SIMD capabilities, whether or not your chip ends up doing any branch mispredictions, whether you're using data/code that's too large to fit in your PPC's cache but does fit in your Xeon's cache...
Of course, you don't see *me* calling *you* a poser.
Lighten up. Even Linus goes on beer hikes.
May we never see th
I hear a lot of negative comments from people here saying that you must be some kind of loser to start with, but I disagree strongly.
It's easy to feel "burned-out" and stressed working for the wrong sort of company i.e. two-bit operations and places where they expect you to do absolutely everything, work in the evenings at home, weekends on unrealistic projects, unrealistic deadlines etc. I've been there myself, and here's what I did.
My degree is in Astrophysics, but I've been a computer geek since I was 8 years old.
After my degree I got some losy jobs contracting with some small IT companies that were going no where and burning me out too. So, I exited stage left and got a job as a Reactor Physics Engineer at a nucelar powerstation.
It was very different. Sensible, intelligent people, realistic deadlines and workload, reasonable pay, long holidays, sensible overtime. I stayed there for nearly 5 years, being trained in all maner of technical subjects (reactor physics theory) right down to occupational safety.
In the meantime I was running Linux at home, improving my coding, learning C++, etc. Then, when a better job came up at a big computer systems company I was all set.
I have no regrets at all. It's not just about you, it's about who you're working for.
Stick Men
If my tech career bombs out I could always take up my dad's farm :-)
p0rn
Soon, you will understand the world of work.
7-8: get ready for work/ drive to work
8-5: work
5-7: drive home/ eat
7-9: "hang out with the family for a couple of hours"
9-2: "get back on the computer"
"I usually only get 5 hours sleep a night"
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What were you doing sticking around trying to get our jobs anyway?
Sounds like a Teamster pissed at the non-union competition. Who made you the one to say whose jobs they are? If someone wants to work in tech, great, let 'em. If you're more qualified, you'll get the job instead, right? In the words of the late Clara Peller, where's the beef?
sulli
RTFJ.
"Would you like to Super-Size it?"
Pizza delivery driver was the best-paying job I ever had pre-BS, at least in the short term. In the long term, it netted out to zero due to car maintenance and increased insurance premiums. But when you're 18, taking an advance against future earnings isn't such a bad proposition.
Join the military. Not only do you have a stable job, you get to play with some cool ass toys you'll never see in the civilian world. Funding is always there for a lab, and new projects. And best of all you get to travel, and party with a bunch of cool people.
Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY!!!
This was going to be my secondary choice of occupation. After dealing with the same-'ol' same-'ol IT job for a decade or so, I've noticed some IT people moving towards more of a teaching than application role.
And the thing is, they're good at it. In college we had a prof who used to be a programmer for one of the local large corps. He turned out to be one of the best teachers in the program.
While I won't say that all IT people have an ability to teach, it can also be said that a lot of them are better than somebody who dabbler who also has a teaching degree. We had some of these guys too, and they SUCKED. There's nothing worse than having some weiner with a B. English who just learned how to code last year trying to teach a class of people who have a geniune interest in learning IT.
No, really. I'm taking the test next week.
Lack of creativity is no excuse for not having a
I'm NOT claiming that its true. I want the OP to either recognize that it is futile or to admit that he really doesn't spend that much time.
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Bill Gates - philanthropist (we can only hope)
Steve Ballmer - dance instructor (he can only hope)
Steve Jobs - playboy billionaire by day, super spy by night (he always gets the cool gigs)
Paul Allen - sporting magnate (congrats Paul, you're already there)
Larry Ellison - interior designer (daaling, I just love what you've done with the house)
Philippe Kahn - TV chef (a good cook who knows how to make things from nothing is priceless)
Carly Fiorina - take over the Martha Stewart empire (because it needs to re"invent" itself)
Michael Dell - pro surfer (dude, you're getting a board!)
Jean-Louis Gassee - paranoid schizophrenic (why won't they just let him Be?)
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
1.) A lot will depend on your background. If you don't have a degree and are looking for another tech job then you will meet with a lot of resistance right now and probably forever more.
2.) If you have a non-tech degree and happened upon a tech position and are looking for another well then see # 1 above.
3.) If you have a technology degree (not an engineering or computer science degree, i.e., you never took a calculus course) then strongly consider a non-tech profession. Things will be rough going getting back into tech now if not forever more.
4.) If you have an engineering or computer science degree then you worked pretty hard and you should stick it out. You will eventually get back in the game.
"player 4 hit player 1 with 0 stroms"
In good times and bad, they have a job.
So do pub-owners. And they get to drink the profits away.
Plus, there's the added entertainment value of watching the more inebriated customers trying desperately to chat up the other patrons and not realizing just how dreadful their pickup lines really sound.
Bliss.
As to unions, they're just another name for the mob
... the samurai lost, eventually .
... to the eventual loss of both.
Spoken like a true samurai. Confidant in your (I assume) competance as an individual Techy, you restrict all employer-employee interacion to single combat^H^H^H^H^H^H programer-employer negotiations, implying that organized-workers are immoral (they are just "mob").
immoral they may or may not be, but don't forget one thing
And are unions, BTW, worse than employing corporations, which are also large armies^H^H^H^H^H organizations, usually quite a bit more powerful than a single hacker ?
don't get me wrong, I'm a techy myself (Math, C.S. and Phys. at different academic levels), and I think a man should be paid per his own worth. But I also belive that the notion of a free market, and free choice for workers, is many times more of a myth than reality. A myth which does NOT benefit the workers in the long run.
I think unions suck. But there has to be a balancing force to raw capitalism, or the peasents will revolt against the equity lords
To put a gross mathematical picture, capitalism and progress are driven by a high derivative of the income distribution. Too uniform a distribution and society suffocates, as in comunism. Too much inequality, however, and the "mob", i.e. most of the people, will revolt, throwing down the system. So balance should to be reached before that point, and what will be the returning force from the over-capitalistic side ?
I see no such balancing powers today, and do not know if there are other options than worker-unions. I can't think of any. I hope someone will. But either way, careful consideration of the notions of organized labor is needed also for tech workers, not an over simplistic (IMHO) moral rejection.
Working for necessity's mother.
Everyone seems to be saying "good riddance" to the people leaving the tech sector, but what is sad about the recent turn down is even really good people are leaving technical fields. I can think of several people from the two companies that I worked for that closed their doors last year.
One in particular started out as a sys admin for both companies and eventually went on the lead the entire IT departments for them. After the last company shutdown, he had had enough. He just started law school this semester. That is a sad loss to the industry. He was one of the best. In fact, I still call him up for advice when messing around on my home network.
I guess for me, I'm torn. Part of me is jealous and the other part is sad for the loss. I'm jealous because I wish I could simply say goodbye to the godforsaken industry. However, I could never do that because I simply do not know anything else. But, mostly I'm just sad for the loss. I hate to see good people leave.
But as far as work goes it's time to move on. I've been in dp for nearly 20 years. The dp job I have now will be my last. I'm moving to a home based business where I'm the boss. Where the business depends on me, not someone I'm carrying on my back who fancies themselves some sort of power broker. I'm in my 10th company now doing software and only 3 of the companies I've been in are still solvent. In the future when I'm on a death march it will be for myself. And it won't be in dp.
It's sad. I really love coding...
There we go. The problem is, he is not a creative person. What does he want to do? Teach or become a lawyer. It is the art of bullshitting. Those who can, do those who can't teach or go to law school.
Please, try and CONTRIBUTE something to society. Anyone who is a true geek did not learn a damn thing from school. You are just going to be part of the problem. Hindering young children's minds with your own impotence or abusing the system of justice to feed off your laziness is simply disgusting. I mean come on, can anyone honestly say they learned anything about Photoshop from a teacher??? Sheesh. Photoshop is the quintessential program you need to sit down and LEARN by experimentation, like everything else in this world.
I don't read or respond to AC posts
Obviously you can go ahead and think what you want. My point was not that teaching or law would be incredibly fun. It was that I would prefer to spend my creative energy on my own projects on my own time. I stated that in my original post. I believe that work and interests/hobbies should be separate.
Its hard to know if you are compatible with a job until you learn more or try it out. Its quite possible that law would not hold my interest. a teacher however seems promising to me mainly because of the interaction with interested students. Personally I am photoshop self taught, but I had many friends in my major in college that would have liked to learned photoshop. Unfortunately at my school, my major didn't offer it and it is a very overwhelming app for non techy people.
Re: contributing to society - if you don't think that teachers contribute to society, then that's a shame. on the flip side, I don't feel that working for a year as a designer/coder on a huge project for a now bankrupt e-commerce site has really made a contribution to society.
At the end of the day, I can be happier teaching kids than helping a head-up-its-ass corporation. But thats just me - a non-contributer. And to be honest, we are all just trying to be happy. If it is true that "those who can't do teach" then they are probably happier when they realize it and that's all anyone should hope for another.
-matt
Actually one teacher in a bad school in the poorest district of a 3rd world country contributes more in one day than YOU will contribute in your whole career doing whatever it is that you do.
I build custom computers. They kick serious ass. Please, check us out.