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Desk Free Technology Career Path?
nickjohnson wonders: "I realize that in business there exist many career paths out of software engineering, but in the corporate world, most of those career paths still involve sitting in front of a computer or sitting at meetings or sitting and talking on the phone a significant part of the time. I'm sure there's a number of people out there with neck and wrist pain, or aging bodies hard to keep in shape -- what career paths have you or are you considering that are interesting and rewarding for techie engineering types that do not involve so much sitting still?"
"I'm reaching out to the Slashdot community for advice on a career change for myself, a veteran software engineer who, for physical reasons, does not want to work sitting in front of a computer anymore. Actually, I really don't want to spend many more years sitting still in front of *anything* anymore. I need to move around more, and maintain a more upright position throughout the day. Short of becoming a yoga teacher or a dance teacher or I don't know a skydiving instructor, what else is out there for a techie like me?
* interesting problems to solve
* opportunities for discovery and success
* financially lucrative
* more invigorating (not tiring) than sitting still all day"
* interesting problems to solve
* opportunities for discovery and success
* financially lucrative
* more invigorating (not tiring) than sitting still all day"
I think that avoiding computers while trying to stay in the engineering field, is only going to screw you in the long run.
Pretty Pictures!
Consider getting a job that demands some travel. Probably the most creative postures to combat the desk-potato lifestyle that I've come up with are ones necessary to get comfortable in a regular-class airline seat. Not sure if it counts for exercise, but I sure am tired at the end of the flight.
http://tinyurl.com/4ny52
everyone has some knowledge worth imparting. And if you find the right audience, it can be incredibly rewarding.
I'd like to take up woodworking and carpentry. You get to be creative, use your hands, and put an idea into existence and someone gets to use the end product. You can also start simple and work up to more advanced projects. It's very rewarding when you finish a project as well.
Creating moldings for plastics is interesting too because you have to visual the inverse of what the object will look like and do so in 3D. Getting something to turn out just right is difficult but makes you feel damn proud of yourself when you're done.
Erik http://yakko.cs.wmich.edu/~rattles
No desk required.
Well you don't leave many options left....
You can go into teaching. I did this for about a year, teaching a linux course and this required me
- to move around alot,
- drink alot more water,
- be active, constantly on my feet,
- constant talking,
- was semi-lucrative as long as you can make this a regular gig that can pay the bills, a number of places will pay good money, and if not, you can convince them why they should, considering they get good money for the course from the student.
All the other options I was going to write, would have taken you out of technology, but considering you want to stay in it, I guess on some level, this seems like the best option, especially if you have the skills to back it up, and the ability to teach. Plus someone with years of experience is a valuable asset to any teaching institution.
Good luck.
Porn actor.
Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
You could try to find a job that requires lots of travelling. Help in third world countries? Infraestructures in towns in your own country?
Hosting 20G hd, 1Tb bw! ssh $7.95
Admin a HS network. Lots of running around, alot of eye candy, and government money pays VERY well those who work in the IT department.
I'd know, and I was just an asst. Admin at Legacy Highschool in Westminster, CO. Both the admin and myself would be running around too much to even catch a call in the office at a designated time.
Of all the Universal Constants, here's one I know: Nice guys finish last
It took me years to get a "sit my ass in this chair job"!!! I'm not giving it up!
"why don't you just slip into something more comfortable...like a coma!"
Truly where high tech communications meets the field.
Seriously. Great job. Check it out.
(Not a recruiter)
-3NG
Insert witty commment here...
a horse whisperer. Not quite techie job but definitely interesting and challenging :)
There's few -GOOD- tech positions that involve exercise - usually getting behind the desk is considered advancement from the lower positions - but field engineering, like working with cellular tower stations, data lines repair, monitoring cameras etc involves some movement... but they are all considered more "blue collar" jobs, so the pay isn't all that great.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
Contracting. You will be sitting at a different desk at different companies every so often. Although crawling underneath the desk to battle the killer dust bunnies can get tiresome after a while. Especially, if you have allergies.
I'd like to take up woodworking and carpentry. You get to be creative, use your hands, and put an idea into existence and someone gets to use the end product. You can also start simple and work up to more advanced projects. It's very rewarding when you finish a project as well.
Don't get me wrong - I love carpentry, and stonemasonry, and electrical wiring, and landscaping - the whole gamut of physical labor. But our nation's inability to resolve the question of our southern border has caused unskilled and semi-skilled wages to tank. And it's ruined the careers of the old-timers [I know older guys who just can't find work anymore].
These days, if you're native-born, and even so much as semi-literate, then'll you start off as a foreman [supervising a gang of illegals], and move up from there - i.e. you're right back into deskwork.
There's certainly challenging problems in building things (especially really big things =), so maybe it's something you should consider.
A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
Farmer/Dairyman (agriculture sciences -- dont laugh, my father was an EE before switching to this), ...
Construction
landscaping/lawn maintenance
road construction,
fitness guru
Hunting guide
Bad User. No biscuit!
there is a certification for this, and basically you need to know many things but if you can teach your self to splice and terminate and server setup. People will pay you to travel around and setup stuff for them.
Calm down people, its a religion not an operating system.
Troubleshooting manufacturing equipment and robots. Programming new industrial equipment. The bigger the plant the more the running around.
I'm probably younger than the poster (only 32), but I'm definately sick of sitting in front of a computer all day.
Computing/IT used to be a hobby, but now its just boring. So I took up sailing. In a few years time I might have enough experience and qualifications to start teaching. Not much money in it, but at least it will be fun.
---- Put Sig here:
Learn to program control systems. The language is simple, the problems are not. I do mostly building automation in refineries and hospitals. Have you ever walked around a hospital? Typical day is 18 miles. And when something doesn't work, it usually requires a hammer or a wrench. How many times have you wanted one of those at work?
Be a mobile video camera person for a tv station. You'd have to go out to the story locations and carry the camera during the shoot, as well as configure the camera for different light and sound sources and play with other video recording tech. Don't know how lucrative it is, but it sounds like it would have a lot of variety and would be fun. In fact, you just gave me a great idea for when I retire from programming...
If you have any interest in network nuts and bolts, you could get a job as a DSL lineman with the local telco. Last I checked, CWA (Communication Workers' Union) still had pretty good benefits too.
Other alteratives, that I've actually done, are PLC programming. There's still lots of nights sitting at the desk at home with a test setup on the table next to me, but there's just as much time spent out at sites installing and trouble shooting the units and sensor/relay wiring. And usually the sites don't really keep having a place to sit down in mind when they allocate a cabinet for the PLC, so some of my best fixes have been coded standing up.
DONT PANIC
Maybe you can become a disciple of ESR or better RMS and then go out into the world to spread the gospel of the GPL.
There are two rules for success:
1. Never tell everything you know.
Yeah, I know, we all hate making slide shows, but if you can develop a stage presence and get gigs with large enough software companies then you'll really have an opportunity to make your physical activity and body language work for you.
Here, try a simple exercise to see if this might be the right career track for you. Stand up, and start stomping your feet and clapping your hands, while screaming "Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!"
I'm working as the lab director, tech guy, sysadmin, what have you for the Design + Tech. department at a school in NYC (Parsons School of Design). I get to set the lab up, build machines, take stuff apart and put it back together, set up and build web apps, administer our servers, cart equipment around and set up projectors, maintain classroom equipment, etc. Recently I got to run all over the place helping students set up their equipment for their pieces during our thesis show (http://dt.parsons.edu/show2005/) and while it was tough I did enjoy parts of the setup a lot--I was doing everything from lugging Apple flat-screen monitors down to the gallery to helping students hang projectors perched on a ladder to sitting on the floor for an hour crimping networking cable. Currently I'm spending a lot of time redesigning the lab and that's been fun too.
I spend a lot of time on my feet and while some might classify a lot of the work as grunt work I'm really enjoying it as I get to do a lot of different stuff. So, you might want to think about what opportunities are available like that in an academic environment (or maybe even a small business where you have to do a lot of different things) if it sounds interesting to you. I know it's not for everyone but I dig it.
The pay isn't great but for the 2 years I was doing cabling I was in the best shape of my life.
I get to do a lot of troubleshooting and interesting problem-solving in the process of helping these students figure out their pieces during the semester. They are doing everything from motion-capture software to OpenGL game dev. to physical computing stuff (like connecting a light bulb through a serial port to an ethernet port and transmitting messages over the network to signal another light bulb on the other end...one project I helped a student with this past semester). While (more than) half the time the students know more about the specific technology they're using than I do, it's really interesting for me to learn about this stuff and incredibly rewarding (I also find my more straightforward troubleshooting skills are useful to them no matter how little I know about the technology...artists/designers think differently, which itself is GREAT to be around for me)--whatever I do next I'm going to have learned a lot here!
If you are young enough to handle it, how about getting into the HVAC trade? Try and get in as an apprentice with a company like Honeywell, Johnson Controls, or McQuay. All of the big industrial equipment (chillers, boilers, air handlers, etc.) is very advanced. Gone are the days that any old mechanic can change a relay and be done with it - at least when dealing with chillers.
I was in a similar boat just over 2 years ago. Fed up with sitting at a desk all day. Got hired as an apprentice and I've been enjoying it ever since. Probably learned more in the first week than I had done in 5 years previous. I don't work for an outfit that is heavily into controls though. But there are many out there.
Check out HRAI and ASHRAE for lots more information.
Is that a real poncho? I mean, is that a Mexican poncho or is that a Sears poncho?
Experimental work in most areas I've seen can involve lots of moving around. Things as simple as walking around the lab collecting materials from shelves and fridges to crawling around on the floor of a vacuum chamber while wearing a bunny suit. You get to poke at things, break things, fix things, carry things, set up equipment you've never seen before, crawl on the floor, use power tools and machine tools as necessary, and a whole host of other things. You also spend some time sitting in front of a computer or in meetings, but for a lot of people there's a lot of time spent puttering around to make things work.
If you do something like marine biology you get to do it at the beach. Or you could do network maintenance or data acq system development for some kind of experimental research group that goes out for all sorts of field tests in the ocean or desert or something.
There are tons of things like that, but it can take some work to track them down and find openings.
I had a high school teacher that worked for an oil company. His basic job was to implement and program sensors to measure a variety of things on mobile drilling rigs and pumps. He first had to decide if he wanted to use an analog or digital sensor then he had to make the mount which required him to cut and weld it from scratch. After it was all done he could go back to his hotel room and connect to it from his laptop and grab all sorts of data. He got to travel all over the US and Canada which gave him lots of opportunities to hunt, fish, and camp.
He obviously doesn't want to get sent to some third-world desert to be blown up by a roadside bomb placed by some freedom fighters. Indeed, if that is what he wanted then he no doubt would already be in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Seriously. I used to work with a guy, at a typical desk job, who found his back problems went away if he just stood up. So, he set up his cubicle so he could do his job standing up, and has done so for years.
If you're looking for a career change, I think teaching is probably the best option I've seen here, but it seems like what you're really looking for is just a way to not spend so much time sitting down.
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
I have just the jobs that fit your description:
Become either a Drug Smuggler or Gun Dealer. Lots of travel, flexibel working times and varied an interesting work!
You get to see the world, meet interesting people AND it's financially lucrative. The best part is, if the goverment wants you to "retire", there's free room & board for years to come. In fact, you'd be stupid not to do it!
Once you have more than one field under your belt, nose around for jobs that involve going out into the field as much as working in the office. I never knew when I showed up for work where I was going to be next. I always kept a bag packed as quite often they would throw me on a plane to somewhere in the Pacific region. It's a ton of fun if you like a random, and surprising, lifestyle.
"[I]t is a wise man who admits the limits of his knowledge or skill, and that pretending either causes harm." --Terry Go
You could always become a machinist.
Lots of standing and moderate lifting on a regular basis (loading and unloading) and you get to program a 5-axis CNC mill.
What could be more fun than that?
- Preferences: Solaris 10 (servers), Ubuntu (desktops), Solaris 11 (personal servers) -
Well this may be counted as a troll for some fanatics of anti-outsourcing, but since you have a realistic problem, I can give you one possible solution. You seem to have a huge amount of experience in programming. I suggest you apply to one of the top software outsourcing companies in India, and teach the workers/code monkeys there "good" programming skills (who according to as I have read on /., do not do much of a great job!)... So you will be in a challenging field in the sense that you will be working with a lot of intelligent people who have an interest in programming, on top of that since you will be a non-Indian teacher, you will definitely be paid a lot of money with which you can live a real good extravagant life in India.
Although, the above solution requires you to leave the country you currently reside in, it is a possible solution :) Plus if you are adventurous enough, then a new country , new languages, new people is a lot of fun ...
Bullshit. An electrician here can easily make $100k-- you just need to be Union. Good electricians can always find work if they are willing to move around.
My point is that the guy making $100K isn't pulling any cable, or bolting any nuts. He's the guy reading the blueprints [or maybe even drafting the blueprints], and giving orders to a gang of cable monkeys, almost all of whom will be illegal immigrants.
Also, in regard to the original question posed by the original poster: You don't just walk into those $100K gigs as an amateur. To get there, you're gonna hafta do several years as a journeyman apprentice [before you're even allowed to sit for your state board exams], then study for and pass your state board exams, then put in 20-30 years in the union [paying off a bunch of thugs like Tony Soprano along the way] until you finally land one of those cushy "$100K" deals.
Frankly, I don't think that's what the original poster had in mind.
At my work, the keyboard trays in the cubicles can be lifted up an extra foot or so, which is almost perfect for typing while standing. Unfortunately, I'm still looking for a way to raise the moitor.
Shoot weddings, events, etc.?
Lots of technical details to master, both on and off location.
Lots of moving around, etc.
I'm training as a marine engineer. I like computers, but not as a job.
The long periods away might not be to everyone's taste, but it means I can spend the rest of my time travelling or climbing, without the day to day worries of a job.
I can think of few problems that would be more interesting, and motivating, than falling through the air wondering why your parachute won't open.
And think of all the exercise you'd get flapping your arms for that last thousand feet or so!
-- I have monkeys in my pants.
That's when I decided I wanted to be a firefighter. Exciting job, doing something new everyday, helping people, rarely sitting around. It'll keep me healthy, too, a lot healthier than sitting at a desk eating doritos and drinking Moutain Dew.
Not that I recommend going the extreme route of change, but maybe what you really want to do is something you never thought you'd ever do. I never thought I'd become a firefighter (Though I still have several months of training ahead of me).
Before I get into this specific rebuttal... I'll summarize my points about the original point: To use your existing knowledge you can basically a) teach, b) manage or c) do. Any of these can be more active if you find the right kind of "field" assignment and/or travel - like "Geeks on Call" etc. But since you don't want to sit on the phone, sales is probably less than desireable.
Personally, if none of the above options were appealing enough - or I couldn't find an appropriate placement - I'd shift my focus away from computers as slowly as possible, because your knowledge is highly applicable to an increasing lot of life. So specializing in how computers INTERACT with some other field.
Want to be in home services? How about home automation? Possibly alarms? High end AV systems (increasingly digital & HDs..)
Want to remain more commercial? How about computer controlled machinery repair - again applying your knowledge but most of your day is moving.
As an option I would definitely consider third, if you want to adjust your knowledge to the technical service industry like this sub-thread, you can get decently rewarded and remain pretty mobile.
I would expect a large construction company will hire the fewest number of electricians possible - and I agree that they'll do this precisely by using less skilled, less expensive labor to do whatever work they can. In this scenario an electrician is mostly walking around inspecting stuff - which is still far from desk work.
So - point 1: the poster didn't say it couldn't be management, it just couldn't be a _desk_ field management of any kind - construction, cellular, IT can under the right circumstances involve very little desk work.
I further agree that it takes several years to be a certified electrician (or plumber, which I think has even more IT parallels) Once you are, though, I think $100k isn't an unreasonable estimate even for going into business for yourself.
Around here (Chicago), such professionals share secretaries that they pay about $8/hour, for an average yearly expense of about $5k to each pro. And a classified ad that says "$80/hour" will have people beating a path to your door - most of them are $125 or so, and HARD to get to come out. By my math that means you have to bill for about 27 hours a week to make $100k (slightly more for tools, insurance etc.)
Now, billing 27 hours is probably working pretty hard (nonbillable driving and whatnot) but it is clear to me this isn't an insane estimate. You specified "cushy" - he did not.
However, I wouldn't go this route, because I think the journeyman process is likely too big a barrier for a late-career engineer. If I was going to do something like this I'd start a Heinlein-esque General Services handyman business where you'll happily fix their computer, their phone, their toliet or their door. People will pay a lot for a personal relationship they trust.
Looking for freelance Actionscript (Flash/Flex) or ColdFusion work and/or freelance developers. Email me, put Slashdot
The pay sucks, but you can often beg for a bite to eat. Of course, you don't need to make as much money since your expenses will be quite low once you've given up everything but the robes (just think, no more car insurance or property tax). World peace is certainly a challenging enough problem to tackle, and the 10,000 steps you take (to start with) should keep you in fine shape...
Go into technical sales.
Nothing happens in the world without someone selling something first.
You get to interact with numerous people, experience new projects on almost a daily basis, basically set your own schedule (as long as you make your target), and are rarely tied to a desk during the day.
The misconception is that all salespeople are car salespeople. While it is true you can take the path of being dishonest, a cheat, and misleading it is rarely successful. Engineers tend to see through those tactics anyway.
The tradeoff is that it isn't "easy" work. There is some personal sacrafice, which is rewarding by taking 1/2-full days off whenever you want. You still have to manage a chunk of data with a PC and communication with a phone. However, most of your work is done in front of Mr. Customer.
If you are strong-technically you can be an application engineer (broader than "computer applications"). Provide pre- and post- sales support to your sales partners.
If you have great people skills and are technically inclined, then the quote-carrying sales role can be rewarding and fun.
I took the Applications Engineer route straight out of school. For about a year I switched into direct sales. Now I am back to the being the AE.
It is one of the most fun jobs I've ever had. The engineers who I call on that understand my job often tell me they are jealous.
If you don't mind a little danger with your job, you can go into industrial instrumentation technician. If you do it right, you will also get to do PLC programming and the like, which is really interesting.
Modern plants/refineries are wired like you would not believe with technologies NASA would be amazed by.
Just take this advice: Gaseous Chlorine is nasty, and Fluride is a NASTY acid.