Ask Slashdot: Life After Software Development?

An anonymous reader writes "I've been writing database apps for various industries as the senior developer or tech lead on a given project for most of the past 20 years. The last few years have become particularly taxing as I struggle to reiterate basic concepts to the same technically illiterate managers and stakeholders who keep turning up in charge. While most are knowledgeable about the industries our software is targeting, they just don't get the mechanics of what we do and never will. After so many years, I'm tired of repeating myself. I need a break. I need to walk away from it, and want to look at doing something that doesn't focus heavily on the IT industry day in, day out. Unfortunately, I'm locked to a regional city and I've just spent the majority of my adult life coding, with no other major skills to fall back on. While I'm not keen on remaining in front of a screen, I wouldn't be averse to becoming a tech user and consumer, rather than a creator. Are there similar Slashdotters out there who have made the leap of faith away from tech jobs and into something different? If so, where did you end up? Is there a life after IT for people who are geeks at heart? Apart from staying in my current job, is there any advice for someone who can't really risk the mortgage and kid's education on a whim?"

Comments

Nope.

[CanHasDIY]

You pretty much shot yourself in the foot when you said

Apart from staying in my current job, is there any advice for someone who can't really risk the mortgage and kid's education on a whim?

"On a whim" is exactly what you're talking about doing: leaving what I assume to be a well-paying job, with absolutely zero skills outside your current position, to find something new (which, incidentally, is a process you're obviously sufficiently clueless about to be unable to figure out for yourself).

My advice? Do the responsible thing and stick it out until retirement or mortgage/kiddo's schooling is paid off, then take your walkabout.

Re:Nope.

[Necron69]

I have to agree. I've seen too many people quit jobs 'on a whim' and screw up their lives (and their family's) permanently.

All jobs suck at one level or another. Grow up, suck it up, and keep working. You need to learn to work to live, not live to work.

Necron69

Re:Nope.

[mosb1000]

What kind of advice is that?

You'd be surprised how little it costs to get by. And if you're married, you can divide the labor between you two.

The thing is that what he want's it to be his own boss, or something like that. There are always incompetent managers, so you can't escape it just by changing jobs. But you can choose who you do business with.

It's a choice. Either you want the house in the suburbs with the stable income, and the shitty job that goes with it, or you don't.

Re:Nope.

[joebok]

Wow - how can such a shallow thoughtless answer be modded "insightful"?

If the question was "I've just quit my job coding 'cause I can't stand it any more, how can I feed my family?" - yes, that is "on a whim" and I agree, not a good way to proceed. This person is examining his life and looking for other options. That is not whimsical. He's asking for experiences of like-minded people, hoping to find inspiration. Absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. As Socrates said, the unexamined life is not worth living.

I completely identify with the question, and have been having thoughts on the same lines. My conclusions so far is that I still actually do like coding, I just don't like coding (or doing anything) for the pointy haired bosses who are not in charge where I have been working for 18 years. So I'm trying to retrain myself a bit, see if I can cash in on iOS apps or something like that. It is interesting for me to learn new things, and exercising creativity to ends of my own choosing is very refreshing. Even if I never made a dime from an app, changing my attitude and finding a creative outlet makes life tons better. I endure the idiots at work, bring home the paycheck to feed the fam, AND I'm in a better state of mind so the time I spend at home is quality time. Maybe that will be enough, maybe I will want to make a change in the future.

It is a 100% valid question and the answer is most definitely not "nope". A good programmer is a good problem solver - the problem of living a satisfying life of joy is worth solving.

Re:Nope.

[mosb1000]

That's silly. You don't want the house so stop paying your mortgage. Then go find an apartment, or move in with you parents. There are a surprising number of options if you can get out of the mindset that you have to own a house and you have to have good credit and you have to do whatever it is you think you have to do.

And most people have no idea what it really takes to raise kids well. I'll tell you one thing it doesn't require, a whole lot of money. And another thing you don't need to do it is a house.

Re:Nope.

[Beardo the Bearded]

Exactly. Work is what I do to pay for the things I like to do. I can afford nice things.

My brother's a jazz musician. He loves it, but he doesn't make much money and he STILL HAS SHIT TO DEAL WITH. All jobs have shit to deal with. Find one you like that pays well. At work play the part.

Re:Nope.

[Golddess]

You don't want the house so stop paying your mortgage. Then go find an apartment

Won't that kind of hurt your chances of actually getting said apartment? Nevermind what kind of an example that sets for your kids.

or move in with you parents

Are most parents really that cool about their adult child, spouse, and grandkids all moving in with them, especially if said child just didn't feel like paying their mortgage?

Re:Nope.

[Lije Baley]

Ha ha ha, you won't know what she really wants until the day after you say "I do".

Re:Game Developement

[Anonymous Coward]

>Game Development

Infinitely worse. The only people who think game development is "light hearted" and "fun" are ignorant people who know diddly-squat about the games industry.

Translation:

[sirwired]

Dear Slashdot,

I've spent my entire life doing one thing. I have no marketable skills except doing that one thing. I like doing that one thing, and that alone. I hate my job because it also involves doing something other than that one thing.

I want to stop doing that one thing, or anything related to it, but still make the same safe, secure, decent amount of money doing something else. But I have no idea what that something else is, and I don't want to take any risks finding out.

What do I do?

Answer:
You're fucked.

Seriously, open your horizons some (management or technical sales is where many geeks go when they reach this point), or be willing to take risks. But the magical safe, secure, job you are looking for does not exist.

Re:Game Developement

[Surt]

Game development may sound fun, but as people who have actually done it for a living are going to point out, this is not the job for someone who has a mortgage or a family as a consideration. It doesn't pay well, it demands long hours, and the risk of losing your job is through the roof compared to basically anywhere else in the computer industry.

Debt serfs don't get to walk away.

[Colin Smith]

Apart from staying in my current job, is there any advice for someone who can't really risk the mortgage and kid's education on a whim?"

There's a reason the monetary system is debt based. You just found it.

 

Re:Write or teach.

[SerpentMage]

Ok I have been for the past 7 years in this situation... I was pushed into this situation after the dot.com bubble burst. Up to the dot com bubble burst I was doing Internet Server Consulting. What this meant is that I helped corporations push out Internet based Application Servers using .NET or Java technologies. It was a great gig until the bubble burst. Then I switched into Open Source, but realized very very quickly the monies are not the same. I am not slagging Open Source since I essentially use it now exclusively.

But for the past 7 years I have been investing in the market and yes I have been making money (even through the two crisis). And in about 2 years my wife and I are going to retire to open a restaurant as we need to do something (we are are in our early forties).

1) Make sure you have money socked away... Don't do this with no monies as you will fail and be miserable at the same time.

2) Do something you love. For me it is cooking and counting money. By counting money I mean financial engineering. Both are natural and easy for me even though my degree says mechnical engineering.

3) Create a niche for yourself. Since you are not in the field from young on nobody will care about you. Thus create a niche for yourself. So say you want to be a trucker. Well drive those stretches that nobody else wants to, for whatever reason it is. It is important to stress you need to love this new field because you are going to get the shit jobs and thus you better be smiling while doing those jobs.

4) Be happy! Seriously if you are going to step into this new field you better be happy about it. If you are going to complain and think about all of the money, or gizmos that you could have bought before you are doing yourself a disservice. You need to enjoy every effen moment because otherwise you will fail. I am not talking about, "oh this will get better" type of chatter. I am talking, "you know I really like eating this shit every day because it is something I have always wanted to do." Again I stress the you better love the field because you will get shit fed to you for at least two to three years...

Re:Write or teach.

[houghi]

And in about 2 years my wife and I are going to retire to open a restaurant as we need to do something

You use that word 'retire' but I don';t think it means what you think it means.
Seriosuly, re-think what you want to do:
1) Run a restaurant which means working 24 hours a day and if need be at night as well. That is if you want to make money and not loose it. Money can go fast in the restaurant business.
2) Retire

Running a restaurant is not the same as cooking.

I hear many people say that they would love to buy a pub, a restaurant or a small hotel. It sounds so nice, because all that they see is the time they spend as a guest. They do not see the stuff that goes on behind the scenes. The fact that you have no social life, because you work all the time.

yes, do something you like, but understand that running a business is not the same as retiring. Not by a long shot.

If cooking is your passion, why not do catering? You can decide when and how much work you take and you won't be making the same kind of food day in day out. You could decide to have only Friday and Saturday parties. That would mean you will be doing your prep on Thursday, parties on Friday and Saturday and finish on Sunday. Once you have that rolling, you will still have plenty of time to be retired while still being able to do what you like.