Ask HN: What career options can I pursue with do not involve full-time coding?

7 points by nimeshneema 6 years ago | 5 comments

I am seeking career directions from HN community. I have a Masters in Computer Applications. Over the last decade, I have worked with various IT services companies which mostly involved writing code (apps, backends, scripts) as the primary activity.

I feel writing code as the primary activity is not that I am, or will ever be very good at. But, I love the domain and have a decent understanding about where my skills lie (highly interested in learning deeply about system/technology, self learning & mentoring colleagues, reading, and communicating with other people).

I am looking for alternate career avenues in the computer technology domain, which can best leverage my strengths along with my decent understanding of computer programming.

I have a really good understanding of Apple developer ecosystem along with in-depth knowledge of Apple and related hardware, software and services.

What are the career avenues that I can look towards pursuing? I am pretty flexible about options (on-site, remote, part-time, consulting). I am trying to understand what kind of jobs my skills can be useful in, where I won't be expected to doing programming as the primary activity.

Thank you for your time and inputs.

toyg 6 years ago |

Education/training services seems the natural option. The job is typically “deep-dive in tech X for three days, then build a three-day course on it and hold it a few times”. Opportunities for fulltime roles in the sector tend to be relatively rare, though, and there is plenty of competition.

Otherwise, product management / UX expert.

At worst, sysadmin for smaller companies, where you’ll have to deal with a bunch of different issues. Since you’re an Apple guy, I guess you would concentrate on clients from the media sector. It’s a bit of a blind alley in career terms, though.

kohanz 6 years ago |

Sales? I have a couple of friends who were educated as computer engineers, but like you coding was not their preference. They coded a bit in their junior years and then transitioned into sales and both now lead sales teams at Google and seem happy. It does appear (to me), as a higher pressure environment, especially when you are "paying your dues" early on. But that's just my impression as someone that would not be comfortable in a role like that.

eswat 6 years ago |

Have you looked into cybersecurity in a non-engineering role? I’ve transitioned from a web development background towards penetration testing specializing in web applications. While I don’t get to code as much as before I still get to retain some of that knowledge through coding small proof-of-concepts every now and then.

quickthrower2 6 years ago |

I’d imagine working for apple as a product manager or customer support. Or working for a company that produces Mac software in a similar role.

As a curveball could you write a book about the apple ecosystem or some aspect of it that would be useful for developers to get an overview?

dman 6 years ago |

Become a product manager?