Ask HN: Semi-Technical Job Positions?

5 points by kipsfi 14 years ago | 5 comments

Hey HN,

I'm a student in a computer science program. I've been absolutely obsessed with technology for as long as I can remember. I never really did much coding, and this year, I've been getting the feeling that it's not really for me.

I love the idea of coding, but it seems like I just don't have the attitude that many hackers talk about in respect to coding: I don't particularly like problem solving, I don't really get that "rush" when I solve something, etc.

So, basically, I need ideas. I'm thinking about dropping out of my Computer Science program and switching to Economics or something non-technical, but I'd eventually love to get a semi-technical job, where I'm dealing with technology but without my primary function being as a coder.

What's out there? Does anyone have a clearer idea then me of what I'm looking for?

Thanks,

kipsfi.

EDIT: In a perfect world, I guess I'd love a job where my primary function is something else, but if we needed some extra hands on code, I'd be able to get in there and get that done too.

throw_away 14 years ago |

there exist plenty of roles like this, just the names might be different at different companies. spolsky describes his program manager role at early Microsoft: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/06/16.html

this person is not a people manager, instead they focus on making sure that everything lines up between teams and other resources. there are other roles that match your technology-but-not-coding-unless-you-really-need-to criterion, such as analysts, who do things like build predictive models to figure out how to price things or how much of something to buy or how well something works.

I imagine that there might be a bit of condescension amongst some for these roles, but talented and hard working PMs and analysts are invaluable. just as you feel about coding, I feel about the more business-oriented aspects of making anything of significance. I get it & could probably do a bit of it, but don't get any "feeling" from it.

I would recommend that you keep up with your CS degree, or at least get a strong minor as the best of these people understand coding quite well. then perhaps take relevant Econ and business courses. go to job fairs and ask about internships for these sorts of roles. ask what sorts of people they are looking for in these roles. an internship would give you the pre-existing structure to do something like this. unlike coding, it's a much more difficult to practice and get good at on your own for this role.

dsmithn 14 years ago |

I think being able to code things like Excel macros would be beneficial in a lot of typical office positions.

Also, a lot of uni's offer MIS and similar degrees. They are a business degree with a few technical classes designed to output technical managers. Business Intelligence and Information Security are the two tracks my university offered. Does yours have something similar?

dholowiski 14 years ago |

What about IT - server and desktop repair/admin? That's what I do, and the job came with a healthy amount of Web work too, where I basically get to code as little or as much as I want.

tfitzgerald 14 years ago |

A lot of technology jobs revolve around solving problems. Maybe technical sales? technical writing?

beachgeek 14 years ago |

There are tons of semi-technical job positions. Its very important though to get a good grounding in CS. My recommendation would be to either complete your degree if you're close to it or get a strong minor as someone else said.

My story: I did a BS in CS from a pretty strong tech school. My goal upon graduation was to hack the UNIX kernel. This was no easy feat in the early 90s, so I took a job as a sysadmin upon graduation. When I finally got a chance to kernel hack in 1995 I found I hated being in front of a monitor for 8-10 hours at a time. Even though I loved contributing to open source/Linux etc in my spare time. Eventually ended up in technical sales/PM. Still dive into code once in a while, but couldn't be happier with the way its turned out.

Although I still complain once in a while, just because :-)

Good luck with any path you decide to take.