Ask HN: Tech career advice for unsexy but decently paying jobs($100k, US remote) Context: I'm a mid career level software developer in US that was recently laid off. My family's basic expenses are taken care of by previous investments and passive cash flow, but it's not enough for discretionary spending, and health insurance. What tech career options do exist for someone who wants to have a 9-5 tech/programming career for another decade? |
The downsides are that the salary isn't fantastic (nor is it terrible), the career ladder doesn't go super high (fine with me) and the software side of the company is more rudimentary than I'm used to, since software is not their main focus.
In terms of evaluating whether it would be a less stressful place to work, I think looking at how they get funding is important, as that seems to dictate the pace of work. When I did contracting, it was always feast or famine, which makes sense given that you only get money when clients having an emergency need. When I did startups, it was always how much work we could get in before we needed more funding, so it was a race to do more work, to get more money, to do more work—a pie eating contest where the prize is more pie, as the saying goes. With science, or at least at this place, the funding comes from long term research grants that last years. The pace is a little like contracting, structurally, except the timeline for everything is so much longer, so you get more time for research, testing, and iterating.
Those downsides sound like upsides to me. It's likely not a payout for me if the pay isn't terrible. I have no plans to climb the ladder. Rudimentary sounds like fewer distractions and less chasing the latest fad.
- They tend to work with recruiters who don't specialize in tech and end up rejecting resumes for superfluous reasons like not having "experience with JSON". These recruiters are also vulnerable to dishonest/targeted resumes and skip over people with relevant experience in alternative technologies.
- They only hire one or two people at a time. A big tech org could be picking up 5-10 people every week through the same JD.
- Nepotism runs rampant here because there isn't a standard org-wide interview process involving multiple people. Often the whole thing is CYA theatre when the HM already knows who they want to hire, or they need to immigrate a neighbor or relative.
1. Mid-sized company (100-500 people)
2. with a *solid* business model (e.g. people pay for stuff)
3. that doesn't depend 100% on investor money (especially VC money).
That's it. Don't fall for 10x growth startups, AI hype, crypto, whatever. Choose real, solid business where it's easy to understand where the money comes from and that either are profitable or have an *extremely clear path* to profitability that can be explained in one short sentence (e.g. "our customers pay for our services and it's enough fo us to pay our bills and your salary").
9-5, not many meetings, plenty of room to innovate.
One trend I see is the offers of "hybrid-remote".
Which of course is totally NOT remote. If you have to relocate to take a job, it isn't remote work.
With the current lack of job stability/security, I find it hard to believe that bvery many (especially senior) personnel are willing to uproot their families and move across the country...
But this is exactly what the biggest of big tech is asking for...
I've had plenty of software engineering jobs that were interesting and 9-5, both at small companies and large. That was important to me, so I would always ask expectation of hours during the interview. So I'd say most of the options still exist. (This was in Austin, though, not SF)
You could try contract work, for example with Toptal. If you go the small projects route you get to work on all kinds of different things, and you can take a break in-between if you want. There's also long-term full-time contracts, and even some long-term half-time ones. This might be a good option if you want to explore, or if you are a generalist, or you want flexibility. It's also an opportunity to get a new perspective on work: what is it you are really selling? For contracting, two things you are selling is "I will solve your problem" and secondarily you are also selling flexibility to the buyer (ready to be done with the contract tomorrow, boss? Great, it was a pleasure working with you, let me know if you need anything in the future).
They pay decent but beware "the death of a career" projects assuming you started one in the first place. There's a non-flattering saying among us about work at these companies: "two weeks to move two bits" :P
So maybe there's an US equivalent for this, I dunno.
Most software roles in the US Government are now remote due to a severe staffing crunch.
The USAJobs subreddit doesn't have many technical ICs on it so posters are dealing with other more competitive hiring pipelines (eg. General Counsel, Economist, Policy Advisor, etc)
Otherwise, I'd say you're still in a position that you should consider the same path, but looking to be focused on orgs that have work/life balance highlighted.
Over the last 10 years or so I have exclusively found my jobs using LinkedIn so I may be a bit out of touch.
Depends on what government. State of California has a lot of remote/hybrid tech since the pandemic [0], both civil service and contract.
[0] and that’s been accommodated in civil service contracts and shifted some HQ space arrangements in ways which won’t be easy to quickly reverse, so its as likely to be durable as anything in working arrangements.
They began facing a hiring crunch for technical staff around 2020 and used the COVID remote work requirements to make technical roles much more remote or hybrid friendly
The recent Elon-led assault on tech workers is still in full swing.
From 1 year ago, the number of remote opportunities that come across my desk have reduced by ~90%...
The highest paying jobs I see are at the FAANGS. Other than that, the jobs all seem to be within a few percent of each other. Many employers in my area start off as contracts where you need to exceed expectations for a couple of years to be converted to permanent full time.
If you want to send me an email, contact me at "pennycuff.c" followed by a customary gmail.com. :)
If I am going to be made to run a rat race, I want lots of money for it.
Make sure you talk about managing priorities. If you start hearing everything is a priority and talk like that then you need to find some else to work for.
For state and local I've seen CDW, IBM, and WWT pop up a bunch. That said, with state and local, you start entering MSP/MSSP territory which pays and treats you like shit