Ask HN: Have you thought about leaving programming for the trades? I’ve been working as a programmer for 10 years and think I’m done with it. I feel like the golden age of being a programmer is gone. With constant learning, AI, and competing in a global market because of remote work, it’s super volatile. Yet my neighbor is an electrician and he has endless clients. He can work 80-90 hours a week if he wants to. He has stable work. He just became a manager and is now making more than me. |
Could you shadow your neighbor (or someone else in the trade you be interested in) for a few days to get a better idea of the realities of the job and if you’d enjoy it? Also, pay attention to their frustrations and issues and ask if they have similar feelings, wishing they had a job like yours (the grass is always greener…). I think no matter that the job, if it’s a break from the norm, it will feel nice at first.
Much like Office Space, I spent a few months doing demo work in addition to my normal IT job. I was working 90 hour weeks, was having a great time, and look back on that time fondly. However, I’m not sure I’d have the same view of it after 10 years, if it was my main job. I was a tourist, I didn’t live there, and I could stop whenever I wanted.
This is a big assumption. Why would they hire an older guy? They can have cheaper people more willing to put up with BS by hiring under 5 yoe or offshore.
My old boss would give one of the newer/cheaper people a task and they would flounder for months on it. After about 3 months he’d ask me; I’d have it done and back to him in a couple hours. This happened countless times. While I get paid more than them, 2 hours of my time is cheaper than 3 months of their time… not to mention the value of faster turn around.
There are also many problems I can see coming and avoid, because of experience, where a younger person has a good chance of hitting the issue head on.
You’re also talking about hiring. I have a job and can keep it, assuming my mind and fingers still work. I’m not planning on interviewing much. That said, I did have a FAANG reach out to me just last week. I wouldn’t call myself old and gray yet, but I have aged into the protected class.
As a hedge, I save my money and keep my expenses low.
I'm 59 and used to work in construction, many of my former peers are now physical wrecks. I got out in my 40's and, in hindsight, it was a good decision. I also can't think of anyone who made a huge amount of money at the time either?
As for software dev being volatile, I agree. But it's not volatile for everyone. A good electrician is rare. A good programmer is rare.
If you are moving based solely on your neighbors success, I urge you to speak to 30 other elecs before you make the jump.
However, the pay and the commute across Chicago sucked.
You can be part of a 1-5 man shop that makes a million (USD) a year per person.
You could do both of these things.
The only thing that limits you as a programer are your own ideas and your own ambitions.
Brains and persistence, are more important. If you're not launching dumb stuff and you keep trying at some point something sticks.
Learn from your failures, keep going after you fail, you're going to feel lucky when you do finally get a hit. Luck will have had NOTHING to do with it.
He's a senior engineer and one of the best I know, and is considering wood working / joinery. From my research, it's not exactly well paid but he says it's something he's always wanted to do and will keep his mind busy and loud enough to distract away.
You probably were there just for the money and fashion.
Im not a born hacker myself, but this is something i can do better then the majority of the population. While i also can do many thinggs well with my hands - ill barely achieve same expert level as the best.
So why bother.
So?
You think plumbers do it for the artistry, honor, and love of the craft?
Btw, plumbers are definitely there not for easy money, not for super profits, not for fashion or for the hype.
Therefore they have 1000 times much more of my respect than all random mediocre programmers who just leveraged the temporary extreme lack of human resources — and now wining about the end of "golden age". And don't even have enough condifence in themselves and no respect for the craft to think they will not survive yet another market downtime.
Your tech career counts for nothing in the trades, you start from zero.
I love driving. When I drive I like to pretend I’m driving a big truck lol.
People with PhD in Life Science struggle to get a job but people who have watched a few YouTubes earn huge wages.
If I were advising a younger coder, I would suggest that they learn COBOL and get paid $150K and leave the office at 5.00 pm
The high paying COBOL jobs almost exclusively hire ex-employees who know the system. I knew COBOL from school and even making a couple small changes when I first started working. The people hiring specifically for COBOL want people with 25+ years of experience, familiarity with the specific system, and familiarity with the JCL or other aspects of the system.
I rarely wished we had more software
>you're going to feel lucky when you do finally get a hit.
Yes, because if I try something for 15 times and only 1 time succeed it is not my skills that worked, otherwise they would have worked the first time, it is pure luck. So I feel lucky because I am.
If you're factoring in cost of living to outbid someone, then clearly offshore could outbid onshore and the problem still stands.