What If You Could Do It All Over?

Re:What If You Could Do It All Over? by fy20 on Sunday December 27, 2020 @02:52AM (#25549581)

Last year I had my first kid, and it has really got me thinking about a lot of things in life including whether I want to continue my career in software developer. Sure the pay is good, it's a pretty cushy job (compared to something like a labourer), and I feel I'm pretty good at what I do... but I wish for something more fulfilling.

I just feel that in my career path, all my jobs have been about making other people (investors) more money and extracting value from markets rather than building something truly valuable to the world. I did actually work in a stint at an NGO, but that was so filled with a bureaucracy and wasting money I had to go back to a for-profit company.

I'm feeling that maybe I should leave the software engineering career and do something completely different (what I don't know), but I'd still like to do programming on the side. I just fell into this career as it was what I was good at.

How anyone here been at a similar cross roads in life? Which path did you choose?

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Re:What If You Could Do It All Over? by spidey1 on Sunday December 27, 2020 @02:02PM (#25553363)

I, very fortunately, landed a small NGO as my first dev job out of boot camp. We're a team of 3 with full autonomy over how we structure ourselves and the tools we use. Also, the bureaucracy is little to none.

Based on what I've read here, other sites, friends and colleagues, I should have changed jobs at least a couple of times by now but I've been here almost 4 years now and don't regret it. If you've found a place that you find fulfilling then I don't think I need to follow conventional advice. The downsides are less exposure to different project types and not working with a bigger team of experienced devs. I need to compensate for this by putting in extra effort on my side but I still think I've made the right choice for now.

I think if I ended up in a commercial dev job, I would have started looking at other options as well. It makes a real difference when you see you work being used for a greater good.

While you're considering other options, maybe also consider joining a smaller dev team where you have more autonomy and less red tape.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What If You Could Do It All Over? by redisman on Sunday December 27, 2020 @01:07PM (#25552900)

I would recommend keeping it for a few years. Working from home is a godsend for infants and toddlers. I’m also often thinking what else could I do but the problem is that almost no career is portable like software engineering. There are credentials and local requirements and relationships which are not as important in software.

My current thinking is to de-emphasize work for the kid years. Maybe get a more boring stable job with minimal hours and focus on the kids. There are a lot of adventures and experiences with them that no job will replicate.

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Re:What If You Could Do It All Over? by ck425 on Sunday December 27, 2020 @05:51AM (#25550211)

I'm in the same position. No advice yet. I've been trying to figure out why I want a meaningful career/job so much (rather than being satisfied with cushy) but no insights yet.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:What If You Could Do It All Over? by bvcvbuiy on Monday December 28, 2020 @08:52AM (#25559147)

Do something meaningful in your free time (and try to work less and have more free time).

[ Parent | on HN ]