6 ms·

As a law student, I experience this a lot. Computers and programming were/are my only passion and obsession. My life is dedicated to computers, but professional

As a law student, I experience this a lot. Computers and programming were/are my only passion and obsession. My life is dedicated to computers, but professionally I have to be a lawyer. I just had an interview at an IT Law Firm, and made a fool of myself. That's why I completely agree that, we as "people who are good at computers" need to keep seperate identities. Because if you go full Aspergers, you make yourself vulnerable. Once people realize you're "different", you get the "poor boy treatment" and that hurts. PS: I am still trying to get over the interview, sorry if I don't make any sense.

adav 10y ago
Why do you have to be a lawyer?
- zardo 10y ago
  It's the only way to afford law school.
- terminalcommand 10y ago
  Actually, you're right I don't have to be a lawyer. I try to work on side projects and continue to develop my skills. But those are dreams and I need to be prepared for reality. If I had the guts, I would risk everything and drop out of law school.
  - amelius 10y ago
    Perhaps you can one day automate all lawyers out of existence :)
    - terminalcommand 10y ago
      Especially in criminal law this can be done. For the other areas of law software could really help. There are decent platforms for searching cases/articles, but they're all mostly keyword based. On the other hand most lawyer work is monotonous. Research, believe, make believe :). It doesn't matter which side you're on.
  - jackgolding 10y ago
    It takes a lot of courage to do this, but more less now than you will ever need. You will start earning $150k a year then and then the opportunity cost might be $80-100k to go down to a junior developer. Then you have a wife, kids, mortgage, credit card loan...
digler999 10y ago
> and made a fool of myself. Good. you got out there and made mistakes. Now you can learn from them and you wont ever be that bad henceforth, hereunto. I made a total ass out of my self the first few programming interviews I went to. First one, recruiter called me (woke me up at ~10am) and I thought I'd show "initiative", I said "sure Ill be there in 2 hours". Went totally unprepared, didn't even bring a copy of my resume. They even lectured me about improving my interview skills. Second one, I made the mistake of asking my potential coworker "what college he went to", thinking anyone in an engineering profession went to college. The manager interjected that he was 'self taught', this wasn't a total faux-pas on my part, but it created an awkward moment where I didnt really know what to say. I further erased any possibility of getting the job by getting too relaxed/comfortable and blurted out that I'm really groggy in the morning (cringe). I learned quickly, eventually got good at interviews, and ultimately got a job at bloomberg, which is fairly difficult to get past their interiew process. So dont take it out on your neck, pick yourself back up and make a list of things you can take away from your experience. you have no other direction to go than up.
- terminalcommand 10y ago
  Thanks for the support. It's been an embarrasing experience, but I've learnt a lot. First, I shouldn't mention my passion for computers. They're looking for a lawyer, not an engineer. They already employ engineers, who are active in legal research. Second, I should pick a career outside of IT-Law. Solely working on technology feels too close to the heart. Third, I shouldn't speak a lot and reveal details about my life when I'm too excited during an interview. Now, I only have to endure the next couple of days, then the sting will go away. After a couple of months, I'll remember this as an experience and I'll laugh at how foolish I was.
  - digler999 10y ago
    If you know HN, you've probably heard of above-the-law, but if you haven't, definitely brush up on their how-to-get-a-job articles. Network with other lawyers/3L's (or whatever rank you are), go to practice interviews, rehearse. I've heard its difficult to get a job as a lawyer so if you aren't putting in 110%, do it. I dont know much about law, but to ignore your passion doesn't seem wise. I think you'd just have to spin it. Come up with a narrative that says tech has always been a part of your life, "but not as much as law", or "but it was missing something", or some other bullshittery that makes sense in that field. People want an impassioned person. And I also disagree that you should ignore IT law, it's in very heavy demand right now, isn't it ? The lawyers who can write amazing briefs struggle to understand technical protocols. Dont pass up on a dynamic field that will drive you. Also, shout out to https://www.reddit.com/r/LawFirm https://www.reddit.com/r/LawFirm and other subreddits that might be of assistance to you. Good luck.
drzaiusapelord 10y ago
>Once people realize you're "different", you get the "poor boy treatment" and that hurts. Or worse, once you're pegged as a hopeless geek then people tend to walk all over you and you're not seen as the kind of person who advances, becomes management, etc. You're a freakshow human resource to perform labor that, unfortunately needs to be done, until everything can be a one-click cloud solution. I make a very special effort to hide whatever geeky qualities I have. I think ultimately a lot of geek culture is manboy-ish and the kinds of people who let all of that loose at work are seen as childish or immature, right or wrong. Sadly, those of us into things like hard sci-fi or DIY maker stuff get lumped in with the guy who still buys Superman comics at age 40 or thinks over-sexualized fan-service anime is humanity's highest artistic calling.
- terminalcommand 10y ago
  That's true, most of the time I only say that "I'm good with computers". Nobody understands. But sometimes, it slips out inevitably. Regaining your image or just being able to hold your head high requires great effort.
  - eonw 10y ago
    i try to never let it slip at work that i went to college for graphic design, can shoot great photography, am very proficient in photoshop, do UI/UX design and edit video as well... the things i really dislike doing on a professional level but love to do in my spare time, i don't let on about at work, don't want to muddy the waters. the places where i did let it slip, ended up wanting me to do all that kind of stuff so they didn't have to outsource it or go to another team.
fuqted 10y ago
Smart people should never have to feel ashamed for what they know. The other day I - as an underemployed 24 year old teaching myself software development - was at the cafe of a software company. Some guy was telling his coworker that in the near future we may have patches that read our temperature and heartrate throughout the day (I'm thinking contact lenses). He's coworker answered with a sarcastic "Okay..?" and pretty much had nothing to say on the subject. I've been that guy. People are intimidated by things they don't know the same way a baby is intimidated by the cup without a sippy lid. You have to train them to let them know they're able to use the cup and sadly society at large hasn't trained themselves to accept new information. Cold world but I'm sure there's a way to go about it that inspires more awe than resent.

adav 10y ago

Why do you have to be a lawyer?

zardo 10y ago
It's the only way to afford law school.
terminalcommand 10y ago
Actually, you're right I don't have to be a lawyer. I try to work on side projects and continue to develop my skills. But those are dreams and I need to be prepared for reality. If I had the guts, I would risk everything and drop out of law school.
- amelius 10y ago
  Perhaps you can one day automate all lawyers out of existence :)
  - terminalcommand 10y ago
    Especially in criminal law this can be done. For the other areas of law software could really help. There are decent platforms for searching cases/articles, but they're all mostly keyword based. On the other hand most lawyer work is monotonous. Research, believe, make believe :). It doesn't matter which side you're on.
- jackgolding 10y ago
  It takes a lot of courage to do this, but more less now than you will ever need. You will start earning $150k a year then and then the opportunity cost might be $80-100k to go down to a junior developer. Then you have a wife, kids, mortgage, credit card loan...

digler999 10y ago

> and made a fool of myself. Good. you got out there and made mistakes. Now you can learn from them and you wont ever be that bad henceforth, hereunto. I made a total ass out of my self the first few programming interviews I went to. First one, recruiter called me (woke me up at ~10am) and I thought I'd show "initiative", I said "sure Ill be there in 2 hours". Went totally unprepared, didn't even bring a copy of my resume. They even lectured me about improving my interview skills. Second one, I made the mistake of asking my potential coworker "what college he went to", thinking anyone in an engineering profession went to college. The manager interjected that he was 'self taught', this wasn't a total faux-pas on my part, but it created an awkward moment where I didnt really know what to say. I further erased any possibility of getting the job by getting too relaxed/comfortable and blurted out that I'm really groggy in the morning (cringe). I learned quickly, eventually got good at interviews, and ultimately got a job at bloomberg, which is fairly difficult to get past their interiew process. So dont take it out on your neck, pick yourself back up and make a list of things you can take away from your experience. you have no other direction to go than up.

terminalcommand 10y ago
Thanks for the support. It's been an embarrasing experience, but I've learnt a lot. First, I shouldn't mention my passion for computers. They're looking for a lawyer, not an engineer. They already employ engineers, who are active in legal research. Second, I should pick a career outside of IT-Law. Solely working on technology feels too close to the heart. Third, I shouldn't speak a lot and reveal details about my life when I'm too excited during an interview. Now, I only have to endure the next couple of days, then the sting will go away. After a couple of months, I'll remember this as an experience and I'll laugh at how foolish I was.
- digler999 10y ago
  If you know HN, you've probably heard of above-the-law, but if you haven't, definitely brush up on their how-to-get-a-job articles. Network with other lawyers/3L's (or whatever rank you are), go to practice interviews, rehearse. I've heard its difficult to get a job as a lawyer so if you aren't putting in 110%, do it. I dont know much about law, but to ignore your passion doesn't seem wise. I think you'd just have to spin it. Come up with a narrative that says tech has always been a part of your life, "but not as much as law", or "but it was missing something", or some other bullshittery that makes sense in that field. People want an impassioned person. And I also disagree that you should ignore IT law, it's in very heavy demand right now, isn't it ? The lawyers who can write amazing briefs struggle to understand technical protocols. Dont pass up on a dynamic field that will drive you. Also, shout out to https://www.reddit.com/r/LawFirm https://www.reddit.com/r/LawFirm and other subreddits that might be of assistance to you. Good luck.

drzaiusapelord 10y ago

>Once people realize you're "different", you get the "poor boy treatment" and that hurts. Or worse, once you're pegged as a hopeless geek then people tend to walk all over you and you're not seen as the kind of person who advances, becomes management, etc. You're a freakshow human resource to perform labor that, unfortunately needs to be done, until everything can be a one-click cloud solution. I make a very special effort to hide whatever geeky qualities I have. I think ultimately a lot of geek culture is manboy-ish and the kinds of people who let all of that loose at work are seen as childish or immature, right or wrong. Sadly, those of us into things like hard sci-fi or DIY maker stuff get lumped in with the guy who still buys Superman comics at age 40 or thinks over-sexualized fan-service anime is humanity's highest artistic calling.

terminalcommand 10y ago
That's true, most of the time I only say that "I'm good with computers". Nobody understands. But sometimes, it slips out inevitably. Regaining your image or just being able to hold your head high requires great effort.
- eonw 10y ago
  i try to never let it slip at work that i went to college for graphic design, can shoot great photography, am very proficient in photoshop, do UI/UX design and edit video as well... the things i really dislike doing on a professional level but love to do in my spare time, i don't let on about at work, don't want to muddy the waters. the places where i did let it slip, ended up wanting me to do all that kind of stuff so they didn't have to outsource it or go to another team.

fuqted 10y ago

Smart people should never have to feel ashamed for what they know. The other day I - as an underemployed 24 year old teaching myself software development - was at the cafe of a software company. Some guy was telling his coworker that in the near future we may have patches that read our temperature and heartrate throughout the day (I'm thinking contact lenses). He's coworker answered with a sarcastic "Okay..?" and pretty much had nothing to say on the subject. I've been that guy. People are intimidated by things they don't know the same way a baby is intimidated by the cup without a sippy lid. You have to train them to let them know they're able to use the cup and sadly society at large hasn't trained themselves to accept new information. Cold world but I'm sure there's a way to go about it that inspires more awe than resent.