6 ms·

Ask HN: If given freedom to choose, what full-time job would you choose and why?

31 points by bsldld 6y ago

If given freedom to choose, what would you like to work on as a job and why? In what field/domain would you like to work and what present skill-sets of yours would you use on that job?

billconan 6y ago
artist musician zookeeper
euix 6y ago
I don't frame it ideally as "work". I'd move to somewhere warm with good food and sit on a beach and just sell put options out of a big margin account to generate income. I would then spend the rest of my time attending to hobbies like playing magic cards, hanging out with family and anything else my mind conjures up.
magicvice 6y ago
I would do what I've been doing on the side for years! I am freeing people from advertising and M$- Windows! Preferably DEBIAN ;-)
jojo2000 6y ago
I would work as a scientist for a better planet, working on advanced topics that may not achieve anything or may change things forever. I'd work on OSS in my spare time to give back to the community. I'm a physicist and have worked on rocket science before, but the pay was a pity and the boss was shitty. SaaS is the only way to make an ample living in my country, the only jobs where competence makes a change instead of which university you graduated...
toomuchtodo 6y ago
Whatever it takes to avert catastrophic climate change.
giantg2 6y ago
Sign a huge sports contract that will payout a small portion ($3M+) even if I get cut or hurt. Probably get hurt or cut by the first season and just retire.
buzzert 6y ago
I want to be mayor of a small-medium size town. I’m extremely introverted, but for some reason I have no problem talking to people in a problem-solving context (like at work). I enjoy it, in fact. In a social setting though, I’m off in a corner. I also just like the idea of diplomacy and making meaningful contributions to a community. Besides that, the superficial things seem like a lot of fun too (ribbon cutting ceremonies, parades, etc).
- idoh 6y ago
  These days there is the mayor and then the city manager (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_manager https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_manager). As an introvert and possibly engineering-minded person (broad generalization based on being on HN) maybe city manager is more your speed?
Jtsummers 6y ago
I'd teach, probably high school math and computer science. But I'm not doing it now because it'd mean a substantial pay cut (> 50%), and I'm no longer single (married, planning to have kids soon) so the financial requirements for me are higher than they were a few years ago. In 10 years or so I should have the house paid off, and other savings that will make the pay cut more palatable (I'll also be closer to retirement age, when my pension and other retirement options from past work will kick in that would make up most of the difference).
davidajackson 6y ago
I started teaching jazz piano lessons recently for fun. It's good because it forces you to keep going over fundamentals, and it's a good break from coding.
duxup 6y ago
Artist... not sure what, maybe a potter. I like the idea of going to work and making things every day.
non-entity 6y ago
Is this assuming we only have out current skillset or that we obtain the skills / credentials to work on whatever?
- bsldld 6y ago
  Your are free to develop new skills. That is also part of the freedom :)
imposterr 6y ago
Fine woodworker. Allows me to get my "build something" kick while at the same time the sanity that comes from being able to build something and declare it "done" which is something that never happens with software. There's always another bug or another feature or another optimization. With something like a chair you build it and that's it.
awillen 6y ago
Dog trainer. Especially if I could do it for free to help challenging dogs at shelters become more adoptable. I've done a lot of training with my own dogs that would definitely allow me to handle the basics of training, but I'd want to train under someone much more experienced so as to be able to work with highly aggressive dogs and others with extreme challenges that make them unadoptable in their current state.
- awillen 6y ago
  Or alternatively color commentator for the NFL or NBA. I'd really like to be just like Jeff Van Gundy... dude just goes off on wildly entertaining rants that are sometimes barely related to the actual game while getting to watch basketball games from the best seat in the house. And makes a boatload. I don't think I'd need to learn any additional skills - my wife will vouch that I'm well practiced at long, tangential rants.
- tom_b 6y ago
  I think much training for dog aggressiveness is more about helping people to understand drives and managing "triggers" than training them out of the animal . . . it seems underappreciated by many normal dog owners. My last dog had super high-prey drive and was also a fear biter. Both drives were incredible. You could play train her to do almost anything in a very short period of time with classic behavior shaping. It was unfortunate that her fear drive was higher. But this mostly meant proper space management and patience were required along with never assuming that a situation was "ok" by default. We worked with a number of animal behavioral specialists (including university veterinary behavioral practices), all of whom concluded it was just her default personality. Much of our success in keeping her with our family was building environments that minimized her fear drive impulses. Still a great dog in many situations. She passed after a pretty healthy 15 1/2 years and I'm currently on a break from pets.
zehnfischer 6y ago
I would choose a job that changes overtime, either by my own motivation or because different times require different skill sets. I think most jobs, even complex ones like teaching, become repetitive after all. So I would look for the job that offers the greatest diversity in terms of tasks fitting to my skills & interest. Still looking what exactly that it.
_bxg1 6y ago
Game developer. It's a highly-competitive field riddled with crunch culture, lowballed salaries, and employment-instability, but if it weren't for all of that I think it would be the most fulfilling thing I could be doing.
- muzani 6y ago
  That's precisely the reason why the conditions are terrible. Lots of people would love to work in it.
- imhoguy 6y ago
  Computer games is software art which has most chance to survive in ever obsolete tech race. You can proudly show your works to your kids and grandkids and they may have fun from it. Next and somehow related are emulators of old hardware/OSes.
russh 6y ago
I'd create and teach hobbyist electronics workshops aimed at beginners. I've done a few for our local Makerspace and found it educational and satisfying.
anw 6y ago
If I could also go back a few years, I would probably change my focus from Comp Sci to either Biology or Chemistry. I have always coded since a young age, so it’s likely that I would continue to still be doing it as a hobby. I just feel that most of the high paying jobs don’t have as much of a helpful, important impact on the world, whereas those hard science fields have more opportunity to impact humanity in a positive manner, even if not as well paid.
Halian 6y ago
Owner of a local game store that also sells classic video games. Tabletop games (especially MTG, for which I'm a judge) and video games are huge passions of mine.
executive 6y ago
Pro surfer
iammiles 6y ago
I was a seasonal park ranger one summer during my undergrad years. I earnestly believe that was the most fulfilling work I have ever done, and will probably ever do. My time was largely used to fix things around the park, perform landscaping, and working on new / existing trails. It was great to be outside, work with my hands, and being mentally engaged having to come up with solutions to problems with sometimes limited resources. But the actual treat was seeing the work being enjoyed by visitors and knowing that for years to come untold amounts of people from all walks of life will be able to do the same.
- thepete2 6y ago
  That sounds like fun. I often wish I could spend more time in nature.
- omosubi 6y ago
  That sounds amazing - it's no wonder that the national park service is one of the most sought after employers in the country I've often thought the us should have a large group of kids out of high school or college from all over the country do service work in local, state and national parks around the country. They'd first spend 4-6 months training similar to the army to build discipline and then go maintain trails/fix buildings/remove invasive species/rehab are back to a roughly natural state/etc. There are so many people willing and interested to help improve natural areas and it's a shame our government doesn't recognize that.
  - jennyp 6y ago
    I did this! Through an organization called the Student Conservation Association https://www.thesca.org/ https://www.thesca.org/
    - omosubi 6y ago
      Wow that's so cool! How did it work? What projects did you work on?
throw_this_one 6y ago
I guess President could be interesting. I think I’d be exhausted after a week or two though, debating how to shape the future of the world.
quickthrower2 6y ago
A highly paid, but acceptably crap surfer.
ukoms 6y ago
[blade|black]smith :) I love making tools from metal by hands, yet I seriously doubt I could earn my livings out of this craft right now :/
muzani 6y ago
Am I the only one who would love to be a full time programmer given the choice? I actually enjoy engineering, and software is engineering on drugs, with rapid feedback and not as much math. There's not a lot of other industries where you can make a dozen prototypes a day. It's the closest thing today to a full time inventor/mad scientist. But if I have to pick something else, probably a chef. I love slicing and dicing. I love doing one part to mastery, e.g. finding a better way to cook steak, toast burger buns, make better mayonnaise. I did quit the tech industry once to do a cafe and we had a blast researching recipes. I got quite frustrated that my partner wasn't looking to cook better, only more profitably. One of my favorite documentaries of all time is Jiro Dreams of Sushi, and I apply a lot of those techniques to my current work.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- lol636363 6y ago
  I love programming but hate to do it in corporations full of red tapes
cyberdrunk 6y ago
One-man video game studio? Combines enough disciplines - art, coding, math (if you do a 3d game), creative design - to hopefully make the job varied enough to not get old even after years of full-time work.
dave_sid 6y ago
I’d like to be Elvis please
forgotmypw17 6y ago
Given the choice, I would choose to not have a job. If you're asking what I enjoy working on, it's art. My top medium is hypertext, but I enjoy many others
pknerd 6y ago
Would like to be a person who can work on a job which is cross of software development+business+analysis. Kind of like investigation work. I liked web optimization work in past and loved it. In this job I was given a problem. I then collected data about the problem, then found the solution of it and code it. I later then collected data again to check the difference. I really loved it. If anyone have such kind of opportunity then let me know. Money isn't the issue here.
Shared404 6y ago
I saw recently in an HN comment a job someone looked at where they would do maintenance on remote computers for the park service, requiring trekking and such to reach the computers. I would love to do this. It covers most of the things I enjoy doing anyways.

31 points by bsldld 6y ago

If given freedom to choose, what would you like to work on as a job and why? In what field/domain would you like to work and what present skill-sets of yours would you use on that job?

billconan 6y ago

artist musician zookeeper

euix 6y ago

I don't frame it ideally as "work". I'd move to somewhere warm with good food and sit on a beach and just sell put options out of a big margin account to generate income. I would then spend the rest of my time attending to hobbies like playing magic cards, hanging out with family and anything else my mind conjures up.

magicvice 6y ago

I would do what I've been doing on the side for years! I am freeing people from advertising and M$- Windows! Preferably DEBIAN ;-)

jojo2000 6y ago

I would work as a scientist for a better planet, working on advanced topics that may not achieve anything or may change things forever. I'd work on OSS in my spare time to give back to the community. I'm a physicist and have worked on rocket science before, but the pay was a pity and the boss was shitty. SaaS is the only way to make an ample living in my country, the only jobs where competence makes a change instead of which university you graduated...

toomuchtodo 6y ago

Whatever it takes to avert catastrophic climate change.

giantg2 6y ago

Sign a huge sports contract that will payout a small portion ($3M+) even if I get cut or hurt. Probably get hurt or cut by the first season and just retire.

buzzert 6y ago

I want to be mayor of a small-medium size town. I’m extremely introverted, but for some reason I have no problem talking to people in a problem-solving context (like at work). I enjoy it, in fact. In a social setting though, I’m off in a corner. I also just like the idea of diplomacy and making meaningful contributions to a community. Besides that, the superficial things seem like a lot of fun too (ribbon cutting ceremonies, parades, etc).

idoh 6y ago
These days there is the mayor and then the city manager (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_manager https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_manager). As an introvert and possibly engineering-minded person (broad generalization based on being on HN) maybe city manager is more your speed?

Jtsummers 6y ago

I'd teach, probably high school math and computer science. But I'm not doing it now because it'd mean a substantial pay cut (> 50%), and I'm no longer single (married, planning to have kids soon) so the financial requirements for me are higher than they were a few years ago. In 10 years or so I should have the house paid off, and other savings that will make the pay cut more palatable (I'll also be closer to retirement age, when my pension and other retirement options from past work will kick in that would make up most of the difference).

davidajackson 6y ago

I started teaching jazz piano lessons recently for fun. It's good because it forces you to keep going over fundamentals, and it's a good break from coding.

duxup 6y ago

Artist... not sure what, maybe a potter. I like the idea of going to work and making things every day.

non-entity 6y ago

Is this assuming we only have out current skillset or that we obtain the skills / credentials to work on whatever?

bsldld 6y ago
Your are free to develop new skills. That is also part of the freedom :)

imposterr 6y ago

Fine woodworker. Allows me to get my "build something" kick while at the same time the sanity that comes from being able to build something and declare it "done" which is something that never happens with software. There's always another bug or another feature or another optimization. With something like a chair you build it and that's it.

awillen 6y ago

Dog trainer. Especially if I could do it for free to help challenging dogs at shelters become more adoptable. I've done a lot of training with my own dogs that would definitely allow me to handle the basics of training, but I'd want to train under someone much more experienced so as to be able to work with highly aggressive dogs and others with extreme challenges that make them unadoptable in their current state.

awillen 6y ago
Or alternatively color commentator for the NFL or NBA. I'd really like to be just like Jeff Van Gundy... dude just goes off on wildly entertaining rants that are sometimes barely related to the actual game while getting to watch basketball games from the best seat in the house. And makes a boatload. I don't think I'd need to learn any additional skills - my wife will vouch that I'm well practiced at long, tangential rants.
tom_b 6y ago
I think much training for dog aggressiveness is more about helping people to understand drives and managing "triggers" than training them out of the animal . . . it seems underappreciated by many normal dog owners. My last dog had super high-prey drive and was also a fear biter. Both drives were incredible. You could play train her to do almost anything in a very short period of time with classic behavior shaping. It was unfortunate that her fear drive was higher. But this mostly meant proper space management and patience were required along with never assuming that a situation was "ok" by default. We worked with a number of animal behavioral specialists (including university veterinary behavioral practices), all of whom concluded it was just her default personality. Much of our success in keeping her with our family was building environments that minimized her fear drive impulses. Still a great dog in many situations. She passed after a pretty healthy 15 1/2 years and I'm currently on a break from pets.

zehnfischer 6y ago

I would choose a job that changes overtime, either by my own motivation or because different times require different skill sets. I think most jobs, even complex ones like teaching, become repetitive after all. So I would look for the job that offers the greatest diversity in terms of tasks fitting to my skills & interest. Still looking what exactly that it.

_bxg1 6y ago

Game developer. It's a highly-competitive field riddled with crunch culture, lowballed salaries, and employment-instability, but if it weren't for all of that I think it would be the most fulfilling thing I could be doing.

muzani 6y ago
That's precisely the reason why the conditions are terrible. Lots of people would love to work in it.
imhoguy 6y ago
Computer games is software art which has most chance to survive in ever obsolete tech race. You can proudly show your works to your kids and grandkids and they may have fun from it. Next and somehow related are emulators of old hardware/OSes.

russh 6y ago

I'd create and teach hobbyist electronics workshops aimed at beginners. I've done a few for our local Makerspace and found it educational and satisfying.

anw 6y ago

If I could also go back a few years, I would probably change my focus from Comp Sci to either Biology or Chemistry. I have always coded since a young age, so it’s likely that I would continue to still be doing it as a hobby. I just feel that most of the high paying jobs don’t have as much of a helpful, important impact on the world, whereas those hard science fields have more opportunity to impact humanity in a positive manner, even if not as well paid.

Halian 6y ago

Owner of a local game store that also sells classic video games. Tabletop games (especially MTG, for which I'm a judge) and video games are huge passions of mine.

executive 6y ago

Pro surfer

iammiles 6y ago

I was a seasonal park ranger one summer during my undergrad years. I earnestly believe that was the most fulfilling work I have ever done, and will probably ever do. My time was largely used to fix things around the park, perform landscaping, and working on new / existing trails. It was great to be outside, work with my hands, and being mentally engaged having to come up with solutions to problems with sometimes limited resources. But the actual treat was seeing the work being enjoyed by visitors and knowing that for years to come untold amounts of people from all walks of life will be able to do the same.

thepete2 6y ago
That sounds like fun. I often wish I could spend more time in nature.
omosubi 6y ago
That sounds amazing - it's no wonder that the national park service is one of the most sought after employers in the country I've often thought the us should have a large group of kids out of high school or college from all over the country do service work in local, state and national parks around the country. They'd first spend 4-6 months training similar to the army to build discipline and then go maintain trails/fix buildings/remove invasive species/rehab are back to a roughly natural state/etc. There are so many people willing and interested to help improve natural areas and it's a shame our government doesn't recognize that.
- jennyp 6y ago
  I did this! Through an organization called the Student Conservation Association https://www.thesca.org/ https://www.thesca.org/
  - omosubi 6y ago
    Wow that's so cool! How did it work? What projects did you work on?

throw_this_one 6y ago

I guess President could be interesting. I think I’d be exhausted after a week or two though, debating how to shape the future of the world.

quickthrower2 6y ago

A highly paid, but acceptably crap surfer.

ukoms 6y ago

[blade|black]smith :) I love making tools from metal by hands, yet I seriously doubt I could earn my livings out of this craft right now :/

muzani 6y ago

Am I the only one who would love to be a full time programmer given the choice? I actually enjoy engineering, and software is engineering on drugs, with rapid feedback and not as much math. There's not a lot of other industries where you can make a dozen prototypes a day. It's the closest thing today to a full time inventor/mad scientist. But if I have to pick something else, probably a chef. I love slicing and dicing. I love doing one part to mastery, e.g. finding a better way to cook steak, toast burger buns, make better mayonnaise. I did quit the tech industry once to do a cafe and we had a blast researching recipes. I got quite frustrated that my partner wasn't looking to cook better, only more profitably. One of my favorite documentaries of all time is Jiro Dreams of Sushi, and I apply a lot of those techniques to my current work.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
lol636363 6y ago
I love programming but hate to do it in corporations full of red tapes

cyberdrunk 6y ago

One-man video game studio? Combines enough disciplines - art, coding, math (if you do a 3d game), creative design - to hopefully make the job varied enough to not get old even after years of full-time work.

dave_sid 6y ago

I’d like to be Elvis please

forgotmypw17 6y ago

Given the choice, I would choose to not have a job. If you're asking what I enjoy working on, it's art. My top medium is hypertext, but I enjoy many others

pknerd 6y ago

Would like to be a person who can work on a job which is cross of software development+business+analysis. Kind of like investigation work. I liked web optimization work in past and loved it. In this job I was given a problem. I then collected data about the problem, then found the solution of it and code it. I later then collected data again to check the difference. I really loved it. If anyone have such kind of opportunity then let me know. Money isn't the issue here.

Shared404 6y ago

I saw recently in an HN comment a job someone looked at where they would do maintenance on remote computers for the park service, requiring trekking and such to reach the computers. I would love to do this. It covers most of the things I enjoy doing anyways.