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If you're capable of becoming a lawyer you're capable of becoming a programmer. 38 ain't that old. But why drop being attorney?

csboyer 6y ago
Knowing people in both the legal and software world, law is a tough profession with old world business expectations. Almost everything is “last minute” due to either court deadlines or your client dropping everything on you because something happened and it has to be fixed now. In-house counsel jobs can be a bit more relaxing, as you might be working on longer term projects rather than the latest disaster that fell into your lap.
- joelbluminator 6y ago
  Exactly, I would try to find something in-house. And choose some very narrow field I can be an expert on (GDPR, tech laws, tax etc). Not saying it's easy though.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
mellavora 6y ago
Can't speak for the OPs reasons, but some evidence suggests that law schools have created an oversupply of people with law degrees, which impacts career possibilities. <filterbubble> one source which supports my worldview: https://www.thecareercookbook.com/hello-world-6/ https://www.thecareercookbook.com/hello-world-6/ </filterbubble>
throwaway17_17 6y ago
Lawyering is not really the problem, I have a quite successful career. I am mostly content to just program in my spare time and programming/automating those areas of my practice where there is value. But, and it’s probably more specific to my situation, but I do almost exclusively criminal defense work and it can be tiring, I’ve been at it long enough that I could use a change of focus. Biggest problem for me is that my areas of knowledge/interest for CS/programming is limits solely focused on low level, performance oriented domains, programming language theory And type theory. That is not the most marketable skill set, but I love doing it.
- joelbluminator 6y ago
  > That is not the most marketable skill It is, but you have to be quite the expert. It's not like app development where even limited experience can be enough to get by. However if you like that sort of stuff you can try to become a web develoepr (pick say Python or Ruby) and then become an expert in backendy / performence issues.

csboyer 6y ago

Knowing people in both the legal and software world, law is a tough profession with old world business expectations. Almost everything is “last minute” due to either court deadlines or your client dropping everything on you because something happened and it has to be fixed now. In-house counsel jobs can be a bit more relaxing, as you might be working on longer term projects rather than the latest disaster that fell into your lap.

joelbluminator 6y ago
Exactly, I would try to find something in-house. And choose some very narrow field I can be an expert on (GDPR, tech laws, tax etc). Not saying it's easy though.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

mellavora 6y ago

Can't speak for the OPs reasons, but some evidence suggests that law schools have created an oversupply of people with law degrees, which impacts career possibilities. <filterbubble> one source which supports my worldview: https://www.thecareercookbook.com/hello-world-6/ https://www.thecareercookbook.com/hello-world-6/ </filterbubble>

throwaway17_17 6y ago

Lawyering is not really the problem, I have a quite successful career. I am mostly content to just program in my spare time and programming/automating those areas of my practice where there is value. But, and it’s probably more specific to my situation, but I do almost exclusively criminal defense work and it can be tiring, I’ve been at it long enough that I could use a change of focus. Biggest problem for me is that my areas of knowledge/interest for CS/programming is limits solely focused on low level, performance oriented domains, programming language theory And type theory. That is not the most marketable skill set, but I love doing it.

joelbluminator 6y ago
> That is not the most marketable skill It is, but you have to be quite the expert. It's not like app development where even limited experience can be enough to get by. However if you like that sort of stuff you can try to become a web develoepr (pick say Python or Ruby) and then become an expert in backendy / performence issues.