This resonates so much with me. Recently I talked with an EE that worked at a company that I admire. When I asked him what he did there, fully expecting somethi

This resonates so much with me. Recently I talked with an EE that worked at a company that I admire. When I asked him what he did there, fully expecting something cool and highly skilled, he replied that he did sales. I think that my disappointment showed in my face because he laughed and said “I’m done with engineering, now I just pursue the money!” That really hit me coming from and engineer in Silicon Valley but then I realized the same underlying reasons within me. I hadn’t changed jobs because the next one was more exciting/technically challenging/etc. but simply because of the money. Ever since then I’ve been taking a hard look at my career and actually lookin for an out of the tech industry. I’ll still be writing home brewed software and hacking my home appliances, but I’m now looking for “pursuing the money”. Being self taught I naturally started exploring and learning other areas where I could make money in a way that I’m not exchanging time for money. One of the options was day trading, specifically using technical analysis. Now, this is an interesting one and I personally know people that are “successful” in it (i.e. they are able to generate a huge amount of capital in shorter time that it would take with a high paying tech salary). But after reading experiences and books and trying it out I determined that it wasn’t for me. The market is essentially “neutral” in as much as, credentials/education/certifications/training… it all doesn’t matter, EVERYBODY loses money just the same. It’s also negatively biased since there are tons of fees and requires nerves of steel, even if for only 1 hour a day. The other option I’ve been considering is Amazon FBA. It’s quite an attractive area since Amazon’s interest are aligned (partially) with sellers since they make money of commissions), thus the seller is proving with tons of tools and data to compete even with big and experienced seller, and if your product sells you keep getting ranked higher and getting promoted even if you are a small time seller. Anyways, just wanted to share this because there are other options outside of software and the skills of a software engineer can be used to optimize workflows on other business models providing you with an advantage! Good luck!