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I think we overestimate the unpopularity of opinions auch as yours and the person you are responding to. Tons of HN users work for BigBoringCo after experiencin

I think we overestimate the unpopularity of opinions auch as yours and the person you are responding to. Tons of HN users work for BigBoringCo after experiencing the typical startup and realizing they can't and shouldn't handle thr volatility anymore, and tons of developers work for non-techy firms because that's more problems can be solved. Most of my best times as a software engineer was when I worked at non-techy firms. When I worked at a local NPR affiliate station, I was able to both solve new problems and improve existing things without a lot of the buffoonery seen at a lot of hip tech firms. As a mid level developer at the time, I had lots of room to try things and could afford to fail, yet my seniors actually had time to help. A lot of people not happpy with their careers should consider non-tech over hip startups, Silicon Valley, and fintech. You will still encounter headaches, but you may also avoid a lot of the mental agony from the big tech world.

awillen 5y ago
In my experience on HN, people here actually really love hearing/learning about businesses outside of tech, particularly those that are introducing tech... agritech, etc. I run an ecommerce business, which is at best tech-adjacent (honestly I would say a farm using fairly advanced technology for their industry is more of a tech company than me using Shopify to sell dog treats online), and people love hearing about it. Honestly, part of why I left enterprise software was because I found a lot of the SMB customers I worked with really inspiring. They were doing something... real/physical/tangible, and of course the ones who were looking at our software were the smart, tech-savvy types who I could relate to. While I have very little desire to go back into enterprise software, sometimes I do get pings from recruiters hiring for companies that do stuff like agtech, and I think that working on something like that (as opposed to making software for call centers, which I have done) might be worth getting back into the working world for.
- kwertyoowiyop 5y ago
  > honestly I would say a farm using fairly advanced technology for their industry is more of a tech company than me using Shopify to sell dog treats online LOL! Quote of the day. And it’s true. Farmers got techy before most other industries. I remember seeing farmers around 1990 getting weather and crop reports online daily, when most families hadn’t yet bought their first PC, let alone connected to a BBS.
noogle 5y ago
How does the compensation compare? Aside from finance, does any other industry pay as well as SV and startups?
- cardosof 5y ago
  It may vary a lot of course but I'd say it's generally worse... And the difference gets brutal if the startup gets successful and you get to exercise stock options. However, money isn't everything... Mental stability is priceless.
luckyscs 5y ago
My favorite tech job was when I intered for a fire department doing fire mitigation inspections and ended up building them and appointment scheduling system in my spare time, as well as put together a geomapped report of the programs mitigation efforts to present to the county.

awillen 5y ago

In my experience on HN, people here actually really love hearing/learning about businesses outside of tech, particularly those that are introducing tech... agritech, etc. I run an ecommerce business, which is at best tech-adjacent (honestly I would say a farm using fairly advanced technology for their industry is more of a tech company than me using Shopify to sell dog treats online), and people love hearing about it. Honestly, part of why I left enterprise software was because I found a lot of the SMB customers I worked with really inspiring. They were doing something... real/physical/tangible, and of course the ones who were looking at our software were the smart, tech-savvy types who I could relate to. While I have very little desire to go back into enterprise software, sometimes I do get pings from recruiters hiring for companies that do stuff like agtech, and I think that working on something like that (as opposed to making software for call centers, which I have done) might be worth getting back into the working world for.

kwertyoowiyop 5y ago
> honestly I would say a farm using fairly advanced technology for their industry is more of a tech company than me using Shopify to sell dog treats online LOL! Quote of the day. And it’s true. Farmers got techy before most other industries. I remember seeing farmers around 1990 getting weather and crop reports online daily, when most families hadn’t yet bought their first PC, let alone connected to a BBS.

noogle 5y ago

How does the compensation compare? Aside from finance, does any other industry pay as well as SV and startups?

cardosof 5y ago
It may vary a lot of course but I'd say it's generally worse... And the difference gets brutal if the startup gets successful and you get to exercise stock options. However, money isn't everything... Mental stability is priceless.

luckyscs 5y ago

My favorite tech job was when I intered for a fire department doing fire mitigation inspections and ended up building them and appointment scheduling system in my spare time, as well as put together a geomapped report of the programs mitigation efforts to present to the county.