4 ms·
A career change is really attractive but adjusting salary expectations is brutal. Skilled jobs I was interested in and assumed were making $30+ an hour I looked
by ericmcer 4y ago
A career change is really attractive but adjusting salary expectations is brutal. Skilled jobs I was interested in and assumed were making $30+ an hour I looked into and found they are closer to $18-20/hr. After tech gigs making 250k+ with equity it is a pretty brutal downgrade.
My interest is in starting an all electric gardening company, electric tools have caught up to gas ones, they are almost silent and have 0 emissions. If you live in the suburbs you will know that gas blowers are the death of quiet afternoons and I am not sure why the transition to electric is taking so long.
It would just require a large initial investment followed by a huge pay cut and the uncertainty of being able to build it into something larger :P.
- wonder_er 4y agoyep! I wonder if you could start by buying the equipment, and popping fliers around your neighborhood, and doing the work yourself nights-and-weekends, sorta dog-food your own business, until it's stable enough to hire a neighborhood kid to do the work for you. I mowed lawns and shoveled driveways growing up (suburban kid) and found it to be rather enjoyable and satisfying. But yeah, tech salaries have been drafting on the VC over-investment for a while. I was never at $250k+ with equity, but it's a bitter pill to swallow. In some ways, though, it'll build empathy for how the rest of the world lives/works. Earning so much money doing nothing more difficult then pressing buttons on a box is pretty cool.
- kubectl_h 4y agoAgreed, I'm probably past the point where I could make a jump into the career area I wish I had gone into with hindsight (forest ranger, fisheries & wildlife, land management for land trusts, etc), but if I was <= 35 I would consider it. However at the age of 41 I've crossed into the 250k+ total comp territory and it's hard to imagine taking that significant pay decrease and making a move where I'm at the bottom of the ladder.
- OJFord 4y agoMaybe it depends how you view it (and your financial position, obviously high income doesn't necessarily mean any saved/significant assets) - one could think of it like early retirement, not a career change and pay cut, but something to occupy some time, do for interest/meet people/see things/be outdoors, etc. (By the way, as an almost 30yo SE with a younger brother doing exactly what you describe... I'm not sure quite how to feel!)
- lazyasciiart 4y agoSeattle is moving towards a ban on gas blowers, I cannot wait.
- dharmab 4y agoA few places have done this and the best part is the lawn companies don't mind because the electric blowers are really good anyway
- blackflame7000 4y ago[dead]
- whateveracct 4y agoI bought a house a few years ago and got all electric yard tools (mower, trimmer, blower, and more - all Ego). They're a joy to use. Such a step up from the gas tools of my youth.
- bentt 4y agoBurlington VT banned gas leaf blowers but also defunded the police so… yeah, no change.
- nasmorn 4y agoI am also one that doesn’t really enjoy total specialization but every single thing I can come up with, looks like a hobby compared to being a developer financially.