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Ask HN: Who wants to be fired? (February 2025)
As the software development market shows no signs of recovery this year, and with the Gen AI bubble potentially about to burst as well, how many of us are considering quitting our jobs and moving into other fields?
- binary_slinger 2y agoAny field that requires a certification and cannot be done from a computer is worth looking into.
- gaws 2y agoSo... any trade?
- fn-mote 2y agoNot really. In the US the apprenticeship programs are pretty guarded. You would be better off saving your money wisely.
- gaws 2y agoSo... investing?
- binary_slinger 2y agoSome trades are more physically demanding on the body. I was thinking more along the lines of any field that requires a gov't license like nurse/counselor/barber/pharmacist/CPA/lawyer/administrator/teacher/air traffic controller/operator of some heavy machinery.
- schmookeeg 2y agolast time I looked you had to apply to the ATC academy before turning 31. FYI for those considering the big trade: staring at a rectangular screen for staring at a squircle screen instead. :)
- WantonQuantum 2y agoI've worked in software development for over 25 years and made a decision last year to change careers. It will take a long time and I will reduce my number of days working as a dev as the other career ramps up. Step one is some online training starting this month and then some volunteer work in my new field.
- niveus 2y agoCurious if you would share what that new career is.
- WantonQuantum 2y agoCounselling. I won't be a psychologist or anything but there's a need for counselors. At first, I'll be volunteering with a phone and text based crisis support organisation (https://www.lifeline.org.au/ https://www.lifeline.org.au/). Eventually, I hope to open my own counselling service but that will be a few years down the track.
- gaws 2y agoWhat career are you transitioning to?
- WantonQuantum 2y agoCounselling. I won't be a psychologist or anything but there's a need for counselors. At first, I'll be volunteering with a phone and text based crisis support organisation (https://www.lifeline.org.au/ https://www.lifeline.org.au/). Eventually, I hope to open my own counselling service but that will be a few years down the track.
- 2-3-7-43-1807 2y ago[flagged]
- WantonQuantum 2y ago
- koakuma-chan 2y agoI'm 19, been doing software (as a hobby) for the past five years, should I continue pursuing it or look into something else?
- bawolff 2y agoDo things you like. The economic situation will go up and down, but spending your life doing something you dislike will never be worth it.
- rhgraysonii 2y agoSee my other comment. But, IMHO, you sit at a time where you will be able to make more cool things faster than anyone has ever been able to before. And that if you are a curious person and/or voracious absorber of information, you could become a skilled developer quite quickly and begin to use the tools in more meaningful ways and have a lot of fun and a cool career ahead of you. I have been doing this about 12 years, and am quite comfortable in my position though. I can understand anxieties for new entrants in an industry that historically has been solid and reliable alongside high-paying. But fundamental shifts in how we work don't necessarily mean gloom. It means innovation on fronts that we haven't had to think about it for a while. If making things excites you, its a great time to be doing it.
- apercu 2y agoI wholeheartedly agree with you, but: > I can understand anxieties for new entrants in an industry that historically has been solid and reliable alongside high-paying I started in tech in the 90's. Between 1994-2014 I worked _way_ more than most people in most industries because IT (and management) is one of those exempt labor categorizes. High-paying, sure... but when you spend a decade or two working 50-55 hours a week the hourly rate ain't so good. :)
- rhgraysonii 2y agoI guess it depends on how you come in. I was in a position where I came around 2012 with some self taught skills and managed to start out with a 50-60 hour grind but 70k wage and climb slowly into the 250+ range in the ~decade since. However, I location-optimized. I started in rural Ohio ~2hrs from Detroit, and ended up in New York City after some bouncing to smaller tech cities climbing the ladder. But I think my hourly rate comes out pretty great, even historically to my career beginning, especially for a non-college-grad.
- rhgraysonii 2y agoI consider my job to be being a skilled practitioner that develops solutions for complex problems using technology. New technology is available to allow me to do that for my employer and potentially many others. This does not worry me, but does demonstrate I have learning to do. I have set out on a journey to do that learning, and found it pleasant so far. I have enjoyed the changes it provides to my development workflow and find myself more productive. Times always change, but being useful and providing answers will continue to provide value to business and society, and if one wants to focus on that over the minutiae of programming, they will probably have a much better time as things change more and faster.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- DonHopkins 2y agoAt Sun, instead of firing incompetent executives, the would promote them to "Vice President in Charge of Looking for a New Job".
- apercu 2y agoThere will always be a market for smart people who are willing to be fearless of the unknown, willing to be lifelong learners and who are in technology because they can't imagine doing anything else. I got in to this space because it was fascinating. It still is. I worry a lot of people got in to software because they couldn't decide what else to do while in high school? If that's you, find the overlap between what you like to do, what you are good at and what pays enough for you to live.
- brailsafe 2y ago> There will always be a market for smart people who are willing to be fearless of the unknown, willing to be lifelong learners and who are in technology because they can't imagine doing anything else. Eh, that's not really a tangible marketable skill though, or if it is, it can be very hard to identify or convince someone to hire you based on; usually it's quite the opposite. If you're a programmer of some sort normally, and find yourself out of work, it might be quite difficult to get hired for anything else if the local economy isn't absolutely stellar. If anything, you might have a shot at re-training from scratch, getting a categorically different credential, or starting a business, but often an employer would look at your resume and think "This person will jump ship as soon as they can" or "what is any of this supposed to mean to me, I need someone who's good with customers". It depends on your region as well though. Losing a job in Canada as a software person last month, last year, 2 years ago, would potentially be crippling for a _long_ time, but now it's worse, and it's worse for everyone else too, and you'd be right to be nervous about the future. Bet against easy transferability, and do your best to actually have a compelling case for an alternative when/if the necessity comes around. Also relying on being fascinated to pay the bills works until it really doesn't, and if a person never needs to contend with that, they should consider themselves lucky. If at any point the work starts getting dull, and duller, and dullest, you've got quite an existential crisis on your hands, and it's important to develop a healthier relationship with the thing that pays the bills before you face homelessness.
- bawolff 2y agoI think the benefit is not that you can literally put "smart & adaptable" on a resume, just that being smart and adaptable makes it easier to land on your feet regardless of how the economic winds are blowing.
- marmoure 2y agoHonestly, I wish i would be replaced by an AI soon, I spent 4 hours today, trying to figure out why my injected html tag is refusing to focus (missing tab index), whilst I ve been doing this job for years now, I think it's enough, let the AI read and write the docs and implement the tech itself, while people can just tell it what they need in general sense. I m leaning more toward farming nowadays, and doing work that has more impact.
- gaws 2y ago> I m leaning more toward farming Farmers aren't having a good time, either.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- kotaKat 2y agoWell, I'm kinda fucked now that cannabis will likely not finish being rescheduled legally. I was hoping to push forward once rescheduling was official with my actual medical certification and go get my commercial drivers' license. I wanted to do over-the-road trucking, but I consume for PTSD-related insomnia at bed -- that's worse than parking up for the night and downing a suitcase or two of beer and getting up in the morning to drive fully hungover, according to the feds. Maybe non-CDL hotshotting[1] could be a thing in my future - man with a cargo van sounds adventurous. [1]"hot shot" cargo - small, expedient packages by truck and van, all those mysterious Sprinters on the highways.
- highasfcuk 2y agoYou must be high if you think federal rescheduling will make trucking jobs stop drug testing.
- kotaKat 2y agoWhile I'm not a lawyer, if I understand it; once rescheduled as long as I have a prescription for it, it's a valid substance if I "fail" the test. I could be wrong, but that was the interpretation I understand (since you can take opioids and still maintain a CDL - they verify the script after you fail for it).
- bawolff 2y agoI don't know how it works in the states, but in Canada you still get a DUI if driving while high.
- flylikeabanana 2y agoMJ stays in your body long after the effects have worn off. You can test positive weeks after consumption.
- reactordev 2y agoYou’ll be a SAD driver. Doesn’t matter if it’s rescheduled or not, you can’t consume and drive commercially. Period.
- smarkov 2y agoI'd love to, but I don't really have a choice at the moment. Maybe I'm just at the wrong place at the wrong time, but as a software engineer I don't feel like I'm doing any actual engineering and solving meaningful problems, just spaghetti gluing random frameworks, packages and services together. The only problems I get to solve are those caused by the quirks of all these incompatible things being forced to work together. It's draining.
- marmoure 2y agoThis hits so deep, and you can't even quit, or you will starve to death.
- reactordev 2y agoSounds like software engineering… This is the job most of the time, especially at large corporations. You’re mostly fixing legacy decisions and trying to patch together solutions to current problems (instead of fixing tomorrow’s problems). Hang in there.
- cyanydeez 2y agoGuys, maybe software development and government are the same: mostly boring thankless activities entirely necessary but only observed in absence.
- ryandvm 2y ago"Hang in there" implies that the situation is going to improve. It won't. You end up ratcheting your title and pay upwards until you find yourself in the position of doing nothing useful all day for an amount of money that precludes switching to another career without a drastic pay cut. And you're probably hitting your mid-life crisis zenith right around this time too. "Boo hoo" I know, but it is its own little Dante's Inferno.
- WantonQuantum 2y agoThis is exactly what I'm seeing everywhere these days. It's chaotic and exhausting.
- ctrlp 2y agoFired from being retired.
- sroerick 2y agoI am thinking about becoming a personal trainer, with a specialty in fixing the hunched shoulders of other recovering software devs. Tech seems desperate to escape the human body, but it's been pretty gratifying to me to actually use it.
- ugh123 2y agoWhat exercises do you recommend?
- imran-iq 2y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT_dFRnmdGs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT_dFRnmdGs
- sroerick 2y agoBroadly speaking, for lower back health, you should look at anterior chain work, e.g. deadlifts or kettlebell swings. For upper back health, some type of overhead pressing (military press, side press, etc.) I would avoid bench press, as it could make forward head posture worse. In general, I am a fan of Kettlebell work, though any modality can accomplish these things. I would also add some light mobility/stability work, like the reset video another commenter posted here. I like Original Strength a lot, in particular quadruped rocking and bird dogs. These in combination should massively improve quality of life for desk guys. A close examination of ergonomics is in order, as well. The challenge is finding programming that works for you, but in general software development is pretty flexible in allowing that.
- disqard 2y ago> ...finding programming that works for you I see what you did there :D
- ugh123 2y agoThat is interesting I never thought about bench press doing that, and I have that issue but I love bench. I do a lot of other back exercise work so hopefully that and your tips can balance it out. Thanks!
- throw_that_away 2y agoWent from 25 years in this industry, started out writing games in QBasic at 10 (in 1992-ish) and did just about anything in Java, C/++, Python, Javascript. Just finished framing my own house (1 man build) including foundation starting last summer. I have to put my shingles on next but we're in the middle of an atmospheric river right now. I still have a lot more to go, but I think I'm at 50% now. I hope to break into the construction game after I finish it since I'll be dead broke after.
- doctorpangloss 2y agoHa ha, Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran want to be fired.
- chairmansteve 2y agoWhen I was struggling, this really helped me: https://archive.jamesaltucher.com/blog/reinventing-yourself/ https://archive.jamesaltucher.com/blog/reinventing-yourself/ I mostly find James Altucher quite annoying. But this is good.
- schmookeeg 2y agoI'd love it. I've been shoring up finances, paid off the house, and am ready for an income reduction and whatever pivot presents itself. The signs are all there, from what I can tell. However, I've also been bearish for like the last 15 years, so these financially conservative moves I have made in reality will portend massive stock market gains, bountiful employment and prosperity. :) You're welcome.
- smackeyacky 2y agoI can’t express just how much I loathe logging in. Banking is an incredibly boring industry, gluing together one tired system to another is painful and slow. We have so called agile project managers who know so little they must be constantly prompted for the right bits of backlog to be promoted. Lately our performance is being judged on story points, an arbitrary and stupid system controlled by these glassy eyed dullards who don’t understand the products or the processes. Got a job interview tomorrow in another industry, at this point I would flip burgers instead of work in banking.
- markus_zhang 2y agoOver 40 and still thinking about getting into a system programming job. Gonna give myself another 3-5 years and then give up.
- giantg2 2y agoI don't want to, but it looks like I'm going to be PIP'd for no reason. Looking to move into some sort of analyst role since dev roles have been harder to find recently in my area.
- deepsummer 2y agoI want to, at least if I get the same kind of severance package that people got in the last round of layoffs. Stuck in this job at a senior level with >25 years of experience, in part because there is no plan/budget for promotions to principal engineer and in part because only few engineers are left in this country. Working from Europe in a global remote team of a well-known US company in rapid decline. Still profitable though. When interested in an open management position, I have been told that I am too technical for the role - which is kind of right, but I have worked as a tech lead and other people told me to that it would be a good fit for me. I'd just quit, but 100% remote is important because of my current family situation; the work itself is fine; I have a good reputation and am always put into the most interesting projects; it's quite relaxed (no overtime, no on-call) and the salary is ok'ish. The looming severance package in the next round of layoffs, which seems inevitable, would also offer financial security to start a new career, like freelancing. Unfortunately I seem to be too valuable to fire so far, but maybe they just end software development at this location.
- SebFender 2y agoThis isn’t directly related, but close enough. I used to be bullish on tech, thinking it would secure and streamline business flows. But now after decades in risk management, I’ve seen firsthand that tech alone doesn’t solve much - the real challenges are people, process, and execution. Even with the best tools, most (~70%) of digital transformations fail, often due to poor adoption, bad processes, or simple human error. And after all these efforts... we’re finding more vulnerabilities than ever, maybe showing that security isn’t just about better tech — it’s about people making the right decisions. The older I get, the more I focus on these challenges, because without solving them, even the best tech/software/code is just another liability.
- n-i-m-a 2y agoNo salary reviewal in the past 3 years, from full-remote to 80% in presence with 1 weekend of advance notice, 2.5-3 hours of commute each day, impossible to find a place to park the car around the office... so yes... fire me please or perhaps I'll find something else before that happens.