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That's such an intensely personal decision that is affected by so many things that strangers can't possible know about that I don't know if anyone could usefull

That's such an intensely personal decision that is affected by so many things that strangers can't possible know about that I don't know if anyone could usefully respond to your broad question. I would question whether the problem is that you don't want to be in the field at all, or that you are fed up with specific positions/companies that are a poor fit for you. You only have 4 jobs in your history, and having 3 of them suck can be pretty gloomy. So maybe consider doing contract-to-hire, where you're working 6 month (or so) contracts. That lets you sample the work environment at different companies and when you find one that works well for you, you'd have the option to stay as a permanent employee.

needtoquitmyjob 2y ago
Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. You have a great point about the field vs specific company. I've never really considered contract work before, but it sounds like that could be a good option to consider :)
- dangus 2y ago
  Great advice from the parent comment. I'll throw these random ideas in along with it: - Work/life balance is something you enforce on your own. Learn to get over fear of being fired (an emergency fund helps) and simply refuse to follow unspoken toxic overwork culture. I have found that more likely than not, nobody actually notices that you aren't working as hard as all the 10x developers that have no life and the people who imitate them. - On the topic of "field versus company," another aspect to keep in mind is that the actual job of software development is very different in different industries. Moving to the same job in a different industry may feel a lot different and have much different norms regarding workload, culture, compensation, etc. - Don't forget that desk jobs in software are still some of the best work you can do overall. Not only is it a desk job where you are generally treated like an adult, it's one of the higher paying ones at that. Think very hard about the grass on the other side of that fence. Your example of aviation mechanic sounds like it could be ripe for shit work conditions (physical job, being out in the elements, having to go on location physically 100% of the time, working for extremely low-profit-margin companies, I would think that it's only decent if it's got a strong union and that in itself will be a barrier for you getting into it) - Consider how you evaluate companies during job interviews. Focus on finding out if the company, manager, and team is the right fit for you. Spend less headspace on trying to impress the company and make sure they are impressing you. (I am not sure if this is true but I think a lot of candidates who do this in interviews are perceived as knowing what they're doing because they are expressing a very clear idea of what they want out of the role) - There are other ways to use software developer skills that aren't a software development job directly. One example is working on the customer side in pre-sales or post-sales.
  - JohnFen 2y ago
    > Learn to get over fear of being fired (an emergency fund helps) You know, now that I think of it, my own career didn't really take off until I adopted this mindset. Great advice, even if hard to implement.
    - polishdude20 2y ago
      I have this feeling now after working at a few companies. I've now just started at a small place where I'm one of the only devs but my thoughts and advice are heard and acted on my the CEO. It's
  - badpun 2y ago
    > I have found that more likely than not, nobody actually notices that you aren't working as hard as all the 10x developers that have no life and the people who imitate them. In my experience, people do notice, but there's nothing to be done about it. Companies, unless they pay top dollar, can't expect 10x performance out of their developers (because 10x devs are so rare) - they expect and are fine with just 1x, and anyone delivering 10x is a nice bonus for them. In other words, managers are realistic and know what the money they spend on workforce can buy them.
    - dangus 2y ago
      Yeah I guess you could say they may notice but at most companies everyone is evaluated under a performance system where the numbers go something like: 4: you have no life and you’re getting promoted 3: 90% of employees 2: you’ll be in a PIP soon if you don’t get better 1: you’re in a PIP and will be fired almost certainly
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
Clubber 2y ago
>you are fed up with specific positions/companies that are a poor fit for you Agree. With no degree, but a skill and interest in programming coupled with experience, you're actually in a pretty good place. Find a company that doesn't suck. They seem elusive but they exist. They might not pay as well, but you can get through the day without counting the seconds until it's over. Shit companies are always hiring because they have high turnover, so it would seem like all companies are shit, but they are not. Maybe get out of NYC. If you are in the straight tech industry, think about doing tech in another industry, they all need it. FWIW, there will always be times of stress in tech, but if the place is actually well managed, those times would be minimized.

needtoquitmyjob 2y ago

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. You have a great point about the field vs specific company. I've never really considered contract work before, but it sounds like that could be a good option to consider :)

dangus 2y ago
Great advice from the parent comment. I'll throw these random ideas in along with it: - Work/life balance is something you enforce on your own. Learn to get over fear of being fired (an emergency fund helps) and simply refuse to follow unspoken toxic overwork culture. I have found that more likely than not, nobody actually notices that you aren't working as hard as all the 10x developers that have no life and the people who imitate them. - On the topic of "field versus company," another aspect to keep in mind is that the actual job of software development is very different in different industries. Moving to the same job in a different industry may feel a lot different and have much different norms regarding workload, culture, compensation, etc. - Don't forget that desk jobs in software are still some of the best work you can do overall. Not only is it a desk job where you are generally treated like an adult, it's one of the higher paying ones at that. Think very hard about the grass on the other side of that fence. Your example of aviation mechanic sounds like it could be ripe for shit work conditions (physical job, being out in the elements, having to go on location physically 100% of the time, working for extremely low-profit-margin companies, I would think that it's only decent if it's got a strong union and that in itself will be a barrier for you getting into it) - Consider how you evaluate companies during job interviews. Focus on finding out if the company, manager, and team is the right fit for you. Spend less headspace on trying to impress the company and make sure they are impressing you. (I am not sure if this is true but I think a lot of candidates who do this in interviews are perceived as knowing what they're doing because they are expressing a very clear idea of what they want out of the role) - There are other ways to use software developer skills that aren't a software development job directly. One example is working on the customer side in pre-sales or post-sales.
- JohnFen 2y ago
  > Learn to get over fear of being fired (an emergency fund helps) You know, now that I think of it, my own career didn't really take off until I adopted this mindset. Great advice, even if hard to implement.
  - polishdude20 2y ago
    I have this feeling now after working at a few companies. I've now just started at a small place where I'm one of the only devs but my thoughts and advice are heard and acted on my the CEO. It's
- badpun 2y ago
  > I have found that more likely than not, nobody actually notices that you aren't working as hard as all the 10x developers that have no life and the people who imitate them. In my experience, people do notice, but there's nothing to be done about it. Companies, unless they pay top dollar, can't expect 10x performance out of their developers (because 10x devs are so rare) - they expect and are fine with just 1x, and anyone delivering 10x is a nice bonus for them. In other words, managers are realistic and know what the money they spend on workforce can buy them.
  - dangus 2y ago
    Yeah I guess you could say they may notice but at most companies everyone is evaluated under a performance system where the numbers go something like: 4: you have no life and you’re getting promoted 3: 90% of employees 2: you’ll be in a PIP soon if you don’t get better 1: you’re in a PIP and will be fired almost certainly

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

Clubber 2y ago

>you are fed up with specific positions/companies that are a poor fit for you Agree. With no degree, but a skill and interest in programming coupled with experience, you're actually in a pretty good place. Find a company that doesn't suck. They seem elusive but they exist. They might not pay as well, but you can get through the day without counting the seconds until it's over. Shit companies are always hiring because they have high turnover, so it would seem like all companies are shit, but they are not. Maybe get out of NYC. If you are in the straight tech industry, think about doing tech in another industry, they all need it. FWIW, there will always be times of stress in tech, but if the place is actually well managed, those times would be minimized.