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A bunch of my friends are getting burned out in their professions. Different friends in their mid thirties who have been in tech for a decade have been telling them that they could totally make the jump to coding. And make $$$ in relatively short time. Is this plausible anymore? I am skeptical that a mid thirties person who only had a few coursera certificates and maybe a dozen little projects on their GitHub could meaningfully compete with new CS college kids or more experienced programmers who were in the recent layoffs. Seems like the gold rush of anybody being able to get a tech job for massive money is over?
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Aug 17, 2023 14:35
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ultrafilter posted:The tech job market of the 2010s was driven largely by low real interest rates. Now that that's over, hiring has slowed way down and everyone's getting pickier about who they hire. That, combined with the large number of senior people who have recently entered the job market, mean that it's a rough time to be looking for an entry-level job. Lockback posted:All that said, it's still an in-demand profession and if you're good at it I think you'll be successful. I don't think the market was ever "Make top 1% money right out of bootcamp" for the average person, its going to be hard to land that first job, and you may need to work in non-ideal environments at first, etc. Thanks for the feedback you two. It seems like a tough situation. I should have also added that my friends who are thinking of making the career jump to coding are more than burnt out - they are broke as poo poo. We live in Seattle and their jobs pay like $55k a year. That sounds like a lot of money on paper but in Seattle, in 2023, it just doesn’t do a lot for quality of life. They want the higher income jobs and by golly I understand them.
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Aug 17, 2023 16:30
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Lockback posted:I hire people who are new in software engineering, and in fact LOVE people who are doing a later-ish career change. That said, I can pick out in 30 seconds when someone is in the field because they are chasing easy paychecks and who actually gives a poo poo and has some passion. The latter is 1000x more likely to be successful and who I want to hire. So if its not something that is going to get you excited it is likely to not be a very good path. poo poo!!!!
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Aug 17, 2023 17:09
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I want more money. I’m in my mid 30s. I’m pretty dang good at my field. But the hard skills don’t have the best translation to other fields. My transferable skills like project management are pretty good. I should just start applying to project management jobs at tech firms until one sticks. E: my income on paper looks nice but I live in one of the highest cost of living areas in the country 
Ornery and Hornery fucked around with this message at 17:33 on Sep 15, 2023 |
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Sep 15, 2023 17:31
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Habibi posted:What has the field in which you are pretty dang good? Are you not interested in getting more money by moving up in your field or are there unstated constraints in that direction? It’s a kind of niche thing in the public sector. I enjoy the field, but I’m basically making the max that I can expect to make UNLESS I move into management. I like project management and I love collaborative work with disparate stakeholder groups to create something more than the sum of the parts. But I’m unsure managing a bunch of humans is where I want to go. Also if I go into management then I have to leave my union, and I love my union! (Although if I go private sector I’d probably wind up without a union anyway). There’s just one more step up the ladder before becoming management, but the organization has kind of moved away from including that position on the ladder. What’s been your experience with the working life without a union?
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Sep 15, 2023 19:38
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Xguard86 posted:I've never had a union to compare but basically "you'll make more money. Don't spend it because you also might be laid off". Yeah, I agree with you. At a certain point I just need to start applying to PM jobs and jobs that are somewhat related to my field. The public sector pension benefits aren’t even that good anymore tbh. Any difference in earning from most company retirement stuff is more than made up by the increase in income which could go to savings/investment. Just need to start applying. I’ve got the cold feet about making such a big life change and I’ve got self-doubt about whether I could succeed in a different field. Just doing an application a week to at least build the habit would be nice.
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Sep 15, 2023 21:35
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Lockback posted:I don't see the downside here other than I think you feel too comfortable and you have anxiety about taking another job. I feel this for the op and for myself
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Sep 16, 2023 19:57
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You goons give good advice and I appreciate our community
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Sep 16, 2023 19:58
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Mustang posted:During my MBA I actually won a pitch competition for a bike security business plan, which is something I still work on from time to time. Just don't have the money to bootstrap that idea myself yet, and definitely not interested in anything to do with a VC firm. Lockback posted:I'd generally suggest it's better to start with the high upside, low paying job and move over to the corp gig if it doesn't work out vs trying to do the reverse. If your intent is to stay in the PNW then I disagree 100% with Lockback. I work in the urban planning field in the metro seattle area. I make as good a salary as plausibly could be expected for someone in my niche in the public sector at my age level. Including benefits I do make a bit less than private sector planning consultant. I have a graduate degree from a top top planning program. I cannot stress enough that you should start your career with the high compensation tech job. There are planning and policy positions within the big tech firms that you could transfer to at a later date (ex/ people at Google.Org helping jurisdictions deal with climate change and urban heat island effects). In addition, there are plenty of planning and policy related volunteer opportunities around the region too. Consider looking at neighborhood community based organizations or planning orgs like The Urbanist. Even if you 100% know that you want to end up in an urbanism related profession (public sector, non-profit, start your own business), I would still start in the tech side of things. Do you have a high income partner? Or family wealth? Because if you don’t then you will not be able to afford buying a home in the seattle metro and will eventually be displaced due to economic pressure. Unless I am dramatically underestimating the $$$ from GI benefits. Edit: Outside of the money and stress and work/life balance… planning and policy does own though. If you have the independent wealth then do it 
Ornery and Hornery fucked around with this message at 20:53 on Sep 21, 2023 |
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Sep 21, 2023 20:40
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Money is happiness
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Sep 21, 2023 21:38
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I was gonna request a reclassification to a higher title from my boss because I deserve it but then I found out my manager had something terrible happen in their personal life and also I have made more work mistakes in the last two weeks than in the last two years. So the timing is not quite right. E: they are small mistakes but they were still mistakes Ornery and Hornery fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Sep 29, 2023 |
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Sep 29, 2023 16:23
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corded ware culture posted:i work in private security management. been doing this 18 years. i'm 40, i make ~90k in the seattle area, i max my 401k. i do not have a college degree or any significant debt. Friend, if you find that mythical job please let me know. Just showing up, clocking in, doing the tasks, clocking out, on a steady and reliable schedule sounds so good. I have many work hours and work stress but low money. I want low work hours and stress but high money!!! Gahhh I don’t want to code and idk if I’d even make it as a coder but idk what else is out there.
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Oct 19, 2023 20:47
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What do you do, comrade?
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Oct 21, 2023 18:39
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Having some informational interviews with folks at various tech firms. I would like more money and less stress.
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Nov 5, 2023 01:01
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Ham Equity posted:As an IC in an IT roll, money has so far been largely negatively correlated with stress. I make more now than I've ever made before, and in my least-stressful role. I am trying to, comrade. I am trying!!!
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Jan 31, 2024 22:51
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Might get a promotion this year and there’s an off chance I get the double promotion this year. I’ll believe it when/if it actually happens but it’s p cool that my manager is discussing it.
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Feb 28, 2024 03:33
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I want the money, I am brainstorming how to get the money
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Mar 12, 2024 04:54
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 16:43 |
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Ornery and Hornery posted:I was gonna request a reclassification to a higher title from my boss because I deserve it but then I found out my manager had something terrible happen in their personal life and also I have made more work mistakes in the last two weeks than in the last two years. So the timing is not quite right. Ornery and Hornery posted:Might get a promotion this year and there’s an off chance I get the double promotion this year. Well good news. Looks like conversations have continued. They want me to put documents together to:
I’ve already begun researching other organizations. Any tips or resources to conduct this work? Example slide decks or reports? I know that I’m going to summarize and share the different organization charts.
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Apr 9, 2024 21:56
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