I really dislike my job. I hate AI. I hate what we do. I kind of just hate technology in general nowadays haha. I hate dealing with pointless management. And I hate knowing I will probably lose my job in the next few years when the board decides to cut our team and replace us with claude or whatever. And I know I probably won’t find a replacement afterwards with how oversaturated the tech field has become.
I do like that it is mostly work from home and that there are some days where I can more or less dick around. I do live in a high cost of living city so my salary is generally adequate. But I would be willing to give some of that up if I had a job that I didn’t hate as much. I do have a music degree but that is equally as useless.
Just curious what fields people who have left tech went into and how your experience has been.
after a little over a decade working in formal methods, i lost my last job after repeatedly calling my passive aggressive boss an idiot in front of the team and refusing to use Copilot to ‘save labour’ (translation: simultaneously slow me down and make my output worse). now there’s no work for human computer touchers where i am currently (or for like- anyone, really), and i can’t afford (legally or spoon-wise) to complicate my tax situation at the moment, so
i’m a library technician now, and i teach English
I never quite made it into tech in the first place, despite being a big GNU/Linux enthusiast since adolescence. I went to community college for computer science and then dropped out due to the (relevant) coursework being insultingly simple. Worked in a startup for a couple months. Considered trying to build a portfolio and getting hired that way, but all the listings were fintech.
Anyway, now I’m a CNC machinist. I should be a CNC programmer (because I am in practice), but this company is incredibly stupid.
I dread losing my ebic technology job, because all my backup options were already destroyed by technology before my technology job destroyed technology jobs.
I swerved tech last second and I farm/garden/do landscape now IG.
It’s rough on the body and I’m tired constantly BUT people who need food get food, and it’s always satisfying to see something grow. It’s interesting too but compsci actually helped with it a lot, not a lot of people in that work that have tech experience so they lean on me to figure out new tools and stuff.
Also plants can be pretty algorithmic too. The same thinking I used to anticipate user interactions with software transferred over smoothly to anticipating shitty weather or pests.
That and like- plants are super a-matter-of-fact (really a lot of nature is). The same way being too vibesbased with programming fucks with your work also carries over. Being very objective and scientific helped a lot. Anticipating compounding complexity and failures, estimating time to completion on tasks that could be who-knows-how-long (take your best guess and double it lmao).
I do have a music degree but that is equally as useless.
You ever think about doing some production for fun? I watch a lot of JohnMakesBeats on youtube and the process looks like it can be enjoyable, you wouldn’t have to leave the desk for it either so it can fill down-time on the clock maybe? I always like looking back at old work to help me feel like I’m not stuck IG personally.
(Sorry I know you’re not soliciting advice or anything but I saw “music degree” and “time dicking around during my WFH” and my neurons activated.)
unemployed on disability. it’s bad but it’s less bad
I spent 2.5 years unemploted, then started working for local housing ninprofits. Much more rewarding, much less money, never going back to tech.
I’m in the same boat and I fantasize daily about a different career. Dunno how much longer I can keep this up.
well I never actually worked in tech but I do have a CS degree and I deliver the mail
