I'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.

I 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.

I'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.

Ha ha, Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran want to be fired.

This 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.

I 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.

I 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.

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.

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.

When I was struggling, this really helped me:

https://archive.jamesaltucher.com/blog/reinventing-yourself/

I mostly find James Altucher quite annoying. But this is good.

I'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.

No 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.

Well, 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.

Any field that requires a certification and cannot be done from a computer is worth looking into.

I 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.

Went 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.

Honestly, 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.

Over 40 and still thinking about getting into a system programming job. Gonna give myself another 3-5 years and then give up.

I 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.

I'm 19, been doing software (as a hobby) for the past five years, should I continue pursuing it or look into something else?

At Sun, instead of firing incompetent executives, the would promote them to "Vice President in Charge of Looking for a New Job".

Fired from being retired.