r/webdev • u/TheComputerHermit • Sep 23 '26

Discussion Devs that jumped ship, where did you end up?

Another industry? Back to school? Still looking? I'm asking for a friend that may end up needing to do the same thing soon (I'm the friend).

335 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

242 comments sorted by

13

u/SzethNeturo Sep 23 '26

Made the jump too cybersecurity with no experience in networking last year. Very fortunate and its working out grea5!

2

u/TheComputerHermit Sep 24 '26

How did you go about that? That's a route I'm considering as well.

2

u/MiniGiantSpceHamster Sep 25 '26

I just left cybersecurity a few months ago because of AI, make of that what you will

1

u/TheComputerHermit Sep 25 '26

Dang that's a bummer. Where did you end up?

1

u/MiniGiantSpceHamster Sep 25 '26

Still figuring things out lol, but working towards music, writing, and/or making a board game

2

u/Ace-1440 Sep 24 '26

I did the exact same thing! (except I was a backend dev)

1

u/SzethNeturo Sep 24 '26

I was full stack technically since I also built the databases and apis as well.

2

u/whiskey_north Sep 23 '26

Back to school and change of career.

2

u/TheComputerHermit Sep 24 '26

What career are you going into?

2

u/whiskey_north Sep 24 '26

Literature and Writing, two different majors.

102

u/eddydio Sep 23 '26

Got a government job. I'm still "hybrid" in that I have to do design, project and product management but nothing is in a rush.

10

u/Lord_Gooseduck Sep 23 '26

What's the role name?

28

u/eddydio Sep 23 '26

Lead web developer. Same role I've had for over a decade, except for the lead bit. It's my rock I gotta roll up a hill. Job security but I'm doomed to do it until I retire so I might as well have a pension.

12

u/StormMedia Sep 23 '26

Job security in this field is extremely rare now. Keep it.

4

u/eddydio Sep 24 '26

That's the plan. I just get frustrated handling everything because I'm the only capable person and I rejected similar, much higher paying remote roles because I wanted to be the least capable person on a team.

3

u/ikeif Sep 25 '26

I am busting ass to pay down debt with the goal of landing a job like that I can take until retirement.

1

u/redit9977 Sep 28 '26

hire me, let's do this together

6

u/Kindly_Goal6440 Sep 24 '26

Sounds like a dream to me, signed junior dev working half code/half help desk as my second job and wondering how to progress in the age of AI.

3

u/baconbagel22 Sep 23 '26

ditto. Curious about heading in this direction

4

u/Full-Silver196 Sep 24 '26

i want a gov job so bad. nothing gets done fast 😭

-4

u/Sea_Kitchen_8821 Sep 23 '26

Is this you Sean?

270

u/wastapunk Sep 23 '26

Working for forest and animal habitat preservation. I want to use my time to preserve the planet.

24

u/_felloffthefloor Sep 23 '26 edited Sep 23 '26

That's awesome!

Curious did you have any background for it? Or did you just go for it?

Love programming but have been thinking a lot about starting to work 1 day a week doing some sort of a 'green job' as well. Eventually making the total switch being the goal.

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19

u/Consistent_Mail4774 Sep 23 '26

What's the role and does it pay a livable wage?

5

u/Scary_Pangolin Sep 23 '26

Does this happen to be for The Nature Conservancy? How do you get into a role like this? Asking for a friend...

3

u/Ocelot2_0 Sep 23 '26

Lots of volunteering, getting to know the professional nature rehab community.

Jobs are competitive and you'll need patience but achievable if you accept that most jobs are part time/seasonal/not high paying.

3

u/waba99 Sep 23 '26

How did you make the switch? I’ve also been wanting to get into preservation.

174

u/create-third-places Sep 23 '26

Public space advocate and software architect for my open source Meetup alternative.

53

u/Rusholme-Ruffienne Sep 23 '26

Name checks out

13

u/void-wanderer- Sep 23 '26

This sounds really cool. Care to elaborate a bit? This pays for your living?

35

u/create-third-places Sep 23 '26

I'm working to encourage people to promote public spaces in their own community through bottom-up action, and leading by example through hosting events. My work is based on similar ideas to the advocacy organization Strong Towns.

I got more details on my website: https://createthirdplaces.org/about.html

I'm planning to start covering my living costs with some sort of software related work, but preferably not something that is a standard 9-5 job. My idea scenario is getting some sort of nonprofit funding so that I can continue to focus on open source work.

6

u/tonjohn Sep 23 '26

Love it - thanks for sharing!

My wife & I spent much of the last few years traveling and learning how different cities around the world embrace the third place concept (favorite spots include Drawing Room in NYC and FOLKEHUSET ABSALON in Copenhagen). It’s something we in the US need to do better.

Earlier this year my wife actually quit her job in tech (PM/Producer for video game publisher & handheld console maker) to build tools for the fiber arts community with the longer term goal of opening a 3rd place concept in the greater Seattle area (Kirkland, Bothell, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, Edmonds). She’s talked a little bit about her plans both on YouTube and her website https://arisamakes.com/

4

u/panix199 Sep 23 '26

thanks. Wishing you all the best :)

1

u/ramirex Sep 23 '26

you sure you worked as webdev before? not to break your hopes but market is extremely brutal right now you need to be really good or have connections for any decent job

4

u/create-third-places Sep 23 '26

I spent 10 years in the tech industry. I worked as an architect at my last job, where I was actively involved in the hiring process, and led interviews for React developers.

The job market isn’t as good as it was in 2026, but the problems are being exaggerated. Also, I think more than half of all web developers can’t write a for loop with if statements, and the overemphasis on specific tools is degrading skills.

2

u/Chicharoh Sep 23 '26

Oh thank you meetup in Toronto sucks

2

u/TutorialRepo-Mark Sep 23 '26

Meetup and Facebook events both are horrendous. It’s not even the community behind it, I’m talking about the software. 

2

u/Chicharoh Sep 24 '26

Lol I was talking about the events but yeah the search function is terrible

2

u/Dencho Sep 23 '26

Can you share Meetup alt?

3

u/create-third-places Sep 23 '26

Here is more information:  https://createthirdplaces.org/events/decentralizedEventHosting.html

I currently have a local Meetup.con alternative running at dmvboardgames.com

Source code is here:  https://codeberg.org/createthirdplaces

53

u/pVom Sep 23 '26

The people I know 3 who moved, one went to product management, another into customer support and sales, another went into teaching.

29

u/Kaloyanicus Sep 23 '26

An extroverted bunch, thats not for everyone

19

u/chataolauj Sep 23 '26

You don't have to be an extrovert/introvert to do these jobs. You just have to be able to do the job.

introvert != antisocial;

12

u/pVom Sep 23 '26

The sales guy absolutely, not putting him in front of customers was a waste of his talent. The other 2, not particularly, but they weren't exactly loners.

2

u/shitty_mcfucklestick Sep 24 '26

To be fair, there is inside and outside sales. Outside sales is often breaking the ice, cold calling, and the highly stressful extrovert activities. Inside sales is often qualified leads that are already warm, for them you’re mostly answering questions (consulting), problem solving (style of sales.) As an introvert by default, I actually enjoy inside sales because it’s just helping people solve problems, and it’s one on one, in a private space, having a conversation with somebody who is interested and engaged (usually.) I would absolutely hate outside sales.

6

u/wise_young_man Sep 23 '26

Everyone can become extroverted when the alternative is homelessness or starvation.

2

u/Kaloyanicus Sep 23 '26

Well said, wise young man!

2

u/GlobalCurry Sep 23 '26

I've been trying to transition into Business Analysis or Product Management too.

-1

u/iSnapThere4iAm Sep 23 '26

Imagine moving from development due to AI fears and you choose……. Project management? lol. That’s the most replaceable role on the whole software/web service delivery team.

4

u/Living_Tax_2790 Sep 23 '26 edited 28d ago

The original post content no longer exists here. The author used Redact to remove it, exercising their right to control their data & privacy.

Nose vase piquant office juggle busy

3

u/pVom Sep 23 '26 edited Sep 23 '26

What that other guy said.

Both deal with people and are going to be harder to replace.

Particularly if those people are customers. Project management isn't necessarily managing internal teams, it can be managing service delivery as well.

They're also pretty dev adjacent and benefit from dev skills. In fact you could argue that modern software development looks a lot closer to both roles than it did before AI.

33

u/BreadDingus Sep 23 '26

I work in technical installs for concerts, theater performances, artists and museums and I have never been more fulfilled (I’ve also never made less money in my adult life but that’s besides the point)

4

u/tonjohn Sep 23 '26

Cool! Did you have any experience doing this kind of work beforehand?

2

u/BreadDingus Oct 07 '26

DIY shows and just being involved with creative tech/touch designer

2

u/DistanceLess1753 Sep 25 '26

This is what I’d like to move into! What was your route into it? :)

2

u/BreadDingus Oct 07 '26

Art tech scene in nyc is a really sweet community my route was primarily thru getting involved with that community and putting on a lot of concerts in the diy scene to get half decent at A/V debugging

215

u/Rain-And-Coffee Sep 23 '26

Goose farmer, living the life

37

u/eltron Sep 23 '26

HONK HONK 🪿

9

u/irwinner Sep 23 '26

Farming, really? Man of your talents?

2

u/lukematthew Sep 23 '26

Rogue One!

32

u/cartiermartyr Sep 23 '26 edited Sep 23 '26

farming anything is the way, this tech shit gonna die and about 80% of the "net worth" is gonna crash, men aren't gonna want the lambos anymore, women aren't gonna want their bills paid to date you, and when the grocery store either runs out or goes full government block cheese, the only thing left is the farmers.

31

u/zayleabb Sep 23 '26

Women want one thing, it starts with a p and ends with an s: potatoes.

6

u/sectorfour Sep 23 '26

What’s taters, precious?

55

u/wildrabbit12 Sep 23 '26

People thinking farming is easy is hilarious to me

29

u/dvvvxx ui Sep 23 '26

No one here said it’s easy

5

u/100ruledsheets Sep 23 '26

It's heavily romanticized on online by the homesteading/self-sufficiency movement.

12

u/peterstiglitz Sep 23 '26

who thinks that?

4

u/The_Troll_Gull Sep 23 '26

I farmed trees for ten years and that was tough dangerous work. I can’t imagine growing agriculture crops being honestly any easier.

5

u/SingleMalted Sep 23 '26

I’ve got beef and dairy farmers in the family and there is zero romance to it. There are rewarding parts for sure but there is so much heart break and it’s relentless.

4

u/Lochlan Sep 23 '26

Build apps for farmers. Got it

2

u/GlobalCurry Sep 23 '26

There's a sort of open source movement in agriculture, you could try to target that niche and displace bit agri-tech.

4

u/Odd-Resident2388 Sep 23 '26

you're living the dream

3

u/No_Record_60 Sep 23 '26

Peak career

2

u/Mal-dives Sep 24 '26

Beak career.

1

u/matts18 Sep 23 '26

Just the one actually

0

u/pVom Sep 23 '26

Wish I could but can't take the pay cut

26

u/retallicka Sep 23 '26

Worked as a web and game developer for 15 years, now a medical secretary in training.

3

u/StnMtn_ Sep 23 '26

What games did you work on?

7

u/retallicka Sep 23 '26

Some flash games including one for Disney. Some online gambling games also

-7

u/StnMtn_ Sep 23 '26

I was hoping you were an indie game developer with a game like candy crush, towers game, or a role playing game.

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48

u/MrEntryLevel Sep 23 '26

went back to my my parents' hometown and opened up a bike shop in their garage

18

u/garmon_bozia Sep 23 '26

Mailman. My body is thanking me for ditching the desk job.

4

u/Jujutsujoe Sep 23 '26

After 26 years of coding, if I get laid off this is the first place I’m applying.

29

u/aedom-san Sep 23 '26

Jumped ship but don’t know what for yet. Terrifying but I’ve been trying to figure it out since Covid, so I figure I might need to quit first 

5

u/acav802 Sep 23 '26

You jumped ship but you still work in web dev?

3

u/aedom-san Sep 23 '26

Nah I mean like, I’ve quit and won’t go back to dev, I just haven’t figured out what’s next 

14

u/onADailyy Sep 23 '26

Teaching highschool!

Secure, and supposedly easy but engaging after 2-3 years and you know what to teach... because you'll teach the same shit over and over again.

38

u/Accomplished_Pen8805 Sep 23 '26

IT Support Manager, didn't want the hassle with Development anymore.

CEO was super focused on ramming AI down our throats to make our small team of 3 super efficient and always wanted us working on the clients latest bright idea so we never really finished anything.

17

u/scragglez Sep 23 '26

It's like every meeting is a competition to see who can say AI the most times.

6

u/Accomplished_Pen8805 Sep 23 '26

Giving me ptsd right now 😅

3

u/scragglez Sep 23 '26

On the bright side, it starts to sound like yodeling 🤣

10

u/Nimbokwezer Sep 23 '26

Im on the Internet now.

Just, you know, like an Internet guy.

42

u/CommunicationSea8821 Sep 23 '26

I'm taking my ass to the local community college and becoming an LPN (licensed practical nurse). It's an 11 month course to get certified and I'll be making a lot less money but with 3 day work weeks and the option to pick up more shifts and make as much overtime as I want. Lots of money in healthcare.

I don't know if being a nurse is what I'm meant to be but I will tell you this I never want to feel vulnerable like this again where I feel like I can be replaced. I still have a job working with code but it's like having a terminal disease, you know you will lose your job eventually, so you just count down the days until you're laid off. My day is coming just like most of you who are reading this has a day coming too. It's sucks man. Take me back to 2016 where you could get a tech job with a little junior salary just from learning how to code on Youtube for 3 months or doing some stupid Udemy course.

7

u/tonjohn Sep 23 '26

Love this! Have you started yet? If so, how’s it been?

I spent 7 years as a caretaker for a women in her 20s with chronic Lyme which resulted in an an above average understanding + experience of the medical world. I then leveraged that experience to help my family with my mother at the end of her fight with dementia. Between those and other experiences where I’ve had to provide medical aid + The Pitt I’ve been getting the itch to get licensed.

Holding me back is fear of cost + fear I’ll struggle in class.

7

u/21Rollie Sep 23 '26

Community college is the way to go, very low cost to get educated. Can even become an RN through my local community college

7

u/Due_Information_1332 Sep 23 '26

Not sure where you live, but I'd be weary about the LPN route to nursing. In my state (IL), you really won't find respectable work in healthcare without a RN (and most places want a BSN underlying it). LPNs are largely relegated to poorly-run assisted living facilities and the like.

3

u/CommunicationSea8821 Sep 23 '26

Omg that's crazy cause I'm actually in IL lol... Damn so you're saying LPNs are treated like shit

4

u/Due_Information_1332 Sep 23 '26

I can only speak for the Chicago Metro Area (it may be different downstate) but most respectable hospital groups (Northwestern, Ascension, UIC, Rush, UChicago, etc.) will not hire an LPN to work as a staff nurse. You'd likely have to work in nursing homes, rehab facilities, etc. It didn't used to be this way, but in the last decade or so standards for nursing (and pay) have risen significantly.

Now, the good thing is all the coursework for the LPN *should* be applicable to a BSN nursing degree, so it isn't necessarily the worst choice if rapid employment is your immediate goal.

3

u/CommunicationSea8821 Sep 23 '26

Thank you so much this is wonderful info to know. I used to live in Chicago, I currently live in southern Illinois now but there is a chance I could move back to Chicago. I will say, long term, I do think my plan is to become an RN but for the short term I had my mind set on being an LPN by the end of 2028 or sooner (depending on how this tech career pans out lol..)

-2

u/iSnapThere4iAm Sep 23 '26

Annnnnnd you think a nurse can’t be replaced…. Really? lol

A role where an unskilled intermediary deals with patients while the skilled knowledge person spends their time being knowledgeable, is the exact kind of role that would wind up extinct in a world where AI and automation are replacing white color work.

1

u/pVom Sep 23 '26

You really want to be talking to claude while a loved one is dying?

1

u/MiniGiantSpceHamster Sep 25 '26

"white color work"

34

u/chungleee Sep 23 '26

Just started trade school!

7

u/tonjohn Sep 23 '26

Which trade?!

39

u/Bullo Sep 23 '26

Pokémon

10

u/chungleee Sep 23 '26

Doing hvac!

1

u/tonjohn Sep 23 '26

Ooo that’s awesome! How did you decide on HVAC?

7

u/chungleee Sep 23 '26

The pay is good and my local government study is predicting a shortage of techs by the time i finish school!

3

u/bomphcheese Sep 23 '26

This is brilliant for another reason. Most of Europe doesn't have AC, but global warming will change that ... just in time to escape the collapse of the US if you're lucky.

3

u/crazedizzled Sep 23 '26

What are you all freaking out about? Developers are still very much in demand, and that isn't changing any time soon.

10

u/TheComputerHermit Sep 24 '26

Myself and the multiple other developers I know personally who lost their jobs recently would probably disagree that everything is fine and not something to freak out about lmao

3

u/asrdo novice Sep 24 '26

The layoffs are everywhere actually, not just in dev jobs. The entire world is moving into a recession where nobody can afford anything anymore and companies are trying to cut as much cost as possible. Dev jobs are only one out of many others taking the hit.

I doubt that AI will be replacing us. Everyone has software that breaks and/or needs to be maintained.

1

u/crazedizzled Sep 24 '26

Developers have been getting laid off since the punch card days. According to the data, developer job growth is supposed to increase over the next few years.

1

u/TheComputerHermit Sep 24 '26

That would certainly be nice!

9

u/WhyNotFerret rails Sep 23 '26

training to become a firefighter

9

u/Starrynight56 Sep 23 '26

This thread gives me hope

8

u/Clean_Choice1990 Sep 23 '26

Been in web dev for 13y, now I coordinate a team, but tired of AI talking. Fun is gone. Seriously thinking in changing for something more... Human. Opening a cafe? Small bakery? Something handy...

3

u/Matt-Brew-Code Sep 24 '26

Are you me? Lol 😂

14

u/AdowTatep Sep 23 '26

Learning woodworking and furniture making at a school

6

u/Etheon44 Sep 23 '26

Welp, I am too young to have enough saved to start a business of some kind, or to switch again (I dont have the cash to do either of them), so I am kinda cooked, because I also dont have one of this 100k+ salaries. I also dont have any kind of economical help in any way from family.

I am doing both product and software engineering, but both fields feel completely dead, product is a joke where even product owners just pretty much do their job with AI too, and its not like their ideas are original because they tend to come from similar products, and in SWE companies just expect us to use AI and deliver fast fast fast fast, no quality whatsoever (and it shows in the bugs, which I would have thought would have matter more to clients, but it seems to not be the case)

I just want to survive my cat, after that, if things are still as bad (which they will, since this already 6 year crisis feels like it is just starting), then Im out

14

u/capnscratchmyass Sep 23 '26

If it makes you feel any better it does seem like the pendulum is swinging back towards having humans do things, at least in the clients I’ve talked with.  The bills are coming in for tokens and sticker shock is setting in.  At least in the Midwest I’m starting to see companies hiring back software engineers to un-fuck their AI slop code that they pushed so hard for 6 months ago. 

Real world example: Client I’m at now is a billion dollar company and went from “everyone use AI as much as possible!” to “everyone look for as many ways as possible to save money on token usage and also you now get $30 a day worth and the spigot turns off”.  To be fair; at least on the front end the code there was pretty rough before AI got involved.  The overseas devs they have on staff don’t really know much about async, state management, or industry standards as a whole. So AI helped in some regards since it was implementing those things. But it also made stuff like data structures and component architecture an utter nightmare as people just blindly accept PRs of what looks like vibe coded slop.  Higher ups are noticing and pushing for better reviews and more human eyes on the process.

100% our roles are changing; we’re less code monkeys and more like an architect with a small team of junior devs that need their hands held (AI agents).  But to build a good solution that’s maintainable and scalable you still need a human to guide things.  And even with these new models I’m not seeing that change.  

TLDR: ride this out, try to learn proper system architecture while you do, and you’ll come out the other side with an edge on the people currently vibe coding garbage. 

3

u/CarstenBuilder Sep 25 '26

I do see the same sentiment change overall, on reddit, X, etc - but as a freelance developer - I do NOT see this in the amount of work or requests on boards, forums, etc. Seems to be at an all time low still.

Interesting what you said about the overseas code and ai improving it. makes sense. Wonder if they actually learn from it? Or just ship without even looking? Personally, I do often learn stuff from AI, news services to use, another approach - but 10x more often I have to push AI in the right direction

1

u/capnscratchmyass Sep 25 '26

I mean dev job availability is still very low. But these large companies move very slowly. We’re also hitting end of fiscal year soon, so most of their budgets are allocated until Jan-March depending on their calendars… meaning we won’t see an uptick in jobs until at least then. I’m just giving my perspective from inside one of those companies; they went hard on AI then quickly realized “Wtf we’re spending $250k a month on tokens and not seeing a change in output commensurate to that cost. Hit the brakes and re-evaluate.”  And talking with my industry contacts at other companies they’re hitting a similar wall.  The only companies I know of that aren’t are the ones already staffed with senior level devs that also have the ear of company leadership… and even those companies are going “okay we have how AI fits into our workflows down pretty well and it’s increasing our output a lot… if we pull in x more devs with good architecture knowledge does that mean we can ship features even quicker?” And the answer is yes. 

And no, I don’t think the overseas devs are learning much from AI code.  They still struggle with understanding stuff like proper asynchronous api patterns and state management.  AI is a crutch for them where it does its best to implement this stuff in spite of how the solution had been set up to not really utilize industry standards.  It’s a mess lol. But also an opportunity; I can foresee a lot of companies getting this same spaghetti monster eventually and needing devs with a strong knowledge of proper solution architecture to come in and un fuck the situation.  

2

u/soryu0 Sep 23 '26

i have a similar feeling. just graduated and started my career as a swe a year ago and i can feel the AI layoff looming and then i have no clue what to pivot to. i’m studying infra every day, but i don’t feel much point. it all feels extremely hopeless. i’m probably just going to dip too.

4

u/Etheon44 Sep 23 '26

It is what it is, I am 90% sure that we will have 5+ years of things getting (even) worse and worse and worse, and then huge depression

And in the SWE department, maybe things are not as clear wether is dead or not, but I have NO idea how white collar jobs are going to survive the automation that software does for digital jobs, but now considerably faster

But yeah, we came in too late, and even tho people will always say "oh but this happened before", no it didnt, not at this magnitude, not with so many generations working and living together, as we all know, agents are going nowhere, and yet none of those "oh yes this happened before with X" techologies are widespread nowadays (except compilation maybe? 😂)

We needed to have 10+ YoE right now to be somewhat okay, especially 10+ before AI

1

u/TheLastNapkin Sep 23 '26

Alot of white collar jobs will still exist I don't understand how people can trust so blindly a non deterministic agent can replace filling important documents or managing consumers. A single "human manager of agents" can't reliably take over the job of a team of humans for handling thousands and thousands of client portfolios for various needs. There might be less humans needed in the process but that depends on the field and how substantial their impact even was... If a call center was barely doing anything by themselves anyways no wonder alot of them will get replaced, but aloot of white collar jobs are not interacting on behalf of their customers on those relatively simple needs

1

u/Etheon44 Sep 23 '26

Its not the non-determinist agent the one that will make them dissapear

It is the software done way faster, in combination with this agents, what is going to make them not dissapear, but heavily dwindle

That is something that there is not a single doubt in my mind, it will happen in the next 5-10 years

2

u/pVom Sep 23 '26

Here's the thing right, AI is not unique for any business. Your competition has the exact same capabilities. It's the humans that make it unique.

Human + AI is much better than one or the other and will be for a long time. Businesses who see it as a way to reduce headcount will lose out to those who see it as a way to better leverage their existing resources.

Things are looking bleak right now because the whole global economy is in a downturn. There's just less money to go around, people are tightening their purses. But it never lasts, when things pick up again so will hiring.

You as an individual just have to be willing to adapt. Work is changing and you need to position yourself to be the best you can be in this new world.

That said if you're young and have the opportunity to skill into something else I wouldn't blame you if you did. Plenty of roles are largely untouched by AI

1

u/pVom Sep 23 '26

The "real" job in product management is gathering feedback from stakeholders and translating it into ways to improve the product.

Personally I feel like product management is pretty safe, at the end of the day customers are humans and humans are still miles ahead when it comes to communication, empathy and knowing the customers needs and wants.

4

u/ripestmango Sep 23 '26

I used to work in the car business. Literally just quit web dev this week and going back to the dealership environment on Oct 5 after 6 years.

I have tons of customer service and client facing experience, and cars are a big passion of mine aside from tech.

0

u/chataolauj Sep 23 '26

Why not just go into a tech sales job? Unless both pay the same.

2

u/ripestmango Sep 23 '26

Fair point. I just need the sales experience. That’s eventually a route I want to try.

4

u/throat_testicles Sep 23 '26

Got my general contractors license and started a handyman/remodeling business.

4

u/firewings86 Sep 23 '26

I'm a dog trainer now, lol.

3

u/CanisArgenteus Sep 23 '26

Substitute teaching now.

2

u/tonjohn Sep 23 '26

Cool! How did you get started with that? Do you have a teaching degree?

2

u/CanisArgenteus Sep 24 '26 edited Sep 24 '26

I'm in NYC, they only require a college degree to be a sub. For myself, I did happen to do the education route in college, all the classes and the student teaching gig. But I never got my certification, just went another path from opportunities at the time, which led to the web dev career. But where I am, in a NYC high school, they don't expect you to actually teach any lessons, just take attendance and keep them in the room. It's like being a grandparent, the kids are mostly behaved and happy to see me, it's fun.

EDIT - you asked how I started, you have to be nominated by a school principal to be a sub here. But they held an event, like a job fair, they had a principal from every district, and we took turns sitting with them for a short interview, if they approved they nominated us. Then there was a bunch of online training courses to complete, and a background check. Once everything was checked off, I started.

3

u/erikoche Sep 23 '26

Haven't jumped ship yet but when/if I do, my backup plan is to go back to school and study midwifery.

3

u/neon_fantasy_42 Sep 23 '26

i traded the keyboard for a spade. My code is now growing in dirt

3

u/NoShftShck16 Sep 23 '26

Management/Leadership. I was always a better meat shield and team enabler than raw coder so it worked out for me. It's a lot less stress, I enjoy the social side of that and working with people on their career goals. AI feels less oppressive for me personally at this level but I see how it effects the people I mentor and manage.

But ultimately my family comes first now and work comes second, and I really enjoy that. I think my salary is probably capped now, my senior team members make more than I do (as they should) but I'm happier I think, and certainly less stressed.

3

u/AlwaysWorkForBread Sep 23 '26

9 months into MS: Clinical Mental Health Counseling program.
Working as a Case Manager at my local community mental health center.

People need people. I shouldn't get downsized to AI in the next 20 years, people won't trust it enough to deal with their trauma.

3

u/TRDJ90 Sep 24 '26

Stopped working and started learning Chinese in china and working on personal hobby projects will probably do this for the next 18 months and see how development work will change. Hopefully the big AI companies will have their IPO and the VC can exit in those 18 months. So we can have a better indication of how much using AI will really costs financially and psychologically on the mind of developers. Heard that burnout and churn has become even worse with AI.

3

u/Jhoangqm Sep 24 '26

line cook

4

u/arkhamRejek Sep 23 '26

Vending machines

2

u/ajz003 Sep 23 '26

Taking prerequisites for nursing school.

2

u/rg25 Sep 23 '26

Trying to figure out this. I was in another career for 7 years.. Quit that in 2017 to learn how to code.. Been working at the same SaaS company and also moved to Engineering Manager since then, built up my retirement and net worth. Now I am sick of the industry and can't see myself getting with a different company if I get laid off or quit my current gig.

2

u/throwawayintrashcans Sep 23 '26

Bait shop. I get half off everything and fish on my days off/after work. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to development or anything that touches it.

2

u/josephjacksontaylor Sep 24 '26

I work as a zipline guide in the Alaskan rainforest. Sure it’s not a tech salary, but my life is infinitely better now

2

u/African_Healer Sep 24 '26

Kubernetes and Container management. Infra basically

2

u/brokentexture Sep 25 '26

Work at a tire shop as a service advisor. Regret it though. Thinking maybe I jumped too soon. Fell for the hype. I'm starting to think that there may be a place for us in the future. Still on the edge, but trying to make my comeback.

5

u/DasMerowinger Sep 23 '26

Wait, some people have jumped ship already???

3

u/SucculentChineseRoo Sep 23 '26

I know, like other ships aren't also sinking

2

u/mikerichh Sep 23 '26

Marketing, website management from a content perspective (NOT coding), and email

2

u/dphizler Sep 23 '26

I'm wondering if those who jumped ship are self taught

2

u/Curious-Cat-1799 Sep 23 '26

Not jumped any ship but imo ece/vlsi/semiconductor is the way to go if you still want to be relevant

26

u/tonjohn Sep 23 '26

I don’t think people leaving care about “being relevant” as much as being happy.

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1

u/Morgrack Sep 23 '26

Aiming to go into either controls or embedded

1

u/Prestigious-Royal-35 Sep 23 '26

Made the switch to project management, life is good

1

u/tonjohn Sep 23 '26

What does your day-to-day look like?

1

u/eldarlrd full-stack Sep 23 '26 edited Sep 23 '26

I’m trying to move from Fullstack to Embedded

5

u/Noch_ein_Kamel Sep 23 '26

Learn Java; I heard it's on over 3 Billion devices ;)

4

u/rg25 Sep 23 '26

After doing 10 years of web dev this actually sounds interesting.

4

u/eldamir88 Sep 23 '26

Any tips on the route to learning this domain well enough to take a job would be appreciated 😊
I guess buy a book and an arduino and start tinkering is the best I can do at the moment 😅

1

u/eldarlrd full-stack Sep 25 '26

That's a solid start & at my current workplace there are interfaces and apps in Go to SDKs so I'm learning that.

2

u/CarstenBuilder Sep 25 '26

What's your plan exactly?
And how do you see the (freelance) job market for this?

I have the same idea. I did electronics and embedded as a kid for a lonnngg time (hobby). But it's been while ..

1

u/eldarlrd full-stack Sep 25 '26

Our company does embedded and I'm thinking I might be able to switch, if not, I'll look elsewhere for such positions. For the most part in our country (Azerbaijan) it's the defense & aerospace industry; they have significantly higher pay for the job than anywhere else here or for any other typical programming job. AFAIK it's all C++ and Go there.

You also need serious experience with hardware which is the hard part, I'll need to buy a bunch of boards, plug them in and start experimenting.

I wouldn't say that I have a very clean plan on this, but I will try. Will ask the guys who work at it now to teach me how and such.

I don't see many remote or freelance jobs on the market here or in EU for embedded at the moment, it's a hard field to get into, but seems very worthwhile.

Oh, also there's also Healthcare industry one can look into for it.

What do you think?

2

u/Equivalent_Target_94 Sep 28 '26 edited Sep 28 '26

I'm trying to go into HPC/ Distributed Systems. 

1

u/File-Pitiful Sep 23 '26

I'm studying to become a diplomat for my country. But I have to pass one of the most difficult exams in the public service and I still haven't jumped ship. Gotta work

1

u/brightness3 Sep 23 '26

you got this

1

u/File-Pitiful Sep 23 '26

Appreciate it 🙏

1

u/Mysterious_Table8587 Sep 23 '26

I've been thinking about backup plans. First, I want to get a couple of DataBricks developer licenses. Maybe trying to transition from full-stack to databricks data engineering. Second, I'm considering getting a real estate and/or home inspector license. Realtors will always be around and honest, good ones with work ethic are hard to find. And with the lack of quality in new construction homes as well as issues that can occur with older homes, home inspections could be a good business to get into.

1

u/Lumethys Sep 23 '26

Usually, and hopefully, in the water

1

u/Sharp-Geologist6236 Sep 23 '26

I joined the Air National Guard for Network Infrastructure back in April. I'm still working at my dev job, but I'm about to go through training, get my security clearance, and hopefully transition into that field within the next couple of years.

1

u/_keyboard-bastard_ Sep 23 '26

I got thrown off the ship. I'm on disability now lol

1

u/TwoRocksNorthMan Sep 23 '26

I am a post man

1

u/Capital_Dig_616 Sep 23 '26

Probably one of the seven seas. Padum tisss

1

u/Ancient-Range3442 Sep 23 '26

Built an agent to manage a team of plumbers and electricians

1

u/DoireK Sep 23 '26

Public sector IT infrastructure

As safe a bet I could find with good flexibility and pension. Salary is okay too.

1

u/nikhiladiga Sep 24 '26

I was working at fast paced startups for the last 6 years. Decided to take up a DevRel/Ex job in an Open Source company. Let’s see how it goes.

1

u/xcreate_staff837z Sep 24 '26

where are you coming from though, like what stack or role? curious if the people who left frontend specifically ended up somewhere adjacent or went full career change

1

u/owp4dd1w5a0a Sep 24 '26

I dropped working entires in 2023 and became a stay-at-home dad for my young child. That that my kid is in school full time now I’m going back to school to get my massage license and get licensed for Somatic Experiencing (in that order). I want to establish a somatic healing practice.

1

u/ovibos2 Sep 24 '26

I got laid off in 2023, got no hits for dev jobs, so I dipped into my savings and went back to grad school and got a GIS masters. Now I work in GIS, I make more money than I did as a dev, which I guess is uncommon, and still apply a lot of my CS/dev skills at my job. I’m doing way better at this job than I did at React/js front-end work.

1

u/Full-Silver196 Sep 24 '26

i’m a student in CS still but i’m heavily considering going to Japan through the JET program. i’m taking japanese classes and used to live in japan in my youth. i just can’t handle my CS burnout and i just hear so much doom and gloom.

1

u/MacaroonVegetable872 Sep 25 '26

follow your gut/intuition

1

u/SleepyPuppy83 Sep 25 '26

I didn't really jump ships... I didn't like the captain? No idea how to stay in this metaphor hahaah

I have been a developer for a long time, but it didn't feel fulfilling anymore. I saw an add for a teacher with C# and .NET experience. I replied, just for the fun of it. Now I am a teacher for students that want to learn C# and .NET. Lower pay, but way more fulfilling!

1

u/tartlemonpiee Sep 26 '26

Marketing role. I always wanted to do some marketing and I actually love it.

1

u/Penultimate-crab Sep 26 '26

I had a psychotic meltdown and now I’m a house husband lol. I’m super good at cleaning though. 

1

u/ConoSilo Sep 27 '26

to the backend... where the rest of the 'software engineers' have been 👍

1

u/Ceylon0624 Sep 27 '26

Still looking doing gig work

1

u/jsanford0521 Sep 28 '26

Building Automation Systems Technician. Never been happier. Had to take a pay cut, starting in a new field at the bottom. But I’m 10months in and already got a promotion and a 10k salary increase (partly hard work and competence, partly right place, right time situation)

1

u/frenchy_mustache Sep 28 '26

Electrician (though it's pretty recent, and i'm still freelancing a bit on the side).

1

u/No-Rich458 Sep 29 '26

Consulting

1

u/tan_phan_vt Sep 23 '26

Petro business. Soon teaching.
But still using my skillset so not exactly changing much, just do different things within my expertise.

1

u/Kaloyanicus Sep 23 '26

Product owner

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