HACKER Q&A
📣 newpersononsite

Need help transitioning out of Software Engineering please


Hi everyone! It has been many years now since I’ve felt completely lost in my career direction. I work as a backend software engineer and want to transition out of it. I’m feeling quite hopeless at this point. I grew up lower middle class so until now I’ve spent my life just thinking of money and never ever asked myself what I like. I now realize that I cannot spend the rest of my life feeling miserable on the job just for the money so I want to transition into something else, but I don’t know what. I want to switch to something that aligns with my tech background and strengths. What other jobs can I transition into where I can leverage my strengths and background?

Professional background:

  - Bachelors + Masters all in Computer Science
  - 10 years of experience all in FAANG level company
  - Senior software engineer level. Decided to not go further as I was no longer interested in going further down this path
  - All experience is in backend development with just a little bit of frontend work
  - I’m a good engineer, but nothing like some tech genius from Harvard
Things I like

  - I like numbers (personal finance, stocks, budgeting). In college I liked Algorithms and Data Structures and the general nature of efficient problem solving through algorithms. I’m quite comfortable with math in general.
  - I like to socialize and have good skills in terms of making friends and getting along with people. I like to work together with a team and not work in isolation. (I’m NOT good at leadership kind of roles or sales)
Things I do not like

  - Plumbing work of backend software engineering. Doing tasks like oncall, setting up monitoring, migration projects, etc. Most of the work seems to be debugging because something is not working. Debugging code triggers my anxiety through the roof.
Strengths

  - I do good quality research. I can work with very little information and am quite independent in my work
  - Good at analysis, especially thinking of second/third order consequences about decisions. I’m not reckless in decision making.
  - Good at socializing and getting along with people
Weaknesses

  - Relatively higher on the neuroticism spectrum. (Anxiety, general discomfort, overthinking). I do not do well in fast paced / chaotic environments due to it as I’m prone to taking stress easily. It’s also why I do not think I’m suitable for any kind of leadership role.
If you need any more information about my background, please let me know. I’m happy to share more information. My goal is to find a list of potential jobs that I can try to see if what can potentially be a fulfilling job for me.

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me. Any input that you provide has the potential to completely change my life for good and I will be forever grateful.


  👤 tetris11 Accepted Answer ✓
If you have the financial stability, go test yourself in academic research. Many biology labs are desperate for informaticians, and you don't need to be an expert in the topics

👤 DamonHD
There might be something in the dev outreach and public facing support areas that would work for you.

👤 quintes
You could look at industry analyst firms with your background and qualifications maybe?

👤 bilsbie
Anyone know if recruiting would be a good escape capsule for devs?

Any tips on getting started?