Ask HN: Have you thought about leaving programming for the trades?

I think about this a lot, but my thoughts always go to aging. As long as my mind and fingers still work, I can work on a computer until I’m old and gray. The physical requirements are minimal.

Could you shadow your neighbor (or someone else in the trade you be interested in) for a few days to get a better idea of the realities of the job and if you’d enjoy it? Also, pay attention to their frustrations and issues and ask if they have similar feelings, wishing they had a job like yours (the grass is always greener…). I think no matter that the job, if it’s a break from the norm, it will feel nice at first.

Much like Office Space, I spent a few months doing demo work in addition to my normal IT job. I was working 90 hour weeks, was having a great time, and look back on that time fondly. However, I’m not sure I’d have the same view of it after 10 years, if it was my main job. I was a tourist, I didn’t live there, and I could stop whenever I wanted.

I left the trades for programming. Your body can't maintain that type of work unless you stay fit. Then there is the risk of injuries which is inevitable. Working on concrete is hard on your knees, hips and back. You eventually have to do something different like management.

How long did it take your neighbour to become qualified/time served and how many further hours did it take for him to get to the position he is in now? I think you're looking at another soul destroying ten years?

I'm 59 and used to work in construction, many of my former peers are now physical wrecks. I got out in my 40's and, in hindsight, it was a good decision. I also can't think of anyone who made a huge amount of money at the time either?

Your neighbor who makes more than you (I am guessing) he has been doing it for a longtime and is good at it. So let's not overlook the time it will take you to catch up to where s/he is.

As for software dev being volatile, I agree. But it's not volatile for everyone. A good electrician is rare. A good programmer is rare.

If you are moving based solely on your neighbors success, I urge you to speak to 30 other elecs before you make the jump.

I hired a driver in Spain to take us from Valencia to Granada. Striking up a conversation with him on the way I learned he used to be an electrician and said he would never go back to it. Guess it depends on the individual. I worked in Alaska one summer and got to kind of assist an electrician while we were getting the cannery ready to process fish for the upcoming season. For a commercial job like that there was a good amount of physical labor and crawling around in attics etc involved getting the cables from place to place. I also had a job doing telecom wiring at my university. Most of that was just straightforward wiring jacks or hooking up lines at the end points but it did lead to another job I got at better pay but involved more physical labor pulling wires. Like anything else, any career you go into will need to be managed or you could just find yourself stagnating.

Ended my last software engineering role in 2022 and have been doing carpentry and recently welding since then. Huge pay cut. 10x the satisfaction of building something tangible. If you can afford to scale back your lifestyle, and take time to learn the skills, do it! You won’t regret it.

Sometimes I fancy about that but then I realize that I should wake up early because all those jobs go by the sun, work in cold and hot weather, drive around for many kms, etc. They could make more money than I do, it's well deserved and I'm OK with what I'm doing now.

You could be sitting on a beach at the ocean doing your job.

You can be part of a 1-5 man shop that makes a million (USD) a year per person.

You could do both of these things.

The only thing that limits you as a programer are your own ideas and your own ambitions.

A work friend of mine is suffering from Tinnitus which started after his Covid infection, so much he cannot cope with normal conversations when speaking over Teams or in face to face interactions.

He's a senior engineer and one of the best I know, and is considering wood working / joinery. From my research, it's not exactly well paid but he says it's something he's always wanted to do and will keep his mind busy and loud enough to distract away.

This sounds like programming was not your thing in the first place.

You probably were there just for the money and fashion.

Im not a born hacker myself, but this is something i can do better then the majority of the population. While i also can do many thinggs well with my hands - ill barely achieve same expert level as the best.

So why bother.

I have thought about it - I talked to many of my friends in trades. They are all jealous of how good I have it. Most of them are earning ~70% of what I do, often spend ~2 hours commuting, hard on the body, risk of injuries... maybe you can transition to a orthogonal field in software to change things up?

I thought about it early in my career (5ish years), and I realised it's not so much "can work X hours" as much as "has to work X hours, often starting at 5am", especially early in the trade career.

Your tech career counts for nothing in the trades, you start from zero.

I’d become a truck driver.

I love driving. When I drive I like to pretend I’m driving a big truck lol.

In Australia, the "Traffic Control person" (aka Lollipop person) earns AUD 125K (USD 79K) and even without any qualifications doing home maintenance such as painting, replacing washers on leaking taps, or assembling Ikea furniture earns up to $100,000 pa.

People with PhD in Life Science struggle to get a job but people who have watched a few YouTubes earn huge wages.

If I were advising a younger coder, I would suggest that they learn COBOL and get paid $150K and leave the office at 5.00 pm

Yes but it's difficult to justify the immediate loss in income for long term gains

Trades usally demand better physical health. I can't do that :/

I often wished we had more houses.

I rarely wished we had more software

dont we all, we just here for money to do other trades man. the few outliers are nerds.

Yep, it's what I'm spending my time trying to find the best path toward, since I'm out of work and it doesn't seem hopeful anymore. Might get a warehouse job or something in the meantime if I can, but my resume is shit and considering just taking a fundamentals course and applying for apprenticeships.