Ask HN: Do you have a backup career?

Maybe your "backup career" should be the side project of learning how to invest the money you make now to become independently wealthy, or close to it, as soon as practical.

I have changed career fields (industry and skills required) every 10 years, most of them grew out of my side hobbies. From my experience, always have a side hobby that can grow up to become a new career if you want. Also, having a side hobby, that is not connected to your current career, will make you think and act differently even in your current career job.

The demand for trade skills (plumbing, carpentry, electrician, construction, mechanical assembly etc.) is growing as more and more people gravitating toward white collar jobs. These are also a nice skill to have in your daily life. You don't need to think of these skills as "backup" career plan but more of something that takes you away from the work you do for 8-10 hours a day.

Though HN is not fond of him, you might want to check out Mr. Money Mustache http://www.mrmoneymustache.com. He was a software engineer and "retired" at early age and enjoys his carpentry and construction work. The forum on his site also offers wealth of information on alternative methods of keeping busy that also pays.

It's a controversial one but it's only a backup anyway. If shit really hits the fan and you're in decent physical shape you can join the military. They pay you enough to support a family, through allowances, and provide a house.

I'm in now or I wouldn't recommend it otherwise. Pick 35P or 35Q in the Army. For 35P, you are basically a student for 2 years and if you're good they'll send you on an all expense paid vacation to Africa, the Middle East or China (for a language immersion). You can learn an entire foreign language from native speakers while you collect a paycheck and support a family. As 35Q you would get to do network security stuff.

Do not join if you can't get a good MOS. Joining as say, a truck driver, will not be a good time for someone who frequents HN, I can promise you that. Not because of the job, but because of the people you'd be around all the time.

Now, just try to keep your current job and you'll be golden.

This is something I'm worried about too, but it'd be hard to maintain the progress on "backup career", and if I were to make the switch I'd be starting from bottom again..

I've started studying for LSAT myself (for Law School). I figure that I probably won't want to be coding my whole life, so I might as well get something else lined up.