honestly? Getting in to software development. I should have been a mechanic, carpenter, machinist, or just sucked it up and spent more time really studying math and gone the engineering/architecture route.
I've known my entire life that I needed to be making tangible physical stuff to be really satisfied, yet somehow I have never made the leap because the money is too good in technology land, and building software seemed like a pretty good compromise. Now I'm bored with software engineering, transitioned in to a corporate information security role to take a break, and feel like I'll never get back to anything I like more cause the money is just too good.
Depressingly, I can see myself slowly moving up to middle/upper management (it's already started a little bit) because once again the money is too good, and falling in to the trap of telling myself "look how cheap you live compared to your income, you can just retire by 50", which probably won't happen anyway. Hell, even if it does, I'll be 50. Not the end of the world, but not as good as doing what you enjoy through your 20s, 30s, and 40s.
tldr: first world problems. As much as people like to make fun of the stereotypical "white guys are either in business or start a brewery" thing, I get it.
> Depressingly, I can see myself slowly moving up to middle/upper management (it's already started a little bit) because once again the money is too good
If the path upward involves management, and that doesn't appeal to you, consider looking for a company with a better technical job ladder. You can climb the ladder without going into management.
Consider combining the best of both worlds by launching a startup based on products from your interest areas (selling them, connecting makers/collectors, streamlining processes for related manufacturers, etc). You can start on the side and quit work to focus fulltime if it grows. Lots of lucrative sub-sectors in design-related physical goods.
You can also take a sabbatical/time off/holiday to refresh your mind, explore ideas, tinker with related hobbies. If you stick to tech, consider taking similar but shorter breaks regularly (e.g. 1-3x yearly).
For the past year I've (intentionally) not done much/anything tech related for side-projects just to give myself a real break. I've done some stuff on the side, and even made a little cash at it, but its been in totally different areas that I probably can't scale in to a full-time gig.
Maybe it's time to get back on the horse, in a bit of a different way.
> "Now I'm bored with software engineering, transitioned in to a corporate information security role to take a break"
> "Depressingly, I can see myself slowly moving up to middle/upper management (it's already started a little bit) because once again the money is too good"
It's like you're writing about a future version of me. I'm now just pondering getting more into infosec.
tons of demand in the industry. If you can become a solid analyst, reverser, or anything else in the malware research space you will pretty much be all set. Corporate infosec is a little different, I just kind of stumbled in to it.
not really, I'm not in the desktop support group. I'll help with implementation of some cool security suites across our whole infrastructure (servers + workstations), but I'm not in a desktop support queue or anything.
Still doing application architecture, cloud architecture/etc... for a couple of our groups as well, which is a nice change sometimes.
Ah very cool. Not sure if yours are similar, but the one near me has stuff for electronics, wood and metal working shops, a machine shop, rapid prototyping (laser engraver, 3d printers, CNC routers, ...) and lots of really quite smart and friendly people willing to help you out. It's a great way to "get back in the game" as it were, without needing the space/resources to acquire all the tools. Sometimes you need to take a certification class before they'll let you touch the expensive/dangerous tools, but that's really not so unreasonable. At least in my experience, once you get to know the staff and prove yourself, you can usually get away with more, like, say, teaching kids how to do things even though their insurance probably only allows 18+.
Definitely worth checking out; oftentimes you can call ahead/show up and they'll give you a tour around the place.
I've known my entire life that I needed to be making tangible physical stuff to be really satisfied, yet somehow I have never made the leap because the money is too good in technology land, and building software seemed like a pretty good compromise. Now I'm bored with software engineering, transitioned in to a corporate information security role to take a break, and feel like I'll never get back to anything I like more cause the money is just too good.
Depressingly, I can see myself slowly moving up to middle/upper management (it's already started a little bit) because once again the money is too good, and falling in to the trap of telling myself "look how cheap you live compared to your income, you can just retire by 50", which probably won't happen anyway. Hell, even if it does, I'll be 50. Not the end of the world, but not as good as doing what you enjoy through your 20s, 30s, and 40s.
tldr: first world problems. As much as people like to make fun of the stereotypical "white guys are either in business or start a brewery" thing, I get it.