I am interested in why you think transitioning to a career as a software developer is going to improve your life. I fear you may be a victim of the “grass is greener” bias.
I think programming is great, but I’m not sure I’d choose it as a profession if given the choice to do over again. And I definitely wouldn’t transition into it from another career path. I think most programmers are undercompensated relative to their talents (this is especially true if you adopt a definition of compensation that includes more than just money). Note that society considers it entirely reasonable to import large numbers of foreigners to fill the supposed “shortage” of IT professionals, thus undercutting the market value of native-born Americans.
Perhaps it would be a good exercise to write up your reasons for making the switch and post it to LW. Often when one begins to write about an idea, one realizes that the idea involves problematic assumptions and arguments that seem good in far mode but fall apart upon concrete inspection. This would also give you some feedback from the community, which obviously includes many veteran programmers.
There are a lot of reasons, which I have been discussing on and off throughout my time on LW, and would take a while to compile and articulate. But on the matter of whether this is a “grass is greener” bias: I’ve been in aerospace engineering for almost seven years now, and the high point of any day for me is programming, on or off the job. I have very extensively seen the grass both on this side of the fence and the other, and I definitely do not want to be doing this for another ten years, even counting the status uplift I seem to get on telling people that I’m in aerospace engineering.
Furthermore, what matters to me is the actual wage [1] I can get, not the relative theoretical amount that I’m being “underpaid”. There is a huge chasm, at least with regard to where I am right now, between what I could theoretically get (assuming lots of connections and specific experience I don’t have), and what I actually would get, given my present situation.
So I do think it’s worthwhile to compile my numerous specific reasons in a comment, but I don’t think the concerns you have raised justify any fundamental reconsideration of this transition that would take priority over preparation for the program—though if I get some free time, I will do as you have suggested.
[1] please, no complaints about the distinction between “salary” and “income” and “wage” and “freelance income” … I’m using “wage” in the economic sense, of payment for labor, irrespective of what form it takes.
I don’t know exactly but it would probably involve business strategy. I would like to regard the economic landscape as a chessboard and have the wherewithal to move the pieces around.
I am interested in why you think transitioning to a career as a software developer is going to improve your life. I fear you may be a victim of the “grass is greener” bias.
I think programming is great, but I’m not sure I’d choose it as a profession if given the choice to do over again. And I definitely wouldn’t transition into it from another career path. I think most programmers are undercompensated relative to their talents (this is especially true if you adopt a definition of compensation that includes more than just money). Note that society considers it entirely reasonable to import large numbers of foreigners to fill the supposed “shortage” of IT professionals, thus undercutting the market value of native-born Americans.
Perhaps it would be a good exercise to write up your reasons for making the switch and post it to LW. Often when one begins to write about an idea, one realizes that the idea involves problematic assumptions and arguments that seem good in far mode but fall apart upon concrete inspection. This would also give you some feedback from the community, which obviously includes many veteran programmers.
There are a lot of reasons, which I have been discussing on and off throughout my time on LW, and would take a while to compile and articulate. But on the matter of whether this is a “grass is greener” bias: I’ve been in aerospace engineering for almost seven years now, and the high point of any day for me is programming, on or off the job. I have very extensively seen the grass both on this side of the fence and the other, and I definitely do not want to be doing this for another ten years, even counting the status uplift I seem to get on telling people that I’m in aerospace engineering.
Furthermore, what matters to me is the actual wage [1] I can get, not the relative theoretical amount that I’m being “underpaid”. There is a huge chasm, at least with regard to where I am right now, between what I could theoretically get (assuming lots of connections and specific experience I don’t have), and what I actually would get, given my present situation.
So I do think it’s worthwhile to compile my numerous specific reasons in a comment, but I don’t think the concerns you have raised justify any fundamental reconsideration of this transition that would take priority over preparation for the program—though if I get some free time, I will do as you have suggested.
[1] please, no complaints about the distinction between “salary” and “income” and “wage” and “freelance income” … I’m using “wage” in the economic sense, of payment for labor, irrespective of what form it takes.
What profession would you choose?
I don’t know exactly but it would probably involve business strategy. I would like to regard the economic landscape as a chessboard and have the wherewithal to move the pieces around.