Ask HN: How can I stay gainfully employed when I just want to “coast” as a SWE?
12 by indamez | 16 comments on Hacker News.
In my immediate family there is no precedent for following a career. I'm the first one to graduate college, so I approach my jobs like how my dad treats his blue-collar job. Just doing something that pays the bills. I do like programming otherwise but not with the pressure to be super-ambitious. I want a software engineer job where most people are basically coasting, but everyone seems to look down at my slow career growth. They expect a "story" in my resume with a definite "beginning" and "end" with development and accomplishments in the middle. Sorry, but I haven't yet adjusted to that mindset and I don't know if I can. This worked fine for me in 2010, but in 2015 and beyond it has gotten way more difficult to get job offers. I never even have a proper FT job. or retirement accounts. I'm now a part-time freelancer that chases after short projects but doesn't earn enough for a livable salary. Is this the industry telling me I'm not cut out to be a career programmer? Am I just now limited to using programming as a hobby, to tinker around with home projects while I take a job in something very different? I don't know what else I'd like to do (that doesn't require returning to college) and I don't like where that possibility is heading for me. I just wanted to model my career after the pacing of my parents' jobs since that is what I have been most accustomed to in my life. Is there still room for older but lower-end programmers who work like this?