Ask HN: Semi lucrative careers after tech?

46, I'm a senior infradev somewhere, and this year I built a 48 foot (half length) greenhouse to start learning how to grow stuff. Not as a plan b career per se but I think plan b overall is to have a few things going that can each chip away at the mortgage.

I do know that when I'm in that thing, I feel like I'm on a vacation. My corporate ego can't fit through the door and I'm just some happy dude in there breathing fresh air with fresh oxygen. If I can figure out how to live off the food and sell some of it (or at least give it away) then that's 8% of my way to transitioning out of tech.

We're all largely in the same boat. Every company's trying to save cash, run lean, reign in the R&D, scale the automation, use the AI to drop the headcount. Humans are cost centers. We don't feel good, we're all looking to get onto the same single elevator out of here and the logs they're a' jamming. Everyone goes home after work, looks for meaning on amazon, waits for someone else to say 'lets hang out, lets connect, lets be', and we dont, we just have this fantasy about feeling control, feeling together, feeling alive. Unreal engine 6 better make me remember what high school friends felt like.

We're all there with you. Alone.

Something I've been trying push more recently is that AI will not stop at tech or its current level of capabilities.

The world is changing very fast now, and that pace of change will only accelerate.

You'll see many existential risks arise in coming years. Most will be negligible, but as they compound something will go wrong.

Similarly the magic box of AI will continue to deliver changes that would seem insane were I to predict them today.

In 5 years you may be granted the ability to read minds or never need to worry about money again.

The future is now almost entirely unpredictable. The only thing that isn't completely unpredictable is tomorrow.

Please, if you have the chance to enjoy your self for the next few years without having to worry about how you'll put food on the table, consider doing that.

Do not over-index on how the world is right now because things are going to change so much. A good career today is extremely unlikely to be a good career tomorrow.

If need be, just get a job. Stack some shelves and deliver some pizzas, spend the rest with those you love and doing the things that matter to you. I can't predict the future exactly, but I assure you, if you're still around, you'll realise how little thinking about this mattered in 2 decades.

Have you considered consulting? Could be a good way to explore other industries and geographies while making use of the skills you have today. I'm sure many people would want to hire you or work with you.

You might appreciate this book, too: https://www.amazon.ca/Second-Mountain-David-Brooks/dp/081299...

Project + Program Management for me in varied fields from tech to manufacturing.

THis isn't my cup of tea really but if you're faang-paid maybe real estate is viable.......

it seems that all human skills will be absorbed and serve as reference material for AI generation; I think the best approach is either to position oneself to control that process or to move into an industry where AI can be leveraged to drastically boost productivity.

3 years ago we started a small regen farm focusing on pastured poultry. Started with 150 laying hens, this year we have 1000. Also raising pastured broilers on the side. I’m still freelancing but plan is to become fulltime farmer next year.

Poultry is a good business but definetly not an easy one. Learning curve is steep, days are long some times, but I feel like completely different person after day of farm chores compared to yelling at LLM’s.

What do you care about?

Lucrative financially or emotionally/spiritually?

Usually people pay money so someone does things that few people would do of their own accord.

On Bullshit Jobs

https://www.youtube.com/live/kikzjTfos0s