[swayvil]

I was a successful coder for a few years. VB and java.

I watched myself and those around me rot, in body and mind. That is some fucked up morlock shit right there.

These days I'm a handyman. Carpentry, plumbing, painting. Stuff like that.

I still work on my own software projects. Art stuff.

[brightsize]

> These days I'm a handyman. Carpentry, plumbing, painting. Stuff like that.

I've thought of doing this myself. I've been DIY remodeling my 100+yo house room by room while preserving the "period" style and have done a credible job and learned a ton. Planning, floor refinishing, plaster and drywall repair, painting, trim work, light electrical, and lately just a bit of plumbing.

I've found that making something that has the attributes 1) you can be proud of your workmanship, 2) you'll enjoy using yourself for a long time, and 3) other people after you may enjoy for decades, perhaps a century more, is incredibly rewarding. People I've known in construction have told me that they feel good when they can drive by a building, point to it, and say "I helped make that."

I've no idea how one would break into the business though. I'm imagining long apprenticeships ...

[askafriend]

Can you be more specific about what you mean when you say “I watched those around me rot”? Was it just a case of people not taking care of themselves?

[Throwaway123212]

>I watched myself and those around me rot, in body and mind. That is some fucked up morlock shit right there.

Basically captures how I feel.

[Winterflow3r]

Same. Thanks for starting the thread - I've been thinking about leaving too.

[reitanqild]

But still on HN?

[celim307]

? HN is a tech news aggregator. It collides often with pure programming but reading HN === buying into office programming lifestyle.

[swayvil]

No man, that's a cheeto-induced hallucination

[reitanqild]

Don't get me wrong. I just found it weird as I thought if I personally wanted to quit tech I'd want to stop reading HN as well.