[thefuzz]

I'm someone who is thinking of changing carriers at 30 to become a developer. I love the idea of cutting out bureaucracy and office politics and be paid decently. I'd love any thoughts and advice from more experienced people about what I should do in the next 12-24 months.

[donkeyd]

> cutting out bureaucracy and office politics

Not trying to demotivate you, but that's just not gonna happen. I'm a developer who works on 'consultancy' basis. I've worked in multiple organizations and all of them have bureaucracy and office politics. As a developer it might sometimes feel even worse, because you're supposed to be the technical guy and not meddle with business, but you're still impacted by all the shit that's going on.

Unless you manage to get a job at a well funded, hardly managed, early stage startup in the burn phase, it'll be like many other jobs. And even if you do get to work in a startup like that, you'll see that there are also downsides to it.

My advice; first see if you actually like programming and have at least some feeling for the analytical thinking required to be able to do it. Do this after work and during weekends. Pick any language and follow an online course start to end. Then build something you think of yourself, anything, it can be useless and stupid, but it should be yours. You'll find out whether you like it while doing it. If you don't, then don't switch jobs.

[thefuzz]

Hey thanks for the reply. That's excellent advice and I really appreciate it.

I currently am stuck to a job due to visa reasons (if I quit or get fired, I have to leave the first world) for the next 6 months. The job's quite stressful with constant sales deadlines for me to also be learning JavaScript in the evenings. I'm putting in the time but consistency has been hard to come by.

I'm thinking of relocating somewhere that isn't expensive, find a job that's cognitively not as challenging to have spare time to learn and build stuff. I need a change in my day to day right now.

[dboreham]

Yes there is client politics but the difference is you don't need to buy into it emotionally.

[pault]

If you are emotionally invested in the quality of your work and the product gets nerfed by some C-level executive power play, it can be just as demoralizing. This is not at all unusual in my experience.

[sixQuarks]

I've been doing a successful lifestyle business for over a decade, the best advice is to research one very specific consumer area, and provide information that will save people time - mostly through presenting research in as concise a way as possible.

Most people underestimate the desire of humans not to think. We all need to do research when we're buying something we're not familiar with, nobody wants to spend time thinking and comparing and figuring out what the best option is - save them time and you'll eventually develop a lifestyle business.

It's important to note that it takes time, perhaps up to 3 years to really get going, but once it gets going, it's like a flywheel that's hard to stop.

[shubhamjain]

Could you be more specific? What does concise research refer to ? Do you mean info-products like videos, eBooks, and courses?

[sixQuarks]

What's the last major thing you purchased? Basically, be on the lookout for frustrating purchases, were you not able to find good info? Too many spammy sites? What site do you wish was available to help you with that purchase? If you can't find it, make it.

[jventura]

I can only think of price-comparison or review-based websites. Is that what you're talking about? How could you monetize something like that without ads, for instance?

[sixQuarks]

curated lead generation. You basically only market the good products in your niche

[bitL]

They're making their living off it, won't likely tell you. I can understand that.

[laksmanv]

Curious what type of products you're talking about?

[settsu]

To confirm what others have said: becoming a developer will not inherently "[cut] out bureaucracy and office politics" and certainly does not hold any guarantee of being "paid decently."

That doesn't make it any less feasible if you find yourself dissatisfied with your current path. Just don't fall for an illusion of greener grass on the other side of the fence.

For a personal view: I was programming in BASIC at 12 and coding HTML not long after. And while my professional journey has been... meandering (I'm whatever the opposite of a Type A personality is), after 10+ years (not contiguous) of having some variation of web development as my primary job responsibility, I'm pretty well bored and unmotivated at this point. I've made more than I do now and been less happy and I've made less and been happier, had more/less autonomy, and in a relatively wide variety of environments: large corporation, small businesses, not-for-profits, freelance, healthcare, verticals, consumer-oriented.

And frankly, if I had ideal working conditions and made double what I do now, would I happier in general? Sure. But I wouldn't necessarily be any more excited to wake up and do that work than the day before. Because the factors you cited, while not inconsequential, can vary and change due to factors entirely out of your control. And they have no causal relationship to any particular work.

In other words, if you've eliminated all bureaucracy and office politics from the equation, and you secure a generous income, it still doesn't mean you'll feel different when your head hits the pillow at night and your eyelids lift to greet the morning.

With a 12-24 month timeframe, you may want to reflect on what your core values are—what really drives and motivates you.

[thefuzz]

Hi! Thanks for your reply - I really appreciate it.

To give you a bit of background, I'm an immigrant in the UK (from a 3rd world country, one of these: Brazil, China, India) as a sponsored employee. This means that I've been stuck in a job I didn't want, to be to be able to live in a country I wanted to live in. In the next 6-8 months, I will get a permant resident permit allowing me freedom to work anywhere I like without restrictions on minimum salary (like I have now). This is huge because I've been in a job I don't like for 5 fucking years!

I have a background in being self taught at the basics of HTML, CSS, some wordpress, a bit of javascript. I have designed a few projects in the past and it's super exciting to be able to create as a job. I feel like problem solving as a job sounds like a good fit because that's something I'm good at (once I know the syntax i'm dealing with).

After 5 years, I kind of feel like a slave and just want to spend a year (at first) doing things I think I might be good at, while doing things I know I like doing and I want to do more of.

[settsu]

Wow, what a journey you've made! I can see where you're coming from, literally & figuratively.

(If it wasn't obvious already, background is firmly rooted in white, male, American privilege. My family wasn't the Western stereotype of rich but by any reasonable measure, I was unquestionably fortunate.)

> it's super exciting to be able to create as a job. I feel like problem solving as a job sounds like a good fit because that's something I'm good at

I'm right with you on both the creating and the problem solving, both are key for me as well. As others have said, explore the various languages, platforms and such to discover which might click for you. Could be that you find operating as a generalist the best route or you may find a niche that you dive deep into. There are so many possibilities that fall under the umbrella of "developer" at this point, the sky literally isn't even the limit any longer.

Sounds like you're in a good place to make the leap soon and I wish you the best in finding an opportunity to land on!

[thefuzz]

I just saw this, thank you for the super encouraging reply! While I've never been poor, I come from a place where the thinking is very narrow and I've been super lucky to get out and have a chance at living on my own terms.

Your idea of starting an online diary is also very interesting - I'll definitely consider doing everything in public. I'm just a bit paranoid about putting my (sometimes opinionated) thoughts out there for future employers to see. Maybe it can be a strictly advice, wins and losses.

[settsu]

Wanted to add that you might consider writing about this then build on that by continuing to share the progress of your journey. At the very least you would have something to reflect back on but moreso I suspect there are others who would find encouragement in what you've been through already.

Just a thought...

[garrickvanburen]

Find 1 client that will pay you to develop something small for them. Ideally something taking 1-3 months of part-time focus. Repeat for 14 years.

[cookiecaper]

Don't fall for the myth that politics are irrelevant to coders. It is true that they are slightly more insulated from the game, but only because their skill is difficult to find. The bosses plainly resent having to pretend to respect socially/politically inept technicians, and that's not a good position to put yourself in.

You may be able to keep a heads-down position with limited political exposure, but you'll cap out relatively quickly, and easily be beaten by colleagues with better instincts. Your mobility across employers will be limited. Developers, like all groups of people, are subject to psychological forces too.

"Politics" are what happens anytime a group of 5+ people get together and engage. Throw in things like a paycheck and the stakes shoot way up very quickly, and that's never going to change. It is better to accept this perspective and learn to prosper within it than to live in denial and try to cling to a white-collar career maintained by sheer force of intellect (e.g., the inept developer).

[thefuzz]

Wow, thanks for that well written response!

I think I understand your point. I haven't really had many jobs and the one I have right now at age 30, I'm allowed to go in when I want, wear literally ANYTHING I want and not questioned very much, and I get paid around £42k a year (including bonuses). Thing is that I can't stand it. I need to experience what a job that I like or I'm interested in is like.

[andys627]

Choose a language, make an immaculate/by-the-book demo project and open source it on Github, shotgun apply to many jobs.