Ask HN: People who moved away from tech business/career, what do you do?

[throwaway_32u10]

20 years ago when I was choosing my career, I was thinking that it is so amazing that I can build digital things to help people and companies with their day to day lives. Little I knew that tech progress has probably peaked at around early 2000s.

After that, tech mainly became grifting and scamming for as much money as possible. Between companies that raise absurd amounts of money for a pin that is your "friend"; companies that use open source as GTM (grift-to-market) strategy in order to later just say "fuck you" to their user base and take as much VC money as possible; space companies buying a freaking ide; or the entire tech sector burning so much energy just to generate ghibli styled cat pictures - I'm done with it. It seems like there are no morals or ethics in this field at all. It's just littered with surveillance tech, severe burnouts, and simple greed from "tech bros" in order to drive super cars or go to space. And in anyway, I'm just waiting for the inevitable future where I will be "laid off" because of "AI optimizations".

So, my questions is: People who have moved away from pure tech businesses / careers, and moved to traditional fields or maybe tech adjacent careers / founded businesses in these fields - what do you do and how did you get there?

[alanorourke]

I was a designer > Marketer > CMO > CEO. Now I write and illustrate children's books with various publishers.

But then of course I started seeing gaps and issues in the process, so now my side project from illustrating for kids is a marketing platform for the more creatively minded :) https://www.getlouderlines.com/artists/

[GianFabien]

Not in SV, not even in the USA. So my experience is probably different. Whilst I was pulling down a good salary, invested in apartments to rent out. Banks are happy to lend if you have a steady income from a job. When I reached critical mass, sold them off one by one, quit the job and living a good life. Not IC level, but zero stress.

A good income is a hedonistic trap if you spend it on booze, cars, babes and parties.

[throwaway_32u10]

Ah yes, was considering this. But (a) stupid laws with rental properties and (b) aren't tenants a pain in the ass, much bigger than your average tech team lead?

[GianFabien]

Yes, tenants can be a pain. The laws have increasingly become less investor friendly. In my experience having a good managing agents provides a valuable buffer. The real money is made when you cash out and collect the capital gains. Of course, you need to tax accountant to make sure you don't give the government most of your gains.