Ask HN: I'm making a big decision about my career all comments appreciated | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: I'm making a big decision about my career all comments appreciated

1 pointthrowawayfred10 comments

I have 5 years worth of support experience in large corporate environments and 2 years experience in technical/SAAS support.

I've been with my current company for 2 years. It's a startup and the hours are intense. A big perk has been the chance to see how a software company operates from the inside.

This kind of work is not something I enjoy or find challenging. I'm doing high level support and work as what could be considered a project coordinator for some large projects, but I hate the day to day activities.

Over the past few years, I've been upskilling in my spare time (building a few small web apps and working through most of the FreeCodeCamp curriculum). I started a bachelor degree in CS part time this year. I want to work in development and have made that my #1 goal.

I'm ruminating over two choices:

1. Take a job offer with a larger software company doing the same L2/L3 support tasks as my current role. The pay is much better (a low focus point for me ATM) and they have given me a handshake agreement that I can apply for a developer role when one comes up (I made it clear in the interview that I'm done with support and will be taking the first development opportunity that I see).

2. Self study. I'm spending every free moment working on personal projects and studying, but I cap out at about 2 hours per work day (I work a 10 hours+ per day at the moment) and 6 hours per weekend day. I would like to spend a few months tweaking my projects/developing my skills further (I'm still a bit off getting an interview based on discussions with developers at work, but not that far off) and then start applying for the jobs I'm interested in.

Everyone in my life is telling me to take the job offer, be happy with a pay bump, and spend the next 5 years finishing my degree part-time before looking for a career change. I'm 28 and the though of waiting 5 years to change my career sounds like my own personalized version of hell.

Any input is appreciated.

It sounds to me like the constraints are:

-- You don't care much about money right now, to the point that you're willing to go to $0 for option 2

-- You work too many hours at your current job to do what you want to do.

-- You have an outstanding job offer (you didn't say what the expected workload is but it sounds like probably the same?)

It sounds to me that the obvious choice is to ask your current employer to cut your hours but not your pay. Or maybe just cut your own hours. Worst case they say no and you go to the other job or quit. Best case they say yes and you can maintain your income but still get what you want done.

It sounds like your main priority should be more hours to for you to work towards programming, but you need to balance that with the risk that if you quit you may not be able to get another job right away, especially if the economy tanks.

You're in a much better position if you at least have some sort of job so you aren't losing money.

The constraints are accurate. I had more information in my original reply, but I hit the character limit.

I have a little over 12 months living expenses saved (and a wife that earns a decent income who's willing to support my possible career detour as long as I pull my shit together in the next 3 years so we can pop out some kids). That's a key factor as well -- I want to have kids in the next couple of years and I wouldn't be able to be unemployed to study with small humans running around.

The new position will be 8.5 hours per day (no more no less).

My current employer isn't in the position to cut my hours (well.. they weren't in a position to discuss any changes to my hours/schedule before I had an offer).

> well.. they weren't in a position to discuss any changes to my hours/schedule before I had an offer

Unless you love the job it's better to switch than to get a counteroffer. Even if they give you one, you'll be the first person they cut when the time comes.

Choice 1 - without a contract a handshake means nothing, and as you've said they'll let you apply for the jobs, but that still doesn't guarantee you'll be given them (especially if you become very useful in L2/L3 support).

For me personally I found getting any software development job I could, even though they're really dull large enterprise forms-over-data jobs, gave me a massive boost in development ability and experience, especially because I was thinking about dev for 8+ hours straight every day.

Will the Choice 1 job make you work less hours? If so that frees up more time to work on dev projects on the side, and you could use that to your advantage.

> Choice 1 - without a contract a handshake means nothing, and as you've said they'll let you apply for the jobs, but that still doesn't guarantee you'll be given them (especially if you become very useful in L2/L3 support).

Yeah, that's literally the situation I'm in with my current role. I asked about moving across to the development team (even as an intern for a month unpaid) and was told "your role is too difficult to fill".

I expect that is a serious possibility. As a plus, I did come into the business with a clear mandate so it won't be much of a surprise if I leave for a dev role after a year.

> Will the Choice 1 job make you work less hours? If so that frees up more time to work on dev projects on the side, and you could use that to your advantage.

The hours are fixed (9-5), which is better than my current position.

I just read this after my reply.

If option 1 is a new job for more money and fewer hours, I'd take the new job.

You don't want to be without a job in a few months, as there is a good chance of economic downturn near or shortly after the election.

With a 9-5 fixed hour job, you'll have plenty of time to practice coding.

Echoing timothy-quinn, a handshake means nothing. Given that better pay is not a high priority, then you might consider holding out in your current position for a development position elsewhere.

Absolutely don't wait 5 years to change your career if you can afford otherwise.

Choice 2 could be a good option if you have savings to last for a few months. Do you enjoy your bachelor CS curriculum? If so, can you go full-time on that? If you've got time to plan ahead for Choice 2 and are US-based or able to travel to the US, then places like 42 school (Fremont, CA) or the recurse center (NYC) can be good for independent study with enthusiastic peers.

I'm based in New Zealand.

I would consider going full-time with the CS degree, but it's very theoretical and I'm not sure if it's worth the effort (vs. self study).

What is most fascinating about your first choice is that you received an offer after telling them you don't want to do the work. Do you know why they want to hire you despite this?

EDIT: Depending on their reasoning to extend you an offer, option 1 could be an excellent opportunity.

Take the new job. Use the free hours to brush up your dev skills.

You should have no problem getting a dev job within a year. Make sure your study is focused, you don't need to know everything about everything. Pick a niche and study that and execute some projects in that niche.

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