Ask HN: Anyone switched from law to tech? How are you finding it?

5 points·Winterflow3r··4 comments

I am currently working in tech and am considering a switch to law, so I'd be curious to hear some experiences of those who made the opposite switch. What has surprised you? What do you miss about the legal profession? What is better in tech than in law?

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I sort of did it, trained as a lawyer, got into e discovery, then became a product manager (that’s now doing some data privacy related product management, so there is some crossover). Most of my law school friends have had a pretty rough go of it, tbh, and are not enjoying life as much as people in tech do. Billable hours, high stress, no autonomy, and practicing in fields that can be kind of a drag. Things are much much better in tech generally speaking.

Thanks very much for the reply! I've heard that the work hours are much longer for sure than your avg tech job. Is there anything about law that you personally miss in tech?

I did not do much law practice, so hard to say. I miss writing well thought out documents. In the tech / corporate world people have very short attention spans so I only write out a couple of bullet points, and I wish there were people who were OK with a longer and more thought out piece of writing that’s more commmon in law.

I've sort of wondered about making the same switch you are thinking of. I think the main reason I won't do it is the cost of law school.

On top of that, it seems the system is not clear cut and it doesn't follow it's own rules. I've recently had some dealings with some state troopers, the DA's office, local PD, and a few magistrates. The level of incompetence, indifference, and even misconduct (lies in court) is appalling. I've started to become disillusioned by the system's integrity, and I don't know that I want to be a part of that.

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