

Can't stand sitting in an office anymore.  Suggestions? - revicon

I've been a web developer and software engineer for 10 years now.  It's a blast, and I have outside projects I work on as well.  But I've gotten to the point where I can't sit in an office for 8 hours a day anymore.  I feel like my world revolves around the office, and I've lost touch with the outside world.  Any job suggestions for someone that needs to be up and about and interacting with the rest of the world, but with my job qualifications?
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mixmax
Buy a boat and work there! You can work just like you do in an office, but the
experience is so much more fun. The view is great, you can feed some ducks
while you think over hard problems, and people love to visit because it's
novel, fun and has a taste of freedom. You can sail off and throw an anchor
somewhere and have long meetings and brainstorms. It's not as hard or
expensive as it sounds.

It only works if you live near some large body of water of course...

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movix
You could always buy a boat an live in it in your garden, I know someone doing
that.

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jacquesm
Quit. Go solo. But first find yourself a single paying customer, and one that
is prepared to pay you a bit up front and the rest on delivery.

That way you're out of the office and in and out of everybody elses.

Doing contract jobs for a while is great way to use the same skillset that you
already have (job qualifications matter a lot less when you're contracting
then when you're being hired for some odd reason).

Your new 'interview' will be the 'pitch', where you sell yourself and what you
can do.

Start with offering your services back to your old boss :)

Beware though, there is no safety net, no guaranteed paycheck. It's not for
everybody but if you can handle the lack of security and you are somewhat
business savvy you'll do fine.

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ganley
Maybe I'm missing something; if you're in the office 8 hours a day, what are
you doing with the other 16 that leaves you feeling out of touch with the
outside world?

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movix
Do it now, you won't regret it.

You already have outside contracts to get you 'ramen profitable'. What are you
waiting for?

Try something completely mad if you want to get out and interact with the
world. What about moobile web development? Pull up next to the burger van at
you local car boot sale, in your Mr. Webby trailer and offer 'By one, get one
free' websites. IDK, just an idea.

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revicon
Love it.

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Derrek
Volunteer a bit of your time to a charity or non-profit. It can be extremely
rewarding to give like that, and it might help you feel more connected to the
world.

Or, you could ditch your office job all together and find a day-to-day "work"
activity that does help you feel more connected to the world.

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roundsquare
Can you work from home? At least part of the week? Maybe just come in for
meetings?

If you can, then any place with a wireless network can be your office... (a
good wireless network anyway).

I'm sure I stole this suggestion from someone else, so if you want credit feel
free to take it.

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davidw
Move to another country and sit in an office there? Ok, sure, you're still in
an office, but the novelty of it all will be a good experience.

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cjg
How about teaching?

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movix
Please, please don't go into teaching if it's not something that you feel
really driven to do. The education system is full of unmotivated seat warmers
just there for the paycheck, and missing the whole point of how crucially
important teaching is.

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bengebre
Yes, no one wants bad teachers. But teaching seems like one of those things
that you have to actually do in order to know if you could be successful at
it. I know quite a few teachers who thought they were passionate about the
profession and quickly burned out. Others came to it from other fields after
some searching and became good teachers.

While I agree that you shouldn't just pick teaching as your career on a whim,
like so many other things in life, sometimes you just gotta try things out to
see whether you're good at them and enjoy them. The hard part is moving along
when you know you need to.

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edw519
I have the exact same problem and it's driving me nuts. I really love what I
do, but I have to force myself to get and walk around with nowhere to go. It
just doesn't seem natural.

One of the things I'm examining is a position as a "sales engineer". I would
go on the road and help sell, train users, teach, and evangelize the
technology. I'd get to program a little (proof on concepts, demos, example
apps, etc.) but not sit in an office all day long. Best of both worlds. Stay
tuned...

