

Ask HN: Career Advice - gxs

I'm 26 and recently wrapped up my bachelors degree in Mathematics from a toppish school after taking a few years off. I am writing to you today in hopes of getting advice from the more experienced people on HN that may have dealt with this scenario at some point in the past.<p>I come from a strong IT background, having worked with IT since I was in high school. I've given programming a shot several times, but I can honestly say it's just not in me. I can do the work, but I notice I'm so anxious while I work - I just don't think it's the type of work for me.<p>That said - I love technology and keep up with it as much as I can (and the SV tech scene). My skill set in it is hard to describe- no real tech chops really, but yet still a little more knowledgeable than the average bear. My programming knowledge is at an introductory level (C++, R, Matlab) having completed a few things for work and school, and a few Euler problems on top of that. I've worked on Linux, Windows, and OS X machines. I've built largish networks (1000 machines), set up file servers, domain controllers, MS SQL servers, source control servers, etc. I guess a good way to describe it would be a mile wide but an inch deep.<p>I would say my most valuable skill is that since I've been doing this type of stuff since I was really young, I've built an incredibly good intuition for tech that allows me to figure stuff out rather quickly.<p>I enjoy technical work. I enjoy solving hard problems. I also, however, enjoy working with people and working on more macro-level issues. I enjoy "being out in the field" and meeting new people constantly. Presenting and networking with people are also things that are really appealing to me.<p>So, then, my question for you is, what type of work am I actually looking for? At first I thought software development would be a natural progression. But it's not, and after years of thinking about it, I’m still not quite sure what the next move might be. (I must emphasize that I'm in no way shape or form passing judgment on programming or programmers, it's simply not for me.)<p>I also don't want to be in sales, I view this as having the same issues as above – too 1-dimensional.<p>So am I asking for too much? Do I just have to buckle up, pick one thing and stick with it? Or is there a job or type of job out there that I’m not aware of where I might be able to do most, if not all of the things I mentioned above? Currently, I’m thinking that finance might provide something like this – is this on the right track? No? If so, what branch of finance?<p>I realize I just bombarded you with tons of questions and burdened you with a 500 word post. Thank you for your time and any thoughts on this will be greatly appreciated.
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codeslush
"I also don't want to be in sales" -- have you too narrowly defined sales?
From reading your description, it seems quite a natural area for you to be, in
the capacity of a Sales Consultant / Sales Engineer / etc... You can be the
technical leg of a sales team and do very well.

There are a lot of companies out there that would exercise your talents in a
role like this. I would go the enterprise software route. Often, your duties
will be varied - from doing presentations to groups of various sizes, to
networking at trade shows, to doing some programming to proof out a concept
for a prospect.

You can tailor your job search such that you do more of one vs the other. For
example, if you don't like programming (at all), then look more on the
hardware side or sys admin type of products. If you want more hands-on in the
tech, and are fond of SQL or something like that, look to the big db
companies. If you want more programming, look at ERP/CRM/????

Just my two cents. Best!

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maxdemarzi
System Admin, with some programming background maybe under the DevOps
movement. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DevOps>

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abbasmehdi
Read job descriptions, tons of them, go for positions that excite you, then
after working a job for a year or two, rinse and repeat.

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orky56
Sales engineer type at a company like Cisco seems right up your alley. Equal
parts software and hardware would ideal.

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ivan_ah
Don't go into finance. It is meaningless, and harmful for society.

