I'm someone who really values other people's company and the outdoors but maybe the reason I do so much is because I have mainly earnt money from working as a developer for the last 10 years. E.g. the job has low levels of this so I desire it more. I have, and still, would like to change career from programming.
I've tried other things including: landscape gardening.
Pros:
- Outdoors
- Get fit
- Learn handywork skills
Cons:
- Poor pay
- Still low level of people interaction
- Not that interlectually engaging
Mountain bike guide
Pros:
- Outdoors
- Exciting
- People interaction
- Nice landscape
- Following a passion I have
Cons:
- Turns my passion into work
- Low interllectual engagement
- Poor pay
I also tried running my own company doing this which was a good experience. Problem with it was that it is difficult to make as much money comparing to programming. Also above points apply.
Cons:
- Loads of digital images you have to work with becomes a bit of a burden
- Regularity of work
- Amount of competition
Writer / Blogger
Pros:
- Fun
- Built the blog so learnt web development
- Good for learning content marketing
Cons:
- Difficult to make money
- Really competitive
- Lots of alone time (I wrote a few books)
- Effort/ reward ratio can be quite low
Estate Agent
Pros:
- Met people
- Look round lots of houses
- Out on the road
Cons:
- Pay
- Image
- Office based
- Can be boring
Exhibition worker
(technical support, building the stands)
Pros:
- Travel (I worked in UAE, Paris, London)
- Working with your hands
- Money can be good
Cons:
- Can make a lot more money as the event organiser
- Long hours
- Intense
Artist
Pros:
- Travel (residencies around the world)
- Meet interesting people doing interesting work
- Intellectually engaging
Cons:
- Difficulty to make a lot of money
- Your lifestyle will be out of sync with anyone else doing a normal 9-5
- Snobbery
- Networking
Designer
Pros:
- Interllectually engaging
- Many different disciplines (eg visual, service, UX, etc)
Cons:
- Need a portfolio
- Very competitive
- Lots of low level crappy work if you cant get the interesting stuff
Teaching English
Pros:
- Meet people
- Command position of authority
- Interesting, engaging work
- Lots of opportunities to mix tech and education
Cons:
- Money not as good as developer
That's my experience of other work, partly. Of course you can also try to make your career as a developer more interesting.
Ways I have tried to do this:
- Earn more money
- Remote working
- Change stack
- Change scale, size, length of project, whether public or private sector
- Develop other things not websites eg. a game
- Get really disciplined about your dev time. Eg. work the way where you can be the more productive, get a pomodoro timer, go outside, try different types of desks.
To conclude this rant, developer / programmer is one of the job roles of the age. Douglas Adams said something along the lines, that each era has its own new industrial revolution and you are lucky if you can make your living out of it. However, it poses challenges but it is new and everyone is in the same boat trying to make it work for them.
I've tried other things including: landscape gardening. Pros: - Outdoors - Get fit - Learn handywork skills
Cons: - Poor pay - Still low level of people interaction - Not that interlectually engaging
Mountain bike guide
Pros: - Outdoors - Exciting - People interaction - Nice landscape - Following a passion I have
Cons: - Turns my passion into work - Low interllectual engagement - Poor pay
I also tried running my own company doing this which was a good experience. Problem with it was that it is difficult to make as much money comparing to programming. Also above points apply.
Photographer
Pros: - Outdoors - Technical - Creatively engaging
Cons: - Loads of digital images you have to work with becomes a bit of a burden - Regularity of work - Amount of competition
Writer / Blogger
Pros: - Fun - Built the blog so learnt web development - Good for learning content marketing
Cons: - Difficult to make money - Really competitive - Lots of alone time (I wrote a few books) - Effort/ reward ratio can be quite low
Estate Agent
Pros: - Met people - Look round lots of houses - Out on the road
Cons: - Pay - Image - Office based - Can be boring
Exhibition worker (technical support, building the stands)
Pros: - Travel (I worked in UAE, Paris, London) - Working with your hands - Money can be good
Cons: - Can make a lot more money as the event organiser - Long hours - Intense
Artist
Pros: - Travel (residencies around the world) - Meet interesting people doing interesting work - Intellectually engaging
Cons: - Difficulty to make a lot of money - Your lifestyle will be out of sync with anyone else doing a normal 9-5 - Snobbery - Networking
Designer
Pros: - Interllectually engaging - Many different disciplines (eg visual, service, UX, etc)
Cons: - Need a portfolio - Very competitive - Lots of low level crappy work if you cant get the interesting stuff
Teaching English
Pros: - Meet people - Command position of authority - Interesting, engaging work - Lots of opportunities to mix tech and education
Cons: - Money not as good as developer
That's my experience of other work, partly. Of course you can also try to make your career as a developer more interesting.
Ways I have tried to do this:
- Earn more money - Remote working - Change stack - Change scale, size, length of project, whether public or private sector - Develop other things not websites eg. a game - Get really disciplined about your dev time. Eg. work the way where you can be the more productive, get a pomodoro timer, go outside, try different types of desks.
To conclude this rant, developer / programmer is one of the job roles of the age. Douglas Adams said something along the lines, that each era has its own new industrial revolution and you are lucky if you can make your living out of it. However, it poses challenges but it is new and everyone is in the same boat trying to make it work for them.