Any other good paying careers besides tech you'd recommend?

Do you really think I'm crazy enough to tell the world my real name? · 2017-07-11T15:20:56

Not to be negative, but I am seriously considering leaving the IT/tech industry. Largely because I haven't been able to find stability ever since I've started 7 years ago. The constant hassle of companies only wanting to hire people through contracting, then suddenly lay you off for whatever reason has constantly put me in a bad situation. Even worse, I've never had a contract go it's full duration. No, not once. I'm constantly told, "you should seek permanent employment", but companies are not often hiring for fulltime. Others recommend startups, but my experience there is far worse than what I experience at gargantuan companies like Microsoft or Amazon. The interviewing process for many of these positions is either broken or poorly executed, making finding a new position nearly impossible. Sometimes I'm out of work for 2 months at a time, and the last period was 7-8 months. I have a job now, but it manual QA plus it doesn't even pay the bare minimum of my expenses, back rent, debts, and so on. I only took it because I can't get anything else right now. This industry hasn't been very good to me. If I'm going from making $XXX a day/year for X number of months, then getting the boot suddenly all the time, what is the point if there's no stability? How wonderful does it sound being employed at Microsoft, yet homeless at the same time?? I've heard others consider and say the exact same things. Lastly, it's easy to say "be positive" when NONE of the above is happening to you... So I'm asking if there's other career paths that some of you have taken that still pay a good living? As much as I hate to say it, I might even go back to school for it if necessary. To be honest, I don't know much else career wise and this is what I have the most experience in, so I'll likely be seen as a (former) dev/SDET for life so I don't know if I can even get out of tech if I seriously consider leaving. As usual, this sucks. Any ideas? Thanks. Shogun

Games Career Development Business

Started by blueshogun96 June 23, 2017 02:45 PM

19 comments, last by blueshogun96 7 years, 4 months ago

blueshogun96

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July 11, 2017 03:20 PM

15 hours ago, Nypyren said:

Seattle and SF have ridiculously high cost of living, high competition, and lots of companies that go bust quickly. You might try Oregon or Texas, if you can find any jobs in those states. (I'm in Oregon.)

Seattle's cost of living isn't too bad (even though housing prices have nearly doubled in the last 7-8 years) if you are making at least in the $40k-ish range, but I've made more than double that so I got comfortable rather easy and had plenty of disposable income before. Seattle is still far cheaper than, let's say, NYC. SF, however, is far worse. I don't believe it would be worth it.

I've been considering Oregon, such as the Portland area, but apartments and rental houses are more expensive there. If I get another call about a job in Hillsboro for Intel, I'm taking it.

Shogun.