Any Ex software engineers here? What are you doing now after leaving the IT industry?

[cha_indian]

I have thinking of leaving the IT industry for good. It is close to 13 years and now I feel there is no growth for me. It is a industry of a young man and people who are in the 40s are routinely chucked out! What career options do we have? Any suggestions ?

 

[VRavichandar]

Many of us experience this typical mid-life crisis. Answer to yourself a few questions and take a call
1. What is your monthly living budget requirement + contingencies? How much money will you need for the next X years? Do you have enough savings to see you and family through especially if you are the sole provider. Owning a property/ies and not having to pay rent helps. What about loans/emi/mortgage that require monthy fixed outgo?
2.What alternate skills / qualification that you have - can you fit in other industry and in what function? Will the salary be enough? Commonsense dictates that you line up a new job / assignment before you quit your current one.
3. One of these spiritual "Gurus" (I generally dont believe in these people) said something that makes sense - is the trouble within you or ... If that is the case you may be unhappy in new ventures. Watch this

Fully agree - easy to preach, difficult to follow, but just contemplate!!!

 

[hpdinesh]

Just hang in there buddy !!!
Even I have the same feeling that there is no growth but people say that as long as you are ready and willing to learn new technologies you should be good. But there is also a risk when the salary is on higher side because now lot of folks are readily available in the market quoting less salary and we become irrelevant for the company to keep until unless we are very strong or expert in that field.
Sometimes I lose my sleep thinking about this. What would I do if they fire me !

I was also exploring lot of options but scared to venture out of my comfort zone. We should have necessary support as well.
Nowadays there is a lot of competition in every field.
I'm not at all qualified to give any suggestions or help you out. Hope you get some good suggestions here which will benefit others as well.

Hope I didn't scare you. If so, my apologies.

Cheers!!!

 

[raghupb]

Hmmm ...
20+ years in the industry has taught me this.

To stay in the industry:
1. Expect to be out of work for at least 10% in your career; however long you plan it to be
2. Stay relevant and update oneself continuously
3. Automation is here to stay; be the automator not the automated
4. In the words of Steve Jobs "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish"

To leave the industry:
1. Secure your future
2. Do what you are passionate about; don't expect a steady income

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[lalit09]

I have thinking of leaving the IT industry for good. It is close to 13 years and now I feel there is no growth for me. It is a industry of a young man and people who are in the 40s are routinely chucked out! What career options do we have? Any suggestions ?

Oh that is sad, but why is it youngsters industry? people around 40 should be best at work, they have experience, patience, more focused, and loyal i believe.

Only benifit i see with youngster is they should be cheaper.

I also am an software engg although Never went for job, but being in family business from last 10 years i can say its a hard world for everyone, now days things looks to depend more on luck then calibar.

Wish you all the very best for your carrier buddy.
May god bless all.

 

[keith_correa]

To leave the industry:
1. Secure your future
2. Do what you are passionate about; don't expect a steady income

Cheers,
Raghu

This!!!!
To add to it - secure the future of your dependants too. That "cushion" is super important.
Been there, done that and have never regretted my decision. Yet! I wish you all the best in whatever decision you take!

 

[rpmahale]

Recently I have came across such two cases in my family.
Case -1
My elder cousin was working in one logistics firm from last 25 Yrs and have a better life with more than sufficient salary in hand and was relaxed about job. One fine day his firm was takeover by one of the giants in his field. Immediately within few months new company has given notice of resignation for all the employees who are on higher side of salary. While negotiation it was decided that all senior employees will resigned from their job and will accept their benefits without any compensation. They will freshly join the firm on same designation with reduced salary and benefits. They got heavy 40 to 50 % cut in salary and more than 50% of benefits are ceased with the reason that plenty of young manpower available for less expenses.
Case - 2
One of my cousin's is working IT firm. His firm is takeover by another IT firm. All the senior with more than 12-15 Yrs experience with heavy salary are fired. Total 450 employees all over India are fired. The only reason was fat salary of existing employees and availability of fresh young inexpensive manpower. Only three months time to search new job and three months salary was given as a compensation other than regular benefits.

I may not be the perfect person to guide you as I am myself working with Central government firm from last 25 Yrs. My wife is working with IT firm . She keeps on upgrading her technical skills, IT certification and changing her job every 3 Yrs. From 2010, she has changed four firms.

 

[surfatwork]

Wasn't strictly in software, but I was in IT and strategy consulting for over 15 years and then quit 10 years back. Run an adventure tourism company now...love it, but:
1. Don't start your own company because you feel over worked in your current job. You will work doubly as hard in your own outfit
2. It will take you years to get established
3. Your stress levels will increase and you will be on call 24x7. The buck stops with you.

But it's fun and I am enjoying it.

 

[arunkvivek]

I have thinking of leaving the IT industry for good. It is close to 13 years and now I feel there is no growth for me. It is a industry of a young man and people who are in the 40s are routinely chucked out! What career options do we have? Any suggestions ?

I am assuming that you are employed in Tier-1 IT company. Have you ever worked in a smaller firm? Give it a try. You would get exposed all functions of a company - sales, finance, service etc. It can be very satisfying (apart from the monthly thrill of whether salary would arrive on time or not).

 

[kannanokannan]

I just stepped down to a smaller role in a smaller company.. and use the spare time to keep busy with things that makes me feel lively.. like photography music etc..
Yes, corner of my heart the fear lies with word "Future".... chuck it one life

May be my 2 years tenure in Germany gave lot of perspectives about life.. i should say confidence and boldness..

 

[raj_mj]

I have thinking of leaving the IT industry for good. It is close to 13 years and now I feel there is no growth for me. It is a industry of a young man and people who are in the 40s are routinely chucked out! What career options do we have? Any suggestions ?

When you say "no growth" what is your idea of growth? Or is it just fear of being chucked out and getting out of job? Answer to these would probably get you all the answers !!

 

[Hari Iyer]

I am still lucky to survive this industry for 24+ years with just 6 years for retirement. IT industry during its hay day were quite fantastic and it was quite innovative. Since 2010 the industry has gone on sustenance mode any nothing innovative actually happens. Analogy- it takes an automobile engineer to design a car but just a road side mechanic to maintain it. So even a 10th class student can maintain any IT system with basic training.

Any youngster asking me advise about this industry I tell them this - your career is finished at the age of 35 years as you will already be a PM or DM by that age. The growth after that depends on how well you are able to play office politics and steer your way up the ladder by pulling down others. If you are not good at these soft skills IT is not for you.

Working in a Tier-1 IT firm has both advantages / disadvantages. But IME smaller IT firms are more innovative has more talent than the so called larger firms.

 

[surfatwork]

If I may add:
Many IT engineers focus on the technical skills - the languages, the tools etc. While it offers the potential of being transferable across domains, it also runs the risk of becoming commoditized, and being automated. Few take the trouble of becoming domain experts - that requires far more dedication and effort. But it also means that one's future is more secure and in demand, as long you remain upto date. It is not easy to replace the experience of a domain expert.
Look around you - who are the older people your company values? It is rarely a run of the mill project manager or coder.

 

[mshifi]

I have thinking of leaving the IT industry for good. It is close to 13 years and now I feel there is no growth for me. It is a industry of a young man and people who are in the 40s are routinely chucked out! What career options do we have? Any suggestions ?

Would suggest, You to stick to your job for now and keep looking out till you get a better one. Quitting without one in hand would lead to stress, moreso to your dependents. Everyone of us have gone through this phase sometime or the other based on situation we face at work. But we need to hang on and be on the look out for something better. Remember that nothing is permanent and what you are going through would change soon. So hang on.

 

[Hari Iyer]

If I may add:
Many IT engineers focus on the technical skills - the languages, the tools etc. While it offers the potential of being transferable across domains, it also runs the risk of becoming commoditized, and being automated. Few take the trouble of becoming domain experts - that requires far more dedication and effort. But it also means that one's future is more secure and in demand, as long you remain upto date. It is not easy to replace the experience of a domain expert.
Look around you - who are the older people your company values? It is rarely a run of the mill project manager or coder.

IME, if I ask any fresher where you would like to be in 5 years time, the reply will be I want to be a PM or DM. Nobody want to be a best programmer or best functional or Domain consultant. Indians I think are control freaks and always take pleasure in bossing around and control others.

If you analyze why this is so you will discover that there is some social reason to this. For instance if two similar male graduates with similar background with similar salaries are in the marriage market and the only difference that one guy is a programmer and other is a project manager , in a arranged marriage situation chances are the Programmer will loose chance of getting selected. Also if both guys apply for housing loan the project manager loan gets sanctioned fast than that of programmer. Hence in India everyone wants to manage and no one wants to do the dirty work. That's the tragedy.

 

[Otpidus]

Very well said @hari. The main problem in our country is the population. Population pressure forces people to adapt certain survival strategies. More mediocre the person is, more dirtier these strategies are, which you have diplomatically described as "soft skills". The initial lure of money and associated so called lifestyle had mostly the mediocre mass flock into the industry and over decades this mediocrity has taken it's toll. Unfortunately, our society equates "Cleverness" with "Intelligence" but in most part of the World it's not. Since there are direct contacts with the other parts of the World, IT employees expose our "Cleverness" mostly and that acts as a huge discouragement to others for sharing critical works with Indian IT employees. Hence we get the semi clerical jobs outsourced to us, which we are happy to get since we want less accountability with higher gain. Until our society and education system truly improves on "values" scale, we are here to remain as followers and not pioneers. We know how to exploit a system but not how to build a system.

 

[tuff]

Look at it as an opportunity. I am 53 years old, and i went through the same turmoil at age 43-44,(mid-life crisis is what some call it). Became an alcoholic and was a complete mess. Had to borrow money and what not. Slowly things picked up( as a freelancer) and stabilized myself .Quit drinking, and stopped being an a**hole. Now at my age, i have realized that Money, fame and creature comforts are way over rated. Not because i can not make tons of money but because what i missed out on when i was part of the rat-race. Today, i see the world differently, when i see my colleagues still running the rat race and making some one else rich.( I work in the creative are in films and advertising, which is a pretentious a industry as it can get. I've had producer's & Director's tell me i should use a mac as it's a creative persons tool.... Use an IPhone as all creative people use Apple products. My background has two degrees (One from Mumbai university & other from U.C.SF) both in Fine art and Illustration, with distinction. 10 year's working in the US (Film, Advertising and Gaming) Today I realized that it's not what you do but how one sell's themselves in the market.
SO whatever come's your way, make it fun and laugh at it. The worst is never as bad as you think. The best is never as good. Treat life as an experience and make the best out of it. I am sure none of this answer's your question but always Remember: The grass is always greener on the other side.

 

[Hiten]

@tuff,
thats a wonderful post.
Regards

 

[arunkvivek]

Never expected such wonderful career counselling post amidst all the crazy stuffs that happen in the forum.

 

[cha_indian]

Thanks all for your comments and words of encouragement.

The worst is never as bad as you think. The best is never as good. Treat life as an experience and make the best out of it. I am sure none of this answer's your question but always Remember: The grass is always greener on the other side.

Golden words!