Hello :), I am having a problem switching from software developer ( 32 years old, around 10 years worth of experience) to something else.
Reason why am I switching:
- I am really curious person and I am interested in impactful ideas which can be applied all of life. Getting better at programming would be focusing even more to one topic - computer science. This doesn't excite me as much as other ideas like economics, psychology, EA etc. These are also ideas which are not well known where I live (small baltic state)
- programming isn't my comparative advantage at least locally where I live so I can't have much of impact (have little idea about AI so I can't help there)
What I am trying now:
- I was able to switch from programming to general role in our company so I can pick projects to work on. Now I am trying to move more to operations / manager role so I m looking across company to improve processes.
- I also co founded SW company although issue there is that it's not big enough for me to be there full at unless I want to do programming (which I don't)
Issues:
- feels like I am generalist and I have sort attention span. Even the company I founded once I had a feeling that I understand niche of the company(which is SW) I got bored
- only thing which lasted me for a long time were personal development so finding new topics to learn and I try to be pragmatic about the learning so I don't learn just to learn. This kind of helped me when starting a company and in the company I work now, but I am not sure where to push it more.
- I have a bit of problem finding flow I had while programming, right now I am finding my self working with excel, sending emails, updating trello cards this have very little thrill compared to programming something
Some ideas
- I could try consulting although I have no idea how that would look like
- seems like perfect position for me would do some talks, but I don't think I can make living from it. Podcasting / blogging seem to be really competitive but that might be possibility in few years ahead
- I will focus on improving my project management skills, team leading and communication skills.
Any thoughts?