Ask HN: Is an interdisciplinary career worth it?

I get bored easily at last count I have changed disciplines 10 times. I tend to take on jobs where I need to learn new skills like crazy to get up to speed with my new peers. Along the way I have also dabbled in starting up businesses in addition to job hopping.

In hindsight my income has been far less than if I had stuck out with my first career and chased promotions into management. But there is far more to life than money. I have had masses of great experiences and made far more friends along the way than if I had stuck with a single industry.

I don't regret the many changes that I have made. BUT ... most of my relatives (not my wife) think that I should have focused on having a great career and had earned far more money. But that's their value system talking.

So when you ask: "Is it worth it?" - it depends on your priorities and values.

> there is far more to life than money

I feel like this is a sentiment that is often missed on HN. So many postings talk about job hopping to optimize money.

To OP, i suggest finding a small company that makes physical products. They will always need people who are jacks of all trades. To me that keeps it interesting.

Funny you should mention that. It is exactly what my latest consulting business is focused on. There is far less competition in the space where you need skills and experience in making smart physical products.

I've jumped disciplines and jobs quite a bit and can say, the manager stress issues are more related to your discovery that you were just fine getting things done up to this point without a manager, and now that you are on someone else's dime, they believe you need someone who is also seen as an expense, and their performance is guaged by their superiors by the amount of work they can load you with under pressure and convince their superior that their management position is highly important.

In reality, they are scared of losing the position they have and feel vulnerable because they are not as critical to the company's core business product which is software I assume, and it is being written by you.

Talk to your manager and let them know you understand they are pressured too and that you are feeling pressure and try to find an alliance. Let them understand if they treat you well you will give them praise and credit for things that demonstrate to whoever is breathing down their neck that they don't need to worry.

Maybe they will stop. If they have no superior and this is their personality in general and it is a constant pressure style then you will be leaving eventually whether you think you should or not.

That personality exists in every occupation and field and nothing you can do, but try to take them less seriously and look for roles in your free time without telling them this. Make sure if you interview somewhere else you pay attention to the type of manager you may be getting at the new job. I've only encountered 2-3 really bad ones and now that I'm more experienced in life I believe there is a possible way to manage them in a way without making them feel threatened, and teach them that pressuring you will not work - either practically because it makes your work suffer or because you will stop being concerned by their pressure.

Hope this is helpful.

I know that it is extremely difficult, but it really helps if you can handle losing a job. In my experiences with bad managers, not feeling vulnerable allowed me to push back and in all but one case I didn't get fired. In the one case, I was paid a substantial amount to leave quietly and immediately. My co-workers could see through the charade when I shouted my own farewell lunch at the local pub and denied everything.

I've been a graphic designer for a photo lab, a php code monkey, an insurance agent, a financial advisor, a construction worker, a high school math teacher, and, for the longest stretch (over 7yrs), a software developer. The php code monkey part was a short stint in university and I kept up some skills since then until being a "real" developer.

Feels like a lot for someone who is in their mid thirties. I've been blessed by working at the company I do. I could not imagine doing anything else. The pay is great. I'm surrounded by smart people who I enjoy. I have a greater work life balance than any of the other jobs I've had. Construction work did not follow me home, so there's that.

I've gained better people skills and presentation skills via my earlier jobs. I've gained enough "handiness" to do projects around the house. These things are part of who I am and I value them. I would also have valued making _way_ more money during my twenties and being able to better support my young family.

Learn lots. Learn varied things. Much of that can be done as hobbies though. Pay the bills. Save for retirement. Have financial security.

Do whatever makes you happy man, I think the advice other people have given you might make sense in their lives but not necessary other peoples. Just to counter the advice you've been given - I've job hopped, I'm over 30, and I've never been happier with my career. I wouldn't be in the job I have now if I didn't have interdisciplinary skills, I think it's made my skillset more unique. I'm reminded of a Hunter S. Thomson quote about finding the right path - "Let’s assume that you think you have a choice of eight paths to follow (all pre-defined paths, of course). And let’s assume that you can’t see any real purpose in any of the eight. THEN— and here is the essence of all I’ve said— you MUST FIND A NINTH PATH".

Find your own way friend!

I wonder, what is it that you do? From an interdisciplinary standpoint.

I hopped around different industries quite a bit in the start of my career until I found a non-programming domain I felt want to focus on, and I've stuck with that for the past 10-12 years, spending at least 5 years at each company I've been at.

Had I been 'forced' to just write programs in the void solving problems I didn't care about I would have quit programming a long time ago. Now I get to solve interesting problems I care about (just so happens that I use programming and data analysis to do so). Also showing up at job interview and being able to say "I grok the domain you're operating in and find in fascinating, and I happen to know how to code" puts me way ahead of people who just know how to code.

The downside is there are only 6-8 companies where I live that work in this particular domain, but so far that hasn't been a problem.

The job where I lasted the longest (4 and a half years) is where I learned the most, but it also screwed me wages wise as I was promised promotions that never happened. Job hopping is a pain in the arse but does tend to improve your wages faster than sticking it out ion one place.

> I graduated my CS master. I like programming but don’t love it. I get a bit scared to think about that I have to do it for 8 hours per day like I am doing now at a startup. The stress is insanely high and my performance is clearly affected when I sleep terrible (which I sometimes do) at this place. Also

Is this also your first job?

My experience has been: stress mostly relates to the expectations and attitudes of the people around me, rather than the technical difficulty of what I'm doing. (Technical challenges are fun, provided I get time and space to work on them).

Exploring other things might be great, but if the stress is "insanely high," it might be this particular job that's the immediate problem.

I've job hopped for the last 20 years, spending between 1 and 5 years in each job. I'd be more concerned about approaching 50 than 30.

Programmers should be more valuable in a downturn if you can help businesses optimise and save time and money. Help people do more for less.

Don't set out to be an entrepreneur, instead talk to people and an opportunity will present itself in a problem you can solve and monetise.

Ps: You already have multidisciplinary skills, you just are currently earning a living with the technical skill you now have based on skills you used while learned how to program and getting your degrees etc.

I also agree with cyberfonic completely.