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Comment by d357r0y3r | Hacker News Reader

I feel like my life and career as a software guy is pretty cushy. I work probably 35 hours a week on average, remote, on a schedule I prefer. I have a ton of time left over for socializing, hobbies, TV, games, etc. But, this was a deliberate progression for me.

And it could even get easier. I could do 20 hours a week of consulting work and still get by. I don't think I'd want to do that, but I could.

I don't know where you live or what area you work in, but I think the thing you want actually is achievable, maybe with a pay cut, or maybe not even. The fact that you're having to learn to use Rust because it's all the sudden getting used on projects says to me that you're working at some place where people put way too much of themselves into work.

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Yeah, there are so many entirely separate "software industries" where life is so completely different, it's crazy.

If you hate your job, don't just accept "this is how the industry is". Look around a bit and you might find a corner of it that's more to your liking.

Of course, some of the nicer parts are "by invitation only". Once you've proven yourself to the right people, you might get invited to work on the saner and more fun projects.

I'm having the exact same experience. It took me about 10 years to figure it out.

I'm still kind of a workaholic, but I could do way less and it'd be fine. It's also super nice to have a safety net of more and more remote jobs now. Even if the whole economy melts down, people somewhere in the world will still need software built and maintained remotely.

Remote work is so much closer to feeling like it's not a job than office work, which is a huge deal for me.

And you can move to a lower cost of living area, avoid state income taxes, and still have a competitive salary to your city-dwelling peers.

I honestly don't know why everyone isn't remote.

Because most companies don’t want remote...

and even fewer clients

Obviously making people travel half way around the country to sit in different offices (in the same building) somehow makes sense to management ...

Maybe that's still true, but it's a big market. Any time I look at remote job listings, I see lots of good companies to choose from. Whenever a friend tries to recruit me, I ask them if they hire remote and they mostly do.

Where do you look for remote positions?

> And it could even get easier. I could do 20 hours a week of consulting work and still get by. I don't think I'd want to do that, but I could.

I'm assuming this is because you have built up a good contact list? Because as I understand, a lot of time spent in consulting is finding clients.

Yeah, I really just have a couple of former clients that would give me as much work as I asked for. Not the most rewarding work, which is why I don't do it anymore.

How long have you been doing this? Did you keep working during big downturns & have your skills changed over time? I see way to many people thinking the job market of the last 5 years is normal.

6-7 years. Totally acknowledge that the gravy train could come to an end and make life harder. Hopefully that doesn't happen or most of the folks on here will be worse off!

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