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Comment by Waterluvian | Hacker News Reader

I just want to throw this out there, just in case you haven't deeply considered it. I'm sure others will answer your question more properly.

Have you considered that maybe you don't want to be doing software engineering and with this precious remaining time would rather prepare for something entirely different? Not sure what your financial situation will be or if you live somewhere with sufficient social support, but if you're going to be blind for life (and you're very young), optimizing for employment (ie. "I'm already a software engineer, may as well commit to that") might not be the best way to live a full and fulfilling life.

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I am confused why his diagnosis makes any difference... this isn't a fatal disease, so he has no fewer years to live than the rest of us.

If he thought being a software engineer was what he wanted to do to live a fulfilling life before his diagnosis, why would that change now?

Because programming without sight is hard. It's definitely doable and could very well lead to a fulfilling life. Or it might not. Maybe there are other careers that he might be better suited for and where his disability won't be as much of a hindrance. If so, he still has time while he can see to prepare for a career change.

Basically, the GP is telling the OP to consider all of his options and not to box himself into software engineering just because that's what he does now.

Maybe it's not programming without sight that's hard, but working with sighted programmers who use tools that aren't compatible with screen readers.

> Maybe there are other careers that he might be better suited for and where his disability won't be as much of a hindrance.

I'm blind myself, and I consider software-engineering to be one of the nicest options out there, at least in my country. Sure, there are difficulties, but not as many as in other fields. Computers can be accessible, and accessible tools can usually be found.

A blind person becoming a software engineer is a realistic option. a blind person becoming... almost anything else is not. As a blind person, career prospects are pretty limited, and someone who already is a software engineer has a huge advantage, compared to someone who i.e. invested n years of his life into becoming a surgeon.

Being without sight is hard, period. Software seems like one of the easier jobs to do while blind, actually.

I think “Remaining time with vision” is the intended reading, as in if there’s some other career OP wants to switch to, it would be easier to do now

or even as simple as "Go see the world instead of spending your remaining sight on screen reader software."

I am failing to see where are you coming from with this. If anything, changing careers to software development made me live a more fulfilling life in the last 3 years.

What would be your suggestion for the best way to live a full and fulfilling life?

Do what you're passionate about. You're going to have a learning curve no matter what, might as well enjoy the ramp up as much as possible.

I'm glad it's fulfilling for you. It is for me too. What I said wasn't an indictment on software engineering as a source of joy.

I think many 24 year olds have spent so much of their recent years thinking about their career that they might miss the fact that there's so much more to life. This time might be better spent in other ways too. I just want to nudge this individual towards considering those things too.

This advice is universally applicable. We should be returning to first principles in our own lives - although, it’s so hard to do so.

Going blind doesn't preclude OP from having to make a living, right? We'd all rather be optimizing for other matters than employment, but most of us don't seem to have that luxury.

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