Comment by acesubido | Hacker News Reader

Comment by acesubido | Hacker News Reader

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Based on what I've read so far, you're in a really comfortable position, so don't shift specializations.

Capitalize on your rich experience with embedded hardware and software development. At 50 I'm pretty sure you have a wealth of contacts from people in that field (people you consulted for, past work buddies, etc.) warm them up and make contact: you now have a client/referral list. Ask them how they're doing, take them out for coffee. Discuss what they're currently doing and what they need help with. Start with one tiny project.

Ask your wife for a little help, ask her for some contacts. Talk to others in your field, take them out for breakfast or lunch, offer to speak in an event, you can offer consulting or training workshops.

Go back to building a business, it's your best bet, and you've done it before. Outsource the bulk of your work into your other known contacts that can refer you to high-end consulting shops in the South-east asian or Indian region. Disclaimer: I'm from the Philippines. It's 2013, there's so much more tools for remote collaboration than it was a decade ago, you'll get a good english speaking/writing workforce for less than US salary rates.

Don't study unless you really really want to. 4+ years is a lot of time. You could have made another business up and running at that amount of time.

Don't shift specializations just because of current market trends. Who knows, hardware might boom in the next decade. Honestly, currently, the web itself and all mobile app stores are over-saturated with everyone trying to make a dent.

The point is, no one can predict what is going to happen in the next 10 years, just stick with what you know and what you can do to answer a need from your contacts. If a specific "solution" you're offering picks up traction, "productize" it and put a little more focus on that, but don't bank the entire consulting shop for a product unless it dwarfs your consulting revenue by 3x-5x. Consulting cultivates client relationships, and business is all about building professional relationships that would earn you more money.

I'm not 50, I'm only 26, the 50+ year old people I know end up in three ways:

- Teaching (writing books with their knowledge, offering workshops, teaching in universities, etc.)

- Retired

- Business

Again, I'm only 26. Take the input with a grain of salt.

Well, retirement isn't for me. I will never stop working on something so long as I have the physical and mental ability. That's just how I am wired.

Teaching at universities is out because, well, I don't have a degree. Ironically, I am a pretty good teacher. I've conducted seminars in the past with audiences in the hundreds of people. I enjoy it and I do have a knack for making complex topics accessible.

I have been thinking about perhaps authoring a webinar or two or launching some kind of an engineering-related educational effort. I have one idea that could be an interesting Kickstarter project for young (and not so young) engineers. Thinking about all options right now.

Well, that would be combining business with teaching. Maybe that's a good option for me.

Maybe you can make some video tutorials on your expertise. Saying, I'd be interested in how CNC works.

I would definitely go for the teaching option. Maybe you could start like this:

1: If you have a little runway, start by learning some teaching basics, especially regarding teaching adults. Or K12 if that is what you'd like. Start by doing some of the MOOCs, coursera, edX and some others have some good education courses. The benefit of this is that not only will you learn some of the theory behind teaching, you will find out what works and doesn't work for students in an online learning format. This will be valuable for part 2-

2: set up a blog with a learning management system (LMS) to offer some short video or screencast (my favorite style of delivery) based courses for free. Use this as an R&D and market research site to see which courses get traction, how to prepare materials, interact with students, etc. Your blog posts are there to show off your knowledge and experience which should get people interested in trying out the courses and help you build a mailing list for part 3-

3: with the data from 2 above, plan a book release and some more in depth for-pay courses. Use your business skills to sell online+book+in person training for enterprises (you may find it easier to partner with a training/consulting company who may already have contacts with potential clients - less money in the beginning, but as you build your reputation you can eventually go independent) Which leads to meta-business point 4-

4: Document your journey through the above points, and sell a new book and online training course targeted at people who are in your position (ie me) so that we can all join you by buying private yachts from all the money we make :-)

5: post results here on HN for support and inspiration for others

This is what I'm doing (albeit half-assed at the moment) and I have 15 years of teaching under my belt, but no degree (by the way, I have gotten teaching posts at universities based on the strength of my teaching skills, so give up on that route just yet!) If you want to reach out for info on where to start with learning teaching (I'm the head teacher and a teacher trainer at a school in the Czech Republic) me email is in my profile, I am more than happy to chat with you about it and I have a lot of resources I am more than willing to share with you for free.

Lee

[Edit] for an LMS try looking at Moodle or the edX platform, both are open source, and Moodle also has a rich plugin environment including modules for payment systems. I have a lot of experience with Moodle, and I'll be trying out the edX platform over the Christmas break. There are some others out there, but these 2 seem to be the best from a no pay system

Sent reply off-list. Thanks for your pointers.

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