As someone who has obligations to provide for a family in the USA, I can't imagine leaving dev work without an absolute clear passion and burning drive to do something specific. Giving up a six figure income I use to feed and house my family that demands I use my brain while sitting in a comfortable indoor environment, doing nothing more physically taxing than use a keyboard? Sure, I have fantasies from time to time about doing something with more dynamism in meatspace, but let's get real: it's a fantasy. I can't imagine recommending anyone with a stable career in data work upset that apple cart unless they already have a clear aim in mind, which they think about day and night - not with the unsureness of this post.

I got burnt out as a SWE at a startup from stress and health issues. Bought a cafe and turned it into a bookstore cafe. Annual revenue is around 600k. Seller's discretionary earnings is around 220k. In hindsight, I should have done this earlier. Not having to deal with office politics, insane on-call rotations, stress. On top of that, it helped me qualify for E-2 investor visa, which is far less of a headache than OPT/H-1B. It was a major help having an experienced business broker/commercial real estate agent.

I run a website called All About Berlin now. I help people figure out life in a new country and navigate German bureaucracy.

It was a passion project that kept growing. Eventually I figured that I could live from it. It didn't pay as well, but I would no longer have to set an alarm in the morning or attend all-hands meetings.

This was about 4 years ago. I have no regrets. I had not realised how programming for a corporation utterly destroyed my passion. A few months after leaving, I started coding for fun again and never stopped.

I decided to leave the world of engineering 1.5 years ago to pursue my passion as an artist.

Although my salary was a very good, competitive US rate at senior level, my artwork brought in more income for 2 years straight. I decided that it wasn't worth burning my candle at both ends any more, especially with a young child at home. Something had to give, and it was the job.

Now I still work like an engineer. I spend 4-5 hours a day programming and 2-3 hours managing my commitments and social media. My artwork is generative, so I use Javascript to build elaborate systems which yield visual artworks.

The stuff I do is much more diverse now. I just spent an hour totally leveling a table I built recently. I needed a custom table for my Axidraw pen plotter, which I use to draw generative artworks.

The pay is nothing, then a lot, then nothing. I'm white-knuckling it. At times it's very scary to not have a steady stream of income. But it allows me to be happy, and that's worth more than any amount of comfort.

Bought a farm and went to work for a state government. Still doing dev but having a lot more day to day impact and when I leave at 5 I am done. Went on a contract and decided I liked what I saw from work life balance. Has let me step aside and let my wife and kids pursue their career while I focus on keeping animals inside fences and doing the laundry because everyone else is working 60-70 hour weeks. And no, none of them are in dev. They saw, or didn't see because I was never around, why it was a bad life choice for them I guess.

I left a another career to get into software in my 30s, but since you mention age, one thing worth recognizing is that very few careers are as age biased as tech. I worked in an industry were 40 was considered "young" and ever since I hit lates-30s in tech I've been the "old guy".

I also knew plenty of people in my previous career that came from tech, and seemed to have no trouble transitioning (but that was post-dotcom). It may be "hard to do so" now because increasingly the white collar job market is getting tighter which means people aren't looking to hire non-traditional candidates since they can usually find an equivalent candidate with more experience.

As other have mentioned, I think for most people the "hard" part is the change in income. Even with the decline in the tech space, tech workers still tend to get paid notably above other industries.

I think the real question boils down to: why are you transitioning? If you're sick of tech, or can't find a job it's going to be harder. If you're passionately obsessed with a new career and can't sleep at night without being compelled to study that area, you'll probably do fine. It also, of course, depends on the market for that job. If you're interested in a space that niche and packed with people then it will be hard, if you're interested in a new booming industry then it will be easier.

You mean leving programming? Can't help you there.

But if you want to change subfields...

I only know data scientists who come into my workplaces from other fields, and rarely know folks who move out into other fields. So these anecdata are heavily biased based on where I've worked.

1. Robotics has a huge gob of data every test, and parsing it is basically Sisyphean. Someone who can learn about, and educate others about, building proper observers and reporters into C++ codebases, and building proper dashboards with data coming out is always really valuable. From there it's a short hop into roboticsy systemsy things itself. But beware, large shops will have these silo'd. Think smallish labs for large companies. You do not want to get stuck building reports for product teams - stick to engineering teams.

2. Manufacturing, at the highest levels, is metrics driven, so again, getting in and helping to establish data-driven process refinements, then moving "down" the stack into the software is a good way to make your pivot into embedded systems or industrial IoT. But beware, large shops will have these very much silo'd.

3. Science / academia. A good analyst for a research lab is impossible to find, because of pay differentials. But if you can take the hit, and are willing to grovel a little, you can easily become the most valuable person in a large enough academic lab. The ones I've been adjacent to are Geophysics, Planetary Sciences, and Astrophysics. All really tough data problems.

I left video game development for statistical mass appraisal of real estate for property tax purposes when I turned 40. No regrets.

Completely the opposite of game development in every way.

Early 40s and I've been sort of backing into music with this 20 year arc:

  - Full Stack Dev
  - iOS Dev
  - 2x Music Tech Startup Founder
  - Music Tech Freelance Developer
  - Currently: Studying music theory, composition, and piano.

I might go to grad school for music/media, continue to study art/music independently, or explore professional arts careers.

I'm just constantly seeking alignment between my professional work and intrinsic motivations.

Left a career as a developer/entrepreneur/executive for teaching at a private high school.

No real advice: it wasn't intentional; something that I just drifted to. It's really fulfilling but not lucrative.

In my case it was the opposite: I went from building infrastructure (mainly Windows servers and related tech) to becoming a software developer at 45.

I lost my job at the start of the COVID stuff (Feb 2020?) and couldn't find another. No one would take my calls and I found out from some recruiters that eventually spoke to me that they were getting thousands of applications per job: one got over 5000 for a £300 a day contract!

I got to the point I'd ran out of money, gov wouldn't help, was getting money from my parents to survive so I decided to lie on my resume.

Now, don't get me wrong: I'd been programming since the 90s. I knew SQL server like the back of my hand and could programme .NET with the best of them but I'd never done it as a primary job (partly fear - didn't think I was good enough but turns out I was pretty fucking awesome at it :D) so I changed my resume to make it look like I had been doing it for years in various roles and got a job in 2 weeks!

I'm now an architect and couldn't be happier... the money definitely helps.

I'm looking to do my own thing though as I'm done with the corporate life.

However, I can't knock it too badly: In 4 years I've gone from being in serious financial shit to paying off my mortgage a month ago :)

I tried teaching skiing for a while but pay was low and living conditions weren't good for my family.

I am back to the grind being a software engineer but I don't have passion for it like I used to. politics at worked killed that. Recent AI hype like DevinAI are repulsive to me but i don't know what else to do.

The thought of staring at an IDE window (it was Eclipse back in the day) all day made me want to start sniffing glue so I learned SolidWorks and relearned linear algebra and used my amateur radio experience to fake my way through conversations about RF and became an engineer working on synthetic aperture radar systems.

Instead of shoveling frameworks on top of each other I started building real things that flew in pods on aircraft and got launched into space.

Now it's been a while so I've transitioned into doing more meetings than engineering, but I get two months off per year so I go scuba diving in warm places a lot and that makes up for it.

My only advice is to invest in yourself and never take a leap unless you can see what you'll be landing on. Both metaphorically and in the real world.

I went the other way and pivoted to being a dev when I turned 30. Before that I was in IT which basically meant fixing computers, which meant replacing power supplies and reinstalling Windows.

It was not a complete transition, but I decided to build my own Software Development company instead of working as a software engineer for another company.

I started this company along with 12 other co-workers. We are in our 30s, I am turning 34 this year. In the last three months, we have focused on training people. We have a team of 45 people now from overseas.

The main reason for building this company is for me to have more control on my own time, that's the idea at first, but somehow my passion for software engineering has been rekindled. There is something about training people, I enjoy working with our developers and seeing them grow.

I find it hard to switch to another industry or field of work at this age. Having your own family, with the kids and other responsibilities, makes it hard to reinvent yourself. You are not as free as before when you are still single and have complete control over your time.

I transitioned from software in my mid-20s to teaching and am now looking to transition back. Personally, I'd like something at the intersection of education and tech. I'm currently working for a startup doing backend dev, and it's ok, but I miss some elements of teaching.

It's crazy how prevalent this is among my peers. Do any other careers have so much pivoting?

> about engineers or data scientists choosing to leave the space to a new one

You mentioned leaving space and leaving career. In my mind these could be different things. What are your thoughts about potential destinations?

I have no advice, but I am curious what new careers you are considering. (One successful transition I have seen was getting an MBA from a prestigious school and moving into leadership.)

Hard science?

I moved into research at a Venture Capital firm. Mostly doing due diligence on companies, assessing new technologies, thinking about where the industry is going.

I love it, was getting sick of the constant framework and language churn in programming and I enjoy having a wider view of everything happening rather than just working on one company/product.

Went from software dev to infosec consulting here. Basically, one of the people I worked with at the prior job moved first, then asked, "if I knew anyone who might be interested." After not cluing in immediately, she asked again. "Oh... um, yeah! Let's chat."

I still mess with code all the time, but mostly scratching my own itch, either for home or work.

Any Data Engineer managed to go into low level programming jobs? Very interested.

Anyone went from software dev to GIS? How did you make the transition?

Nearly everyone I know who wanted to stop coding took a product manager role, founded a company or became an investor of some sort. All leveraging relationships and connections.

Well you can move into anything but it depends if you want to get paid or not for it? I've mostly followed the money.

I would not pivot unless I hit FIRE or can switch to a field that pays almost as well.

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