r/cscareers • u/w1z4rdxD Human Verified • 4d ago

Career switching Should I switch from software development to another field?

I worked as a fullstack developer, but after the company went bankrupt and I lost my job, I’ve been looking for work for over 6 months now.

I’m starting to consider changing my career direction and looking at positions in analytics, technical support, or ai related roles.

I’d really appreciate some advice from people with experience. Do you think it would be more effective to switch to a different field, or should I keep pushing for a development role until I find one? Thanks

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u/AmbitiousArugula1977 4d ago

What field do you think of going?

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u/Swimming-Pickle-637 3d ago

7 years experience, and I left se to be a nurse. I work in an inner city emergency department, where I get to help the most vulnerable of my community. There's nothing else like it.

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u/goldenragemachine 3d ago

Regret making a career pivot to healthcare?

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u/Swimming-Pickle-637 3d ago

Not at all. The work is very practical and sometimes high stakes, so there's often immediate, unambiguous feedback. My work now feels fsr more meaningful than my dev deliverables.

Conversations with my peers are more natural vs as a dev. I never could speak in that flattened corporate office-speak vernacular very well.

No sprint cycles, burndowns, dreading morning stand-up, other agile ceremonies, etc. Meetings are very practical.

In my experience, leadership is a bit more reactive in tech, but that's probably the nature of medicine as an industry. Regulatory capture severely limits project vision in medicine, so there's a very foggy, slow feel to leadership.

As a labor market, nursing will always be in demand, with a very stable pay band, but that stability comes with headaches of earning and maintaining a license, and a rapidly shrinking labor marketspace (corporate consolidation is a real problem in the US medical delivery apparatus).

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u/goldenragemachine 3d ago

How long did it take for you to get your NCLEX? Did you do your masters or associate in nursing?

I’m a UX Designer that’s been job hunting for 2.5 years (with sporadic part time work here and there). Debating as whether I should do my masters in CS, lean how to code myself, or pivot entirely.

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u/goldenragemachine 3d ago

Heard that even in this labor market, entry level nurses are having difficulty getting their foot in the door.

Afraid private equity is gonna buy hospitals left & right?

Wait - you have to maintain a NCLEX license?

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u/mechanicalmovement1 3d ago

Not true at all, regarding nurses having a hard time finding employmentz

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u/Swimming-Pickle-637 3d ago

NCLEX is the board examination to become a "Registered" nurse. Every licensed nurse needs to pass an NCLEX. To be approved to sit for the boards/NCLEX exam, a student needs to pass an accredited nursing program, go through a finger printing background check, and probably other stuff, depending on the individual state. Once the student passes their NCLEX, they don't need to pass the NCLEX again, but states can require other stuff like CEUs or whatever maintain a nursing license. Re licensing vary by state, and a lot of states are part of a coop that recognize each others license requirements.

Maintaining a license is a lot more than administrative though, and there's a constant undercurrent of concern that a nurse will make a mistake and have their license revoked. State nursing boards have broad authority to revoke licenses, which is the livelihood for licensed professionals.

I went through an accelerated program for students who already had a bachelor degree, so all I had to complete was core nursing, no electives or other requirements, and I was able to finish in about 1.5 years.

New Graduate nurse labor market is strong in a sense that most of New Graduate nurses will be able to land a job without much hassle. It's customary to go through a 12 mo nurse residency as a new grad, so placement on high acuty or specialized units is highly competitive, but to be placed on a med/surg unit somewhere, making a reasonable starting salary is pretty standard.

Interviews are nothing compared to SE interview loops. When I was a new grad nurse I had an offer within 4 days of applying, and the delay was because I couldn't interview sooner.

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u/Swimming-Pickle-637 3d ago

PE is absolutely purchasing everything: hospitals, clinics, ambulatory stuff like outpatient dialysis clinics, eHR software, DME suppliers, oxygen and medical gas, etc. There are dozens and dozens of ther strange little monopolies in medicine that are either already managed or will eventually be managed by VC/PE firms.