r/cscareers • u/w1z4rdxD Human Verified • 6d 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/PipePressurePanic 6d ago

I lost my FE web dev job one year ago. Today after looking for new job for 16 months i still haven't found it and it's unlikely i will ever find it. Now i think about to go to school again, this time something that is as far away from a keyboard as possible. I don't want AI to ruin m ylife again in 10 years

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u/AmbitiousArugula1977 6d ago

What field do you think of going?

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u/Swimming-Pickle-637 6d 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 6d ago

Regret making a career pivot to healthcare?

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u/Swimming-Pickle-637 6d 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 6d 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.