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Desk Free Technology Career Path? 71

Posted by Cliff from the not-a-desk-potato dept.
nickjohnson wonders: "I realize that in business there exist many career paths out of software engineering, but in the corporate world, most of those career paths still involve sitting in front of a computer or sitting at meetings or sitting and talking on the phone a significant part of the time. I'm sure there's a number of people out there with neck and wrist pain, or aging bodies hard to keep in shape -- what career paths have you or are you considering that are interesting and rewarding for techie engineering types that do not involve so much sitting still?"
"I'm reaching out to the Slashdot community for advice on a career change for myself, a veteran software engineer who, for physical reasons, does not want to work sitting in front of a computer anymore. Actually, I really don't want to spend many more years sitting still in front of *anything* anymore. I need to move around more, and maintain a more upright position throughout the day. Short of becoming a yoga teacher or a dance teacher or I don't know a skydiving instructor, what else is out there for a techie like me?

* interesting problems to solve
* opportunities for discovery and success
* financially lucrative
* more invigorating (not tiring) than sitting still all day"
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Desk Free Technology Career Path? More

Desk Free Technology Career Path?

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  • I think that avoiding computers while trying to stay in the engineering field, is only going to screw you in the long run.
    • I think that avoiding computers while trying to stay in the engineering field, is only going to screw you in the long run.

      Unless you're a professor.

      There are an astonishing amount of CS profs who no longer actually directly use computers. Very wierd.

      Other than that, yeah, you're either in technology or you're not at some point.

  • excerise at 30,000 feet? (Score:4, Funny)

    by ubiquitin ( 28396 ) * on Monday June 20, 2005 @06:59PM (#12867618) Homepage Journal
    Consider getting a job that demands some travel. Probably the most creative postures to combat the desk-potato lifestyle that I've come up with are ones necessary to get comfortable in a regular-class airline seat. Not sure if it counts for exercise, but I sure am tired at the end of the flight.
    • Yes indeed. I am a Sales Engineer, and this is a job that involves a lot of local + airline travel. Get's you outside a bit, and it helps with your social networking skills as well, since you are constantly meeting new people, and helping the sales department to sell products to them. Plus, there are few better ways to get excercise than sprinting full speed through an airport terminal to catch a plane!

  • Teach (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anm ( 18575 ) on Monday June 20, 2005 @07:00PM (#12867627)
    everyone has some knowledge worth imparting. And if you find the right audience, it can be incredibly rewarding.

  • Carpentry (Score:2, Interesting)

    by mr_rattles ( 303158 )
    I'd like to take up woodworking and carpentry. You get to be creative, use your hands, and put an idea into existence and someone gets to use the end product. You can also start simple and work up to more advanced projects. It's very rewarding when you finish a project as well.

    Creating moldings for plastics is interesting too because you have to visual the inverse of what the object will look like and do so in 3D. Getting something to turn out just right is difficult but makes you feel damn proud of yo

    • I'd like to take up woodworking and carpentry. You get to be creative, use your hands, and put an idea into existence and someone gets to use the end product. You can also start simple and work up to more advanced projects. It's very rewarding when you finish a project as well.

      Don't get me wrong - I love carpentry, and stonemasonry, and electrical wiring, and landscaping - the whole gamut of physical labor. But our nation's inability to resolve the question of our southern border has caused unskilled and

      • Don't get me wrong - I love carpentry, and stonemasonry, and electrical wiring, and landscaping - the whole gamut of physical labor. But our nation's inability to resolve the question of our southern border has caused unskilled and semi-skilled wages to tank.


        Bullshit. An electrician here can easily make $100k-- you just need to be Union. Good electricians can always find work if they are willing to move around.
        • Have you been to the South lately? We still don't like Unions of any sort.

        • Bullshit. An electrician here can easily make $100k-- you just need to be Union. Good electricians can always find work if they are willing to move around.

          My point is that the guy making $100K isn't pulling any cable, or bolting any nuts. He's the guy reading the blueprints [or maybe even drafting the blueprints], and giving orders to a gang of cable monkeys, almost all of whom will be illegal immigrants.

          Also, in regard to the original question posed by the original poster: You don't just walk into th

          • Before I get into this specific rebuttal... I'll summarize my points about the original point: To use your existing knowledge you can basically a) teach, b) manage or c) do. Any of these can be more active if you find the right kind of "field" assignment and/or travel - like "Geeks on Call" etc. But since you don't want to sit on the phone, sales is probably less than desireable.

            Personally, if none of the above options were appealing enough - or I couldn't find an appropriate placement - I'd shift my fo

  • Ummmmm (Score:4, Informative)

    by Alpha27 ( 211269 ) on Monday June 20, 2005 @07:06PM (#12867671)
    Well you don't leave many options left....

    You can go into teaching. I did this for about a year, teaching a linux course and this required me
    - to move around alot,
    - drink alot more water,
    - be active, constantly on my feet,
    - constant talking,
    - was semi-lucrative as long as you can make this a regular gig that can pay the bills, a number of places will pay good money, and if not, you can convince them why they should, considering they get good money for the course from the student.

    All the other options I was going to write, would have taken you out of technology, but considering you want to stay in it, I guess on some level, this seems like the best option, especially if you have the skills to back it up, and the ability to teach. Plus someone with years of experience is a valuable asset to any teaching institution.

    Good luck.

  • One answer: (Score:5, Funny)

    by c0d3h4x0r ( 604141 ) on Monday June 20, 2005 @07:06PM (#12867674) Homepage Journal
    Porn actor.

    • Re:One answer: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Bill Dog ( 726542 )
      IANAPA, but I heard on the radio that these jobs are being outsourced as well. I think it was Brazil that the report said the industry is getting their cheap "talent" from. The days of highly-paid megastars in that world, like messed-up ole Jenna Jameson, are over, as they just don't want to pay much anymore.
    • Join Fight Club! The first rule of Fight Club, is you dont talk about fight club!
  • You could try to find a job that requires lots of travelling. Help in third world countries? Infraestructures in towns in your own country?
  • Admin a HS network. Lots of running around, alot of eye candy, and government money pays VERY well those who work in the IT department.

    I'd know, and I was just an asst. Admin at Legacy Highschool in Westminster, CO. Both the admin and myself would be running around too much to even catch a call in the office at a designated time.

  • Get out of the chair job? (Score:4, Funny)

    by rogabean ( 741411 ) on Monday June 20, 2005 @07:17PM (#12867748)
    It took me years to get a "sit my ass in this chair job"!!! I'm not giving it up!
  • Truly where high tech communications meets the field.

    Seriously. Great job. Check it out.

    (Not a recruiter)

    -3NG
    • He obviously doesn't want to get sent to some third-world desert to be blown up by a roadside bomb placed by some freedom fighters. Indeed, if that is what he wanted then he no doubt would already be in Afghanistan or Iraq.
  • a horse whisperer [parelli.com]. Not quite techie job but definitely interesting and challenging :)

    There's few -GOOD- tech positions that involve exercise - usually getting behind the desk is considered advancement from the lower positions - but field engineering, like working with cellular tower stations, data lines repair, monitoring cameras etc involves some movement... but they are all considered more "blue collar" jobs, so the pay isn't all that great.
  • Contracting. You will be sitting at a different desk at different companies every so often. Although crawling underneath the desk to battle the killer dust bunnies can get tiresome after a while. Especially, if you have allergies.

  • Construction (Score:3, Insightful)

    by BortQ ( 468164 ) on Monday June 20, 2005 @07:51PM (#12867950) Homepage Journal
    My cousin's a civil engineer and she gets to go out to work-sites and stuff like that. There's certainly some desk-work that goes along with it, but it's not 100% of the time.

    There's certainly challenging problems in building things (especially really big things =), so maybe it's something you should consider.

  • Farmer/Dairyman (agriculture sciences -- dont laugh, my father was an EE before switching to this),
    Construction
    landscaping/lawn maintenance
    road construction,
    fitness guru
    Hunting guide ...
  • there is a certification for this, and basically you need to know many things but if you can teach your self to splice and terminate and server setup. People will pay you to travel around and setup stuff for them.
  • Troubleshooting manufacturing equipment and robots. Programming new industrial equipment. The bigger the plant the more the running around.
    • I can attest to that, as I do the same thing. But do it on a consulting or contract basis! That way you don't get bored with the same old plant/equipment/process. I started my own business about 8 years ago in industrial automation and systems integration, and it's the best thing I ever did. Things just keep getting busier for me every year!
  • I'm probably younger than the poster (only 32), but I'm definately sick of sitting in front of a computer all day.

    Computing/IT used to be a hobby, but now its just boring. So I took up sailing. In a few years time I might have enough experience and qualifications to start teaching. Not much money in it, but at least it will be fun.
  • Learn to program control systems. The language is simple, the problems are not. I do mostly building automation in refineries and hospitals. Have you ever walked around a hospital? Typical day is 18 miles. And when something doesn't work, it usually requires a hammer or a wrench. How many times have you wanted one of those at work?
  • Be a mobile video camera person for a tv station. You'd have to go out to the story locations and carry the camera during the shoot, as well as configure the camera for different light and sound sources and play with other video recording tech. Don't know how lucrative it is, but it sounds like it would have a lot of variety and would be fun. In fact, you just gave me a great idea for when I retire from programming...

  • Nuts and bolts field tech (Score:3, Informative)

    by x00101010x ( 631764 ) on Monday June 20, 2005 @08:55PM (#12868344) Homepage
    If you have any interest in network nuts and bolts, you could get a job as a DSL lineman with the local telco. Last I checked, CWA (Communication Workers' Union) still had pretty good benefits too.

    Other alteratives, that I've actually done, are PLC programming. There's still lots of nights sitting at the desk at home with a test setup on the table next to me, but there's just as much time spent out at sites installing and trouble shooting the units and sensor/relay wiring. And usually the sites don't really keep having a place to sit down in mind when they allocate a cabinet for the PLC, so some of my best fixes have been coded standing up.
    • Experimental work in most areas I've seen can involve lots of moving around. Things as simple as walking around the lab collecting materials from shelves and fridges to crawling around on the floor of a vacuum chamber while wearing a bunny suit. You get to poke at things, break things, fix things, carry things, set up equipment you've never seen before, crawl on the floor, use power tools and machine tools as necessary, and a whole host of other things. You also spend some time sitting in front of a comp
  • Maybe you can become a disciple of ESR or better RMS and then go out into the world to spread the gospel of the GPL.
  • Yeah, I know, we all hate making slide shows, but if you can develop a stage presence and get gigs with large enough software companies then you'll really have an opportunity to make your physical activity and body language work for you.

    Here, try a simple exercise to see if this might be the right career track for you. Stand up, and start stomping your feet and clapping your hands, while screaming "Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!"

  • I'm working as the lab director, tech guy, sysadmin, what have you for the Design + Tech. department at a school in NYC (Parsons School of Design). I get to set the lab up, build machines, take stuff apart and put it back together, set up and build web apps, administer our servers, cart equipment around and set up projectors, maintain classroom equipment, etc. Recently I got to run all over the place helping students set up their equipment for their pieces during our thesis show (http://dt.parsons.edu/sho [parsons.edu]

    • I get to do a lot of troubleshooting and interesting problem-solving in the process of helping these students figure out their pieces during the semester. They are doing everything from motion-capture software to OpenGL game dev. to physical computing stuff (like connecting a light bulb through a serial port to an ethernet port and transmitting messages over the network to signal another light bulb on the other end...one project I helped a student with this past semester). While (more than) half the time
  • The pay isn't great but for the 2 years I was doing cabling I was in the best shape of my life.
  • If you are young enough to handle it, how about getting into the HVAC trade? Try and get in as an apprentice with a company like Honeywell, Johnson Controls, or McQuay. All of the big industrial equipment (chillers, boilers, air handlers, etc.) is very advanced. Gone are the days that any old mechanic can change a relay and be done with it - at least when dealing with chillers.

    I was in a similar boat just over 2 years ago. Fed up with sitting at a desk all day. Got hired as an apprentice and I've bee
  • I had a high school teacher that worked for an oil company. His basic job was to implement and program sensors to measure a variety of things on mobile drilling rigs and pumps. He first had to decide if he wanted to use an analog or digital sensor then he had to make the mount which required him to cut and weld it from scratch. After it was all done he could go back to his hotel room and connect to it from his laptop and grab all sorts of data. He got to travel all over the US and Canada which gave him lots
  • Seriously. I used to work with a guy, at a typical desk job, who found his back problems went away if he just stood up. So, he set up his cubicle so he could do his job standing up, and has done so for years.

    If you're looking for a career change, I think teaching is probably the best option I've seen here, but it seems like what you're really looking for is just a way to not spend so much time sitting down.

  • I have just the jobs that fit your description:

    Become either a Drug Smuggler or Gun Dealer. Lots of travel, flexibel working times and varied an interesting work!

    You get to see the world, meet interesting people AND it's financially lucrative. The best part is, if the goverment wants you to "retire", there's free room & board for years to come. In fact, you'd be stupid not to do it!
  • Like you, my main duties involved software engineering with a quite a bit of hardware and network tossed in for grins. However, you don't have to limit yourself to just one field. Get qualified in more than just one field of engineering. I have over a dozen myself. It's not absolutely easy, but mostly the different disciplines just involve technique and approach once you've learned the universal language (mathematics) which is what kills most people.

    Once you have more than one field under your belt, n


  • You could always become a machinist.
    Lots of standing and moderate lifting on a regular basis (loading and unloading) and you get to program a 5-axis CNC mill.
    What could be more fun than that?
  • Well this may be counted as a troll for some fanatics of anti-outsourcing, but since you have a realistic problem, I can give you one possible solution. You seem to have a huge amount of experience in programming. I suggest you apply to one of the top software outsourcing companies in India, and teach the workers/code monkeys there "good" programming skills (who according to as I have read on /., do not do much of a great job!)... So you will be in a challenging field in the sense that you will be working
  • If you simply need to burn a few more callories and work on your posture, why not switch to a standing [wikipedia.org] desk [standupdesks.com]? It doesn't do much to get you outside more often, but you will get more exercise. It might be a good stop-gap while you find the non-deskbound job.

    At my work, the keyboard trays in the cubicles can be lifted up an extra foot or so, which is almost perfect for typing while standing. Unfortunately, I'm still looking for a way to raise the moitor.

  • Shoot weddings, events, etc.?

    Lots of technical details to master, both on and off location.

    Lots of moving around, etc.

  • Marine engineer (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cybergibbons ( 554352 ) on Tuesday June 21, 2005 @02:54PM (#12874768) Homepage

    I'm training as a marine engineer. I like computers, but not as a job.

    • Learn about maintenance/repair of all the ship's systems (engines, generators, compressors, air con, reefer, hydraulics, boilers, steam systems, turbines, motors, conventional wiring, etc.). Throw in some control systems as well, and comms gear, to keep the IT stuff...
    • Learn how to use hand tools and machine tools to make almost anything.
    • Decent first aid and fire fighting training
    • Great sense of responsibility
    • Playing with massive expensive machines
    • A lot of holiday (one third of the year, but in great big month long chunks)
    • Reasonable pay - but tax free (at least in the UK, that is the case)
    • Uniforms always impress the ladies. Even if mine is a boiler suit....

    The long periods away might not be to everyone's taste, but it means I can spend the rest of my time travelling or climbing, without the day to day worries of a job.

    • Qualified marine engineers can get good gigs working as 'stationary engineers', shoreside. And you never know, if you are in the US, the domestic merchant marine might come back one day, and then you can work at sea too!

      Of course, this is off topic - the original question was about alternate work for engineers of a certain age. Going to MM engineering school isn't a minor proposition..

  • I can think of few problems that would be more interesting, and motivating, than falling through the air wondering why your parachute won't open.

    And think of all the exercise you'd get flapping your arms for that last thousand feet or so!
  • I'm a college student. Have been for over three years studying Computer Science and Computer Info Sys. A few months ago I decided I didn't want to sit at a desk for the rest of my life rewriting computer code like Peter in Office Space.

    That's when I decided I wanted to be a firefighter. Exciting job, doing something new everyday, helping people, rarely sitting around. It'll keep me healthy, too, a lot healthier than sitting at a desk eating doritos and drinking Moutain Dew.

    Not that I recommend going the

  • The pay sucks, but you can often beg for a bite to eat. Of course, you don't need to make as much money since your expenses will be quite low once you've given up everything but the robes (just think, no more car insurance or property tax). World peace is certainly a challenging enough problem to tackle, and the 10,000 steps you take (to start with) should keep you in fine shape...
  • Go into technical sales.

    Nothing happens in the world without someone selling something first.

    You get to interact with numerous people, experience new projects on almost a daily basis, basically set your own schedule (as long as you make your target), and are rarely tied to a desk during the day.

    The misconception is that all salespeople are car salespeople. While it is true you can take the path of being dishonest, a cheat, and misleading it is rarely successful. Engineers tend to see through those tact

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