Where to Go After a Lifetime in IT?

Pikoro asks: "I have been working in the IT field for the past 20 years or so, and after getting hired by the largest financial company in the world, I thought I might have finally found a place to retire from. However, after working here for almost a year, I find myself, not exactly burnt out, but longing for a complete career field change. It's not that doing IT related tasks aren't fun anymore, but they have become more 'work' than 'play' over the last few years. Since all of my experience has been IT related, I'm not sure where I could go from here. What would you consider doing for a living, after being in a single field for so long?"

Where to go after a lifetime ?

[jalet]

To Hell, of course !

Jeoparody

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll take "Laughing all the way to the bank" for $100k/yr, Alex.

Limited options

[taustin]

If you expect anything like the same money, about your only options would be producing porn videos, politics, or some other life of crime.

Otherwise, get a job flipping burgers at your local McDonalds, and work your way up.

Me?

[Tarlus]

I'd become a fireman.

Drive a Truck

[stinerman]

Truck driving is becoming quite lucrative these days. Go find an outfit and have them train you. Many will pay for your CDL training if you sign on for X years.

You get to see the country and sit on your ass all day. I couldn't think of a much better job.

Re:Where to go after a lifetime in IT?

[$RANDOMLUSER]

Insane?

Logical.

[Anonymous Coward]

The logical next step after working a lifetime in any field is the grave.

I didn't want to be an IT drone...

[Gogl]

...I wanted to be... a LUMBERJACK!

Boo hoo

[Anonymous Coward]

Its not "fun" anymore? That's why it's called work you boob.

Re:Cars oddly enough

[techpawn]

I knew the car analogy was in here somewhere

Re:I didn't want to be an IT drone...

[AragornSonOfArathorn]

I want to be... a LION TAMER!

Re:Bike messenger - not stressful ????

[Anonymous Coward]

dodging rush hour traffic on a vehicle offering you not protection whatsoever and trying not to turn your face into chiseled spam on the asphalt or get totaled by a truck - sure, that's how I relax!

Re:Me?

[arabagast]

A fireman became him ?

Re:Careers

[crabpeople]

You clearly dont understand how "ask slashdot" works. Someone asks a question, and then we all make fun of that person.

Re:I left IT

[grub]

For me since I'm already fluent in two languages it was an easy choice to go into interpreting.

There's still a market for BASIC->Pascal porters?

Re:Me?

[paeanblack]

I'd become a fireman.

Yeah, they deal with fewer fires.

Re:Me?

[FiloEleven]

Apparently that sort of thing happens all the time in Soviet Russia.

How about Porn?

[Anonymous Coward]

Duh.

Go ahead and retire...

[pianowow]

You could be a Wal-Mart greeter.

Re:Drive a Truck

[davidsyes]

But, don't wear the tight denims. Go for loose fitting. I heard (years ago) that the proximity of the engine heat and all-day sitting in tight pants overheats the family jewells (for male drivers, at least), reducing their (viable?) sperm count.

So, if you're still looking to reproduce, get a cool (engine) cab if you can, or maybe get a dish drying rack and sit on it. Wait, you're from IT, so get a dish rack to sit on and then use a laptop cooler and let it remove the heat between you and the seat.

Re:Jeoparody

[Anonymous Coward]

Score: -1 for failing to compare Manhattan NY to Manhattan KS.

Re:What to do?

[value_added]

I'm considering raising organic beef, lamb and eggs.....

You won't get very far if you don't first discover that you need to be raising cows, sheep and chickens to get the beef, lamb and eggs you're looking for.

Re:Where to go after a lifetime in IT?

[Anonymous Coward]

Insane?

No, the voices told me I'm fine.

Re:I didn't want to be an IT drone...

[Dancindan84]

...I wanted to be... a LUMBERJACK!

And that's ok!

Re:Jeoparody

[Grishnakh]

What kind of industry is there in Kansas?

Tornado clean-up?

Re:It's not the water that's the problem

[OhHellWithIt]

Yeah, I figured that out years ago. Now, when I look at, say, a slimy, dead sump pump, I say to myself, "Is it really worth $200 to avoid washing my hands and changing my clothes?" I've saved a lot of money that way.

lumberjack

[blitz487]

I suggest becoming a lumberjack. Or something exciting, a lion tamer.

Lion Taming?

[ngileadi]

Programming to lion taming in one go...
You don't think it might be better if you worked your way towards lion taming, say via software engineering?

Re:New Horizons

[Golias]

You know that very few, if any, projects are ever really finished. You're a hacker who knows how to shoot from the
hip to get a job done on deadline, even if it isn't "elegant". You know that "Done" usually only means "it works at the moment and when
it breaks, we'll fix it".

And you say you're a toy-maker?

Remind me not to buy my niece's next swing-set from you.

Re:Tenerife

[moro_666]

That post is officially called Helpdesk ?

Re:Jeoparody

[be951]

Wow, you must be either a really bad home buyer, or a poor reader...

Homes in Manhattan, KS [google.com]

Re:Jeoparody

[be951]

If you live in the major metropolitan areas (NYC, LA, Chicago, etc) where there are jobs that can pay higher wages (leaving out COL), its hard to imagine getting anything approaching that in other areas.

Due to lack of jobs, or lack of imagination?

Re:Been there, done that, not worth it.

[dcam]

That reminds me of the joke about the farmer who won the lottery. He was being interviewed about the win and was asked what he was going to do this year.

"I'm going to farm"

and next year?

"I'm going to farm"

so you are just going to farm?

"Yep. Until the money runs out"

This used to be a joke with a bit of a hard edge to it, but now it isn't that much of a joke in Australia.

Re:lumberjack

[DaveDerrick]

So where should he go ? British Columbia of course !

Re:Why is this marked as funny?

[charlieman]

So it would be like doing IT again.

Re:lumberjack

[Anonymous Coward]

Leaping from tree to tree as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia! The Fir! The Larch! The Redwood! The mighty Scots Pine!