Question about Future Career in Tech
Question about Future Career in Tech
This is a question I've been thinking about for quite a few. I'm currently studying Computer Science, and personally I choose this major because it aligned with my talents and interests, however after 2 years of college its very apparent that I don't relate to or even like the majority of my peers in this field, in fact most of my friends study Biology or something.
The problem is with this annoying rat racey mentality and obsession with money. Everyone wants to work in California, almost everyone is in the field to maximize their earning potential. And ideas like the "only purpose of college is to land a job," "less time to eat = more time to work" (many of my peers eat 1-2 meals a day), and behaviors like sucking up to people with better connections/coops or remodeling your entire personality towards company values, or doxing your interviewer in advance to pretend to have common interests to increase their chances of landing a job offer are not only prevalent but seen as normal.
Problem is, I don't want to live in California, that place's cultural runs completely against my beliefs. I don't want to sacrifice all my time and life/hobbies/friends for work. And I want to make friends with normal, chill people, and not a bunch of insecure pretentious assholes, which I now fear every high paying tech area in the US will be chock full of.
I'm curious if there are places in the global south where I can pursue a fulfilling career in my field. Income is not an issue, at this point I care about quality of life significantly more. I've been eyeing Shenzhen for a while, although China's 996 culture also seems to be a little worrying and Shenzhen's cost of living is quite high as well. I wanted to get some input on this issue from individuals who have a more open mind about non-western countries.
This is my first post in Lemmygrad btw, sorry if it's in the wrong place.
Edit: Thanks for all the responses everyone! I really appreciate the advice and just general reassurance, especially at the existence of non-liberal subcultures even in the bay area. I'll keep in mind that the world is bigger than just 1 university campus, and I'll be open to exploring new opportunities and finding my own niche.
The tech industry is as hyper capitalist as it gets. It's basically a house of venture capitalist money ready to be swept away by a light breeze.
I still love writing code. I'm a natural problem solver and my ADHD brain is pretty well suited for jumping into flow states and getting a lot done in a short period of time.
I do wonder at times what I could be doing had I chose another path. It would be nice to feel like the work that I do actually contributes to improving society. There are jobs in tech that do this, but they're definitely not the majority.
Ultimately, I think this is a problem in many industries. When the entire economy is built to serve the profit motive, jobs will naturally do the same. If you can, try and find something with a good work life balance and worry less about your compensation. That way, you'll have more energy to persue more fulfilling endeavors outside of work.
I work in tech. I hopped around from the Midwest to the southwest to now the bay area.
One suggestion I have is to keep an open mind. Tech is extremely competitive in some circles and it might make sense to move to a place you never would've imagined just to get your foot in the door for an industry or to get a promotion, etc. Discounting the bay area, one of the epicenters of tech, just because of the political landscape is self-destructive at worst and limiting of career at best.
I live in the mountains in largely a small town conservative area in the bay area - I own many firearms, never had any problems getting them. I own dirtbikes, ATVs, kayaks, surfboards, a large multi acre property where I can't see my neighbors in the redwoods, etc. Meeting me, you wouldn't even know I worked in tech. My political identity is complicated but I found my place here in the mountains with like minded individuals. If I want to, I can always go into the city and experience it, and it is just over the hill, but it isn't where I want to live.
I am always open to at least interview anywhere and will always ask for a couple extra days when being flown out to check out the area and see if I like it. In some cases, like the southwest, I'll probably never go back to, but I took the dive and lived there for many years before deciding it wasn't for me.
The world is huge. Many of these tech hubs like Boston, New York, and the Bay area are so diverse and just massive that just because overall it can be very liberal, there are many, many niche communities in these areas which can cater to every individual.
The same can be said for companies and even internally within companies. I'm part of a mildly conservative old timer, politically incorrect team, and we do fine and have no issues, while there are other teams I know to be very sensitive and others which are very corporate and unfriendly. All within the same company.
It can take a while to find the right fit. There are known companies here where backstabbing culture to succeed is a thing, and that's probably where a lot of these pretentious kids go to. When we interview, we largely look for that behavior and will reject candidates for it, even if they are a solid tech background.
Not a lot of advice, but some personal anecdotes which I hope can help make you feel better.
I, too, was one of the "Black sheep" of my software engineering class. I was dismayed enough to double major in another degree so I could balance it out.
If you're friends with biologists you could look into biotech or bioinformatics.
The tech industry is definitely as full of assholes as you think. There are some cool people too, but not cool enough to make up for having to be around the assholes. For the most part they are labor aristocracy and act like it. At best they are Vaush viewers, at worst they are sex pests. My first tech job left me so disillusioned that I'm only now trying to get a job again after basically all of my savings are gone. If you can make friends outside of work I'd definitely recommend doing that, and there are a decent number of fun people outside of work although you can generally expect them to not be Communist.
Working in California has many downsides. If you need to get a new job and it happens to be a time where people got laid off from one of the mega corporations you are going to have a hard time. It's possible if you work hard and get lucky, but because the rent is so high you need to save a lot of money in an emergency fund because God only knows how long it will take you to get another job. SF has some of the best public transit in the country but that's not saying much, and it's worse south of SF where most of the companies are.
I'm not a dev, I'm a designer for digital products and services, but I feel exactly the same way.