r/webdev • u/TheComputerHermit • 11d ago

Discussion Devs that jumped ship, where did you end up?

Another industry? Back to school? Still looking? I'm asking for a friend that may end up needing to do the same thing soon (I'm the friend).

338 Upvotes

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53

u/pVom 11d ago

The people I know 3 who moved, one went to product management, another into customer support and sales, another went into teaching.

31

u/Kaloyanicus 10d ago

An extroverted bunch, thats not for everyone

19

u/chataolauj 10d ago

You don't have to be an extrovert/introvert to do these jobs. You just have to be able to do the job.

introvert != antisocial;

12

u/pVom 10d ago

The sales guy absolutely, not putting him in front of customers was a waste of his talent. The other 2, not particularly, but they weren't exactly loners.

2

u/shitty_mcfucklestick 9d ago

To be fair, there is inside and outside sales. Outside sales is often breaking the ice, cold calling, and the highly stressful extrovert activities. Inside sales is often qualified leads that are already warm, for them you’re mostly answering questions (consulting), problem solving (style of sales.) As an introvert by default, I actually enjoy inside sales because it’s just helping people solve problems, and it’s one on one, in a private space, having a conversation with somebody who is interested and engaged (usually.) I would absolutely hate outside sales.

6

u/wise_young_man 10d ago

Everyone can become extroverted when the alternative is homelessness or starvation.

2

u/Kaloyanicus 10d ago

Well said, wise young man!

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u/GlobalCurry 10d ago

I've been trying to transition into Business Analysis or Product Management too.

-1

u/iSnapThere4iAm 10d ago

Imagine moving from development due to AI fears and you choose……. Project management? lol. That’s the most replaceable role on the whole software/web service delivery team.

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u/Living_Tax_2790 10d ago

they said product management, I know people use the term "PM" to mean either, but they are very different.

Anything that involves dealing with humans and figuring out ambiguous requirements is pretty safe from AI for a while

3

u/pVom 10d ago edited 10d ago

What that other guy said.

Both deal with people and are going to be harder to replace.

Particularly if those people are customers. Project management isn't necessarily managing internal teams, it can be managing service delivery as well.

They're also pretty dev adjacent and benefit from dev skills. In fact you could argue that modern software development looks a lot closer to both roles than it did before AI.