Ask HN: I have a CS degree but taught for 5 years– how can I get back into tech?

The stack doesn't matter. The problem itself doesn't really matter. The "sexiness" of the result doesn't matter. Just do it. Something... Anything! Working through the problem is the goal.

The result: You will learn things that you didn't know that you didn't know, and you will be able to transfer that to your next project.

Rinse and repeat. Then, all of the sudden you will have stories to tell and mistakes that you know you should avoid.

Your first project will be bad, and I mean UGLY! You will make all sorts of bad decisions. Don't use an AI agent to help you write it... you won't learn anything. Don't waste your "best" idea on your first project, either. You will forever be disappointed because you didn't do a good job on it.

If you want to bounce any ideas off us, then go ahead and post them. We could proffer ideas to you, but it really needs to be something that captures your attention. So what are you interested in? Low-level, web, graphics, games, tools, mobile, industry-specific, entertainment, edutainment... the possibilities are wide open!

Good luck and have fun!

Best answer I have, find some volunteer work that supports what you want to do. Do it for 6 months, add to resume. Possibly find an open source project to add to. Be sure to professionally document your changes.

also for people who might want to recommend jobs it could help to give a lower limit for compensation. what do you need atleast. and work hours.

i think coming from teaching there's a lot of work in research that might be an easy match up but that might not be the type of role you want.

for programming there are also different kinds of programming roles. automations, applications, mobile, desktop/server, embedded etc.

what makes you tick when you think of work or what keeps happy when ur doing it, regarding what you think you wanna do?

But good news is that many companies want to fill some quotas and they require degrees, so you'll likely find some place in a larger company where what you can do means less than the letters that go before or after your name.

A situation from a personal experience - some years go, in a company where I worked at(advertising agency, i handled the websites), we were looking to hire someone. I do not rememebr what position it was. We were small company, 15-ish people. We got a ton of CVs. I rememebr one specific CV - there was a guy who had THREE university diplomas and was in his 30s, but had no work experience. This guy had 0 chance of being picked and his CV went straight to the trash bin. In tech, this is 10x more prominent as this sector is about what you can actually do and what you did in the past. Not what you know in theory and whatnot.

It is what it is. Good luck with your search. Definitely pick some popular language though, to broaden up your pool of opportunities. Don't be looking for Rust jobs or any of that nonsense. And don't expect large salary either. You have to earn it.