One role that came to mind is librarian, especially information or digital-services roles in libraries.
It seems like a field where technical skills could still be useful without software development itself being the center of the job. I imagine the actual work and employment conditions vary quite a bit by country, though.
I’m in Japan, where library jobs can be fairly difficult to enter as a stable career, so I’d also be curious to hear what the profession is like elsewhere.
> library jobs can be fairly difficult to enter as a stable career,
I think it's the same in the US and probably most of the world.
Last I heard, word on the street was, a lot of people want that job and openings are limited (and tenure generally long-lived), so you pretty much have to know someone there to get the job, and even then probably wait a long time and work your way up. There are so few of that job, and enough people want to do it, that the pay is quite low. So it's not really a viable career unless you are wealth or have another actual breadwinner.
Grain of salt of course. There are a lot of exceptions to the above, I'm sure. But that's what I heard.
Honestly in 2026 if you want to be a 'librarian' you should probably learn and do tech to make enough money, and then spend your available time being a pirate librarian for Anna's Archive or whatever. Far, far more impact: worldwide, unlimited.
But I think if you put your mind to it, anything can be achieved.
Walking around most "libraries", they are kind of a thing of the past. Many literally got rid of tons of books to make room for technology or whatever. Some seem good still though.
I think it's high time to really start reinventing libraries though. AI and digital access and all. And books. But mostly, literacy (of all the above). Maybe some billionaires/trillionaries can fund that. Who funded/founded so many US libraries back when. Carnegie?
I've been there and would advise thinking about which parts of the job are causing you stress. Few of the things that make work suck are unique to tech.
Is it the hours? Unrealistic expectations around work output? Hostile management or colleagues? Outcomes you are responsible for but don't fully control? Sometimes it's something MISSING, like you don't feel meaning in the work anymore, a strong feeling of being "over it".
There's a lot of misery in working for places that are too big (drowning in process, politics, management halls of mirrors) or too small (you are basically at the whim of one or two other people and you're very closely watched).
For good power relations with a company and colleagues you ideally want your leverage to be as equal as possible. You don't want to be completely disposable, and you don't want to be irreplaceable. You want the company to hurt approximately as much finding a replacement as you do getting another job.
The hard thing about pure software companies IMHO is that it's easy to feel distant from any real purpose of the work. It can quickly lose all meaning.
Personally I think the most chill-but-rewarding vibes are internal at mid-sized companies where software is integral to the business but not the primary business of the company. The "meaning" is decent, you can be closely connected to the people getting value from the software. There's broader HR and company culture but you're out of the spotlight of it, off to the side a little bit. You get to use all your skills and there may be new ideas you can bring. The team should be big enough that things don't explode if you take a vacation but small enough that you can see your work still matters. You might have to move to find it, though.
I sell uniquely shaped heirloom cucumbers from my back yard, like specifically the ones that accidentally grow in weird shapes. I make six figures.
Seriously though, I can't find anything remotely non-tech without taking making at most 1/3 of what I make in tech. Seppuku might be on the table if I didn't have children.
One role that came to mind is librarian, especially information or digital-services roles in libraries.
It seems like a field where technical skills could still be useful without software development itself being the center of the job. I imagine the actual work and employment conditions vary quite a bit by country, though.
I’m in Japan, where library jobs can be fairly difficult to enter as a stable career, so I’d also be curious to hear what the profession is like elsewhere.
> library jobs can be fairly difficult to enter as a stable career,
I think it's the same in the US and probably most of the world.
Last I heard, word on the street was, a lot of people want that job and openings are limited (and tenure generally long-lived), so you pretty much have to know someone there to get the job, and even then probably wait a long time and work your way up. There are so few of that job, and enough people want to do it, that the pay is quite low. So it's not really a viable career unless you are wealth or have another actual breadwinner.
Grain of salt of course. There are a lot of exceptions to the above, I'm sure. But that's what I heard.
Honestly in 2026 if you want to be a 'librarian' you should probably learn and do tech to make enough money, and then spend your available time being a pirate librarian for Anna's Archive or whatever. Far, far more impact: worldwide, unlimited.
But I think if you put your mind to it, anything can be achieved.
Walking around most "libraries", they are kind of a thing of the past. Many literally got rid of tons of books to make room for technology or whatever. Some seem good still though.
I think it's high time to really start reinventing libraries though. AI and digital access and all. And books. But mostly, literacy (of all the above). Maybe some billionaires/trillionaries can fund that. Who funded/founded so many US libraries back when. Carnegie?
Sounds like it's pretty much the same everywhere.
I agree that libraries probably need some reinvention, and that seems like an area where software engineering skills could be useful.
I've been there and would advise thinking about which parts of the job are causing you stress. Few of the things that make work suck are unique to tech.
Is it the hours? Unrealistic expectations around work output? Hostile management or colleagues? Outcomes you are responsible for but don't fully control? Sometimes it's something MISSING, like you don't feel meaning in the work anymore, a strong feeling of being "over it".
There's a lot of misery in working for places that are too big (drowning in process, politics, management halls of mirrors) or too small (you are basically at the whim of one or two other people and you're very closely watched).
For good power relations with a company and colleagues you ideally want your leverage to be as equal as possible. You don't want to be completely disposable, and you don't want to be irreplaceable. You want the company to hurt approximately as much finding a replacement as you do getting another job.
The hard thing about pure software companies IMHO is that it's easy to feel distant from any real purpose of the work. It can quickly lose all meaning.
Personally I think the most chill-but-rewarding vibes are internal at mid-sized companies where software is integral to the business but not the primary business of the company. The "meaning" is decent, you can be closely connected to the people getting value from the software. There's broader HR and company culture but you're out of the spotlight of it, off to the side a little bit. You get to use all your skills and there may be new ideas you can bring. The team should be big enough that things don't explode if you take a vacation but small enough that you can see your work still matters. You might have to move to find it, though.
I sell uniquely shaped heirloom cucumbers from my back yard, like specifically the ones that accidentally grow in weird shapes. I make six figures.
Seriously though, I can't find anything remotely non-tech without taking making at most 1/3 of what I make in tech. Seppuku might be on the table if I didn't have children.
[dead]