#NonTechCompanies #WorkLifeBalance #Stability #CareerGrowth
Basically the title.
The Underrated Gem of Non-Tech Companies
Mainly talking about banking, finance, medicine, insurance, etc.
🌟 I love working in non-tech companies personally:
- 💼 Extremely stable, don’t think my company has had layoffs in literally 30+ years
- ⏱ Slow paced work, this means deadlines are very manageable and leave you with excellent work-life balance
- 👥 Most people understand that work is just work. No one is trying to change the world and drink company koolaid. They do their “9 to 5” (really more like 10 am to 1 pm at most) and call it a day.
- 🏠 If you’re hybrid, you can just get your work done on the office days and chill at home on your WFH days, and if you’re fully remote…..well….. 😉
The Tech Industry’s Downside
Meanwhile my time at tech (including big tech and startups) has been the opposite
- 🚫 Constant layoffs and stack ranking which causes a bunch of stress
- ⚡ Faster paced work, some deadlines are manageable but most require you to work extremely hard, again adding stress
- 🧠 The most stuck up, annoying, know-it-all type of people I have ever met work here. They think they are changing the world and live and breathe work
- 🕒 Had to pretty much always work at least 40 hours a week, but usually even more + on call every month or two
Share Your Experience
How has your experience been with tech and non-tech companies?
In today’s fast-paced world, many individuals overlook the benefits of working in non-tech industries such as banking, finance, medicine, and insurance. These sectors offer stability, manageable workloads, and a healthier work-life balance compared to the tech industry.
If you’re tired of constant layoffs, stressful deadlines, and a work culture focused on changing the world, consider exploring opportunities in non-tech companies. Embrace the laid-back atmosphere, supportive colleagues, and the peace of mind that comes with stable employment. Make a conscious choice to prioritize your well-being and career growth by venturing into the underrated gem of non-tech companies.
Difference in pays is big though
I think you’re generally right, not sure about finance though. I work in finance and mostly fall under the second category
10an to 1pm is an exaggeration. But yeah. I love it. It’s a weird job. A lot of offshore teams but pay is good enough.
But I wanna double the salary and halve the time spent on working so I could retire early
Can confirm.
Source: Work for a Fortune 500 medical device company. Technically could be considered a “tech company” but definitely not in the conventional sense
Yeah this is pretty accurate
It does have some downsides but considering how just easy and chill it is it’s really hard to complain much considering how little work you have to do compared to how much you get paid 😂
There’s definitely a lot of douche bags in tech and for me personally, start up culture is obnoxious. Having said that, even at non tech companies there’s at least some corporate douchery, especially in Finance. Finance bros are insufferable no matter where you go.
$102k per year at non tech allowed me to save about $25k/yr.
$285k at big tech allows me to save $152k last year.
Chill wlb isn’t worth working 5x the number of years.
My net worth skyrocketed after starting at big tech. Early retirement pre 40 is on the table when before big tech I was looking at 55+
There’s like 5 of these posts a week. You’re 88% upvoted. The only thing this sub loves more than talking about how non-tech jobs are the best is dooming over layoffs.
Team diversity is my biggest thing. Why would I want to work with people who think like me, I don’t even like me
Shut up man don’t let them know
I worked at two non-tech companies (logistics industry) for a total of 9 years before going into tech. Tech has been better in every way. Double the pay, better benefits, more schedule and location flexibility, and more interesting work. The only downsides, if you can even call them that, have been higher expectations and more reorg-induced chaos.
Yea but what about my FAANGMULASS prestige I can brag to everyone about and my 800k TC and 15 Teslas? Don’t forget office buffet and ever increasing vesting value assuming others get laid off.
It’s a mixed pot, for sure. Higher tech comp is nice, but the thing that hits me is working on new and interesting things or novel projects or features
I work for a mega insurance company . . .
It’s definitely a rollercoaster.
Some weeks it’s a mad scramble, other weeks it’s chill.
The pros are that it is quite organized and there is always a push to adopt new tech.
We just canned Jenkins and moved towards workflows for CI/CD and we also are moving entirely towards azure so I’ve finally gotten real cloud exposure and getting my hands dirty with Kubernetes.
Pay is pretty good, though definitely not big tech, and full remote.
Depends on the pay as well, Amazon/AWS pays you way more but WLB is questionable whereas a company like Microsoft will pay much less but has great WLB. After dealing with both companies i much rather take a paycut then pull my hair out with no sleep
I worked at a company doing in the civil engineering sector, they had a really impressive IT and the best things was, those peoples were engineers, they understood the importance of doing things correctly, they understood you couldn’t rush things endlessly without a massive blowup to the face, they also understood when a project needed to be terminated and not kept alive like a muppet to wave at the users and clients.
So far best experience, I wish I would work in a similar place.
How do you break into these industries? I have 2 YOE and and can’t see to get calls back from these types of companies.
You have a few company names and ballpark compensations?
This is the thing that makes it difficult. People say there are these great opportunities, but never actually name the companies. There are like… thousands of companies. How would I find one of them?
What’s the equity like at both?
Absolutely! Work for a finance company and the work is hella chill, great understanding colleagues, and none of this ‘company is your family’ bs.
Love my stable, boring job!
Do non-tech companies offer remote-async ?
> How has your experience been with tech and non-tech companies?
Stress at both. Bigger scope of issues in my big tech job. Big tech gave me way more in terms of career development. over 2x the money at big tech. both let me be full time remote. no stack ranking at either. in my first job i was seriously worried about stagnating. Not so much now.
I find non-tech companies underpay you, stifle your career advancement, have crappy software practices, and are just as toxic. Work life balance is great, but you have to pick the tradeoff between work-life balance and financial stability. Being unemployed has the best work-life balance, but there’s no point in having free time if you can’t afford to do anything.
Tech goes through the occasional correction but has been like 2 periods of contraction over the past 25 years. It’s not particularly unstable.
I’ll take my 2-3x TC for the slight increase in instability.
I worked in a big insurance companies and are still friends with them after many years… I moved out of the city but missed them from time to time. They’re very chill and non competitive.
Can confirm. I work for Kroger and the pay isn’t fantastic but man is the work life balance is fantastic
You seem to be speaking unethically since no job in the world gov or private gives you free money unless you indulge in corruption. Of course any company that wants you to work like the end of the world all the time is mentally ill.
I’ve only ever worked in non-tech as you put it and agree with your characterization.
OP’s like “I don’t understand how anyone would want to join marine corps, seems really tiresome and stressful job to me, no?”.
Well, yeah, and there are people who dream of exactly that.
You could argue that any place where something significant is being done is run by exactly this kind of people obsessed with their work and putting it above anything else – be it Los Alamos lab under Oppenheimer, Microsoft in the 90s,Chicago Bulls under Jordan etc etc. Now, to be at such a place or not is your choice.
What companies???
Where/How is a good place for people to search for these non-tech tech jobs?
How about salary though? Vs big tech
totally agree. we are 100% remote, everyone is a joy to work with. idk what they are doing during the behavioral but all of the new hires are just awesome personalities and knowledge whether they are cs, bootcamp, self-taught. I would put in 60 hours a week if it were necessary, but they would never make me do it.
we are sort of fast-paced though just because it’s logistics, but we aren’t crunching or anything.
The downside is the benefits and stuff are usually pretty old-school at these types of companies. You’re never gonna get a gym membership or unlimited PTO.
I have only worked at tech companies (including one startup) in my five years as a dev, but just chiming in to state that your observations about tech jobs pretty much mirror my own experiences at each company. A part of me would like to try a different industry in the next couple of years.
I’m at a software startup (finance) and this is all true. My next role will not be at a tech or startup for sure.
Plus, if you’re a normal person, you can find people who aren’t anti-social in other departments
Yes except for finance, which is even more unstable lol
I work for a food related company now and I fucking love it. I love it more than I loved consulting and I love it more than I loved finance. It’s fast paced but still peaceful in comparison, and the last time my company had a layoff was like 2012.