Alternative Careers for Software Engineers

A hybrid creative role focused on art directing and prompting AI image generation models to produce marketing assets, translating creative briefs into high-fidelity visual content for campaigns and paid media without traditional photography or design software.

Day-to-day involves managing user accounts and device provisioning across Microsoft 365/Azure and macOS/Windows environments, providing technical support to employees, and collaborating with security teams on compliance and system maintenance.

Senior process engineer responsible for designing and planning complex technical gas facilities (hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen), overseeing engineering from concept through detailed design phases, and serving as technical lead coordinating with internal teams and external partners.

Build and maintain automation workflows using no-code/low-code platforms (n8n, Make.com) and AI tools to optimize business processes. Focus is on workflow configuration, testing, and documentation rather than traditional software development.

Hybrid technical role bridging business and engineering: designing ERP/cloud solution implementations, managing release processes, and supporting business applications with direct user interaction—less pure coding, more architecture and integration work.

Senior mortgage financing advisor at a fintech company who structures loan solutions for customers and collaborates with the product/tech team to improve algorithms based on real-world feedback. Combines domain expertise in real estate financing with close partnership to a technology platform.

Support a CRM team with campaign execution, customer data analysis, reporting, and marketing automation. Work with spreadsheets, segment customers, analyze performance metrics, and help optimize communication flows.

Weekend-based mini-job supporting tradespeople through job applications and onboarding at partner companies. Involves candidate communication, process coordination, feedback collection, and cross-team liaison work.

Senior consultant role focused on configuring and customizing Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM systems for sales processes, involving business process analysis, stakeholder communication, and low-code platform configuration rather than traditional software development.

Hands-on maintenance and field service engineer responsible for troubleshooting, repairing, and optimizing high-temperature energy storage systems at customer sites, with a mix of technical diagnostics, on-site visits, and system optimization work.

Teach English online to German students through a tutoring platform. You set your own schedule, choose topics based on your expertise, and determine your hourly rate (€15-30/hour).

Network consultant role involving planning and implementing modern network architectures (LAN/WAN, security) for enterprise clients, combining technical expertise with client advisory work. Requires hands-on knowledge of networking platforms like Cisco and Fortinet rather than software development.

Design, implement, and maintain ServiceNow enterprise platform solutions with a focus on system integration, automation, and user support. Responsibilities include managing the full development lifecycle, configuring platform instances, integrating external systems, and advising end-users on platform optimization.

You'll provide expert financial knowledge to label and annotate training data for AI models, working with xAI's technical team to improve finance-focused AI capabilities across investment analysis, derivatives, and related domains.

Account Executive role focused on prospecting, qualifying, and closing sales deals with public safety agencies for DroneSense software. Day-to-day involves discovery calls, solution presentations, pipeline management, and guiding customers through the buying process.

A field-based sales role focused on selling dairy farm management technology to farmers in a specific region. Day-to-day involves prospecting, customer relationship management, closing deals, and gathering market feedback to feed back to product teams.

Work with DevOps and engineering teams to secure cloud infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, and repositories across AWS environments. Focus on identifying security risks, implementing security policies, and maintaining security guardrails rather than writing application code.

Recruit and manage technology partnerships with resellers and cloud providers, coordinating between partner organizations and internal teams to build joint sales strategies and drive revenue through partnership channels.

Lead compliance and risk management for a text messaging platform by developing processes, handling carrier audits and escalations, and ensuring regulatory adherence across fraud and abuse prevention. Work cross-functionally with operations and product teams to scale compliance practices.

A preconstruction engineering role focused on planning, coordinating, and managing battery storage energy projects from development through construction phases, requiring technical energy knowledge and project coordination rather than software development.