From Code to Blueprint: A Coder’s Pivot to Baby Blue-Collar Life

After a layoff, Brian Gordon leaves coding for a 'baby blue-collar' path, moving from frontend developer roles to land surveying and then to civil site design, designing parking lots and drive-thrus for a fast-food company using AutoCAD. He pursued in-person networking after exploring multiple trades, accepts a roughly 30% pay cut and a return to office work with some site visits, and faces childcare challenges, but feels relieved and has no plans to return to tech, convinced AI will continue to reshape programming roles.