I was a full stack developer for 5 years and an SDET for the next 7 and quit. I hated it. I'm a corrections officer at a maximum security prison and actually like it. I was underpaid, underappreciated, racking up credit card debt just to survive while living paycheck to paycheck. I actually had to get a second job delivering pizza. The SDET work was frustrating, stressful, disorganized, and I had no support and awful terrible team leaders and pms. This was at a large company you've probably heard of. I felt like I was in prison, now I actually am and I'm so much happier. I have savings and retirement, great credit, tons of time off, and while certainly not appreciated, I wouldn't change a thing.
I'd love to give it a go again if I could make the same or more money, work for decent people on interesting projects, work remotely, and have the same job security. I don't think it's possible.
I would love to hear your experiences as a corrections officer at a max sec prison. Any book you recommend to read about experiences at prisons?
I don't know of any books. My experiences are vast periods of boredom interspersed with quick bouts of adrenaline. I've felt mostly safe but I work at a more relaxed max. We find weapons all the time but they're almost never used. I've only been almost assaulted once but the inmate coming at me was actually pulled away by another inmate. I would have been alright though, there was plenty of staff nearby if it went that way. We talk a lot of shit about each other but when the alarm goes off everybody is on the same side.
If you want to hear about prison some pretty legit channels from the side of prisoners might be interesting. Check out Lockdown23and1 or FreshOut. I prefer stories from their side, it's free intel.