4 ms·

I am a very young developer (about a year and half out of college) so this might be a naïve thought. Isn't 15 years quite a long tenure for software development

I am a very young developer (about a year and half out of college) so this might be a naïve thought. Isn't 15 years quite a long tenure for software development? I thought after 5-10 years you move into product/project management or something higher. I mean I realize everyone is different but still. Being the inexperienced programmer I am right now I imagine myself happily coding until I am 50 (lol ask me in 15 years if I feel the same way)

jjharr 10y ago
No. Many of the best engineers have no interest and/or no aptitude for management positions. And the best tech companies compensate those engineers on a scale comparative to management.
jhgaylor 10y ago
I'm 6 years in or so and I think the only chance I'm getting into management is by necessity when starting my own company. There is plenty of room in the org chart for a 15 year veteran software developer.
pekim 10y ago
I'm 54 and have never wanted to move out of development. I've ended up team leading a number of times, but always with plenty of development time. I'm at my happiest when I'm in a straight development role, and I don't see that changing.
sp527 10y ago
I have about 3 years of industry experience, but it's been enough to teach me one very valuable lesson: don't transition entirely out of software engineering until you have some reasonable assurance of personal/financial security. I once transitioned into a more client-oriented role for a brief time and was almost immediately scrambling to claw my way back out for a handful of reasons: (1) the value I was creating became nebulous and hard to define compared to before, (2) I lost the insane value-creation lever that software engineering enables, and (3) things became considerably less deterministic in general. You really don't need to look any further than the various high-profile executive flameouts of seemingly intelligent people with strong engineering track records (e.g. Marissa Mayer) to understand the problem. You could even be a great manager/salesperson/product designer and still fail because so much is out of your control. I saw this play out repeatedly amongst the various managers and executives at my previous company. So if you're going to take the risk of escalating beyond the role of an individual contributor, make sure you have a parachute.
gaius 10y ago
I thought after 5-10 years you move into product/project management or something higher. Why do you think project management is higher? Did a PM tell you that?
shaftway 10y ago
Not at all. I'm a 15 year veteran. No chance I'd move into management or project management. First, I'd hate the job. It'd move me away from the code, which is where I enjoy spending my time. Second, the problems I'd be solving would be far less interesting; I hate dealing with inter-personal issues and deciding which project takes priority is boring. But ultimately I'd be less valuable, and therefore make a lot less. Veterans command a pretty decent salary. I know I make a good chunk more than my direct manager, and I make a little over three times as much as the PMs I work with.

jjharr 10y ago

No. Many of the best engineers have no interest and/or no aptitude for management positions. And the best tech companies compensate those engineers on a scale comparative to management.

jhgaylor 10y ago

I'm 6 years in or so and I think the only chance I'm getting into management is by necessity when starting my own company. There is plenty of room in the org chart for a 15 year veteran software developer.

pekim 10y ago

I'm 54 and have never wanted to move out of development. I've ended up team leading a number of times, but always with plenty of development time. I'm at my happiest when I'm in a straight development role, and I don't see that changing.

sp527 10y ago

I have about 3 years of industry experience, but it's been enough to teach me one very valuable lesson: don't transition entirely out of software engineering until you have some reasonable assurance of personal/financial security. I once transitioned into a more client-oriented role for a brief time and was almost immediately scrambling to claw my way back out for a handful of reasons: (1) the value I was creating became nebulous and hard to define compared to before, (2) I lost the insane value-creation lever that software engineering enables, and (3) things became considerably less deterministic in general. You really don't need to look any further than the various high-profile executive flameouts of seemingly intelligent people with strong engineering track records (e.g. Marissa Mayer) to understand the problem. You could even be a great manager/salesperson/product designer and still fail because so much is out of your control. I saw this play out repeatedly amongst the various managers and executives at my previous company. So if you're going to take the risk of escalating beyond the role of an individual contributor, make sure you have a parachute.

gaius 10y ago

I thought after 5-10 years you move into product/project management or something higher. Why do you think project management is higher? Did a PM tell you that?

shaftway 10y ago

Not at all. I'm a 15 year veteran. No chance I'd move into management or project management. First, I'd hate the job. It'd move me away from the code, which is where I enjoy spending my time. Second, the problems I'd be solving would be far less interesting; I hate dealing with inter-personal issues and deciding which project takes priority is boring. But ultimately I'd be less valuable, and therefore make a lot less. Veterans command a pretty decent salary. I know I make a good chunk more than my direct manager, and I make a little over three times as much as the PMs I work with.