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From my own experience here's one big way to become unhireable: Being a senior engineer in years only, but not in skills. You become a laggard in learning new

by ccajas 9y ago

From my own experience here's one big way to become unhireable: Being a senior engineer in years only, but not in skills. You become a laggard in learning new skills, and adopting good programming practices. This is the classic "1 years of experience for X years" problem. The harsh reality is that many good companies avoid these types of people. They assume that you are not proactive with your career. So it's easy to get trapped in a feedback loop where your sub-par experience can only land you offers with companies that provide more sub-par programmer experiences.

codesternews 9y ago
>So it's easy to get trapped in a feedback loop where your sub-par experience can only land you offers with companies that provide more sub-par programmer experiences. Sorry but could not understand this. Can you please explain? Also can you please guide improving your skills - It means learning new languages etc or improving deep understanding.
Spoom 9y ago
I've seen this. It usually results in the candidate performing at a junior level in an interview -- and generally we're not going to bother giving them a junior level offer when they already have a senior level title at their current job. It doesn't surprise me that some companies try to avoid wasting their time.
- ccajas 9y ago
  For what it's worth, I've never been a senior developer although I have been working for 10 years. I've gotten the title of mid-level software engineer or simply "software engineer". The situation is a bit more complex for me, since my salary when I was a junior level was well below the local average for a junior, and right now as a mid-level it's a bit better, but still only make slightly below an average junior. As far as disqualifying seniors for junior jobs, depends on the companies they're moving from and to. A mid-level or senior-level job at a small company with only 3 developers doesn't necessarily qualify me to be a mid-level or senior-level job at a large established software company. So I'm fine with being downleveled in position when changing to those companies. And because of my salary situation, I'm 100% sure it will result in a pay raise regardless of the title. It's happened with some colleagues before, when they left the place I worked at. One left a 55k/year job with a technical lead role to a 70k/year job as a mid-level role.
  - Chyzwar 8y ago
    You are mistaken. In a small company you usually have the power to choose technology and make architecture decisions. Small company where you have many hats and work closely with stakeholder will teach so much more. In the big enterprise, you will code on the locked windows7 machine and deploy to RedHat 5 box with the assistance of Ops team. You will use antiquated technology and all important architecture decision will be made by a clueless architect in the mothership. My rule of thumb: Junior - require handholding often a negative contribution Midd - work independently, add value but require oversight Senior - can contribute multiple times more, can mentor or architect Most people never reach senior but they feel entitled by having years of experience.
  - Spoom 8y ago
    It's not just that the pay is a problem (although it usually is). It's also that if someone has been in a role for a long time and has not bothered to level up their skills enough that they could pass at least our Mid bar, we question if they have enough initiative to move beyond a Junior role once they're here -- and we don't want people to be Juniors forever.

by ccajas 9y ago

codesternews 9y ago

>So it's easy to get trapped in a feedback loop where your sub-par experience can only land you offers with companies that provide more sub-par programmer experiences. Sorry but could not understand this. Can you please explain? Also can you please guide improving your skills - It means learning new languages etc or improving deep understanding.

Spoom 9y ago

I've seen this. It usually results in the candidate performing at a junior level in an interview -- and generally we're not going to bother giving them a junior level offer when they already have a senior level title at their current job. It doesn't surprise me that some companies try to avoid wasting their time.

ccajas 9y ago
For what it's worth, I've never been a senior developer although I have been working for 10 years. I've gotten the title of mid-level software engineer or simply "software engineer". The situation is a bit more complex for me, since my salary when I was a junior level was well below the local average for a junior, and right now as a mid-level it's a bit better, but still only make slightly below an average junior. As far as disqualifying seniors for junior jobs, depends on the companies they're moving from and to. A mid-level or senior-level job at a small company with only 3 developers doesn't necessarily qualify me to be a mid-level or senior-level job at a large established software company. So I'm fine with being downleveled in position when changing to those companies. And because of my salary situation, I'm 100% sure it will result in a pay raise regardless of the title. It's happened with some colleagues before, when they left the place I worked at. One left a 55k/year job with a technical lead role to a 70k/year job as a mid-level role.
- Chyzwar 8y ago
  You are mistaken. In a small company you usually have the power to choose technology and make architecture decisions. Small company where you have many hats and work closely with stakeholder will teach so much more. In the big enterprise, you will code on the locked windows7 machine and deploy to RedHat 5 box with the assistance of Ops team. You will use antiquated technology and all important architecture decision will be made by a clueless architect in the mothership. My rule of thumb: Junior - require handholding often a negative contribution Midd - work independently, add value but require oversight Senior - can contribute multiple times more, can mentor or architect Most people never reach senior but they feel entitled by having years of experience.
- Spoom 8y ago
  It's not just that the pay is a problem (although it usually is). It's also that if someone has been in a role for a long time and has not bothered to level up their skills enough that they could pass at least our Mid bar, we question if they have enough initiative to move beyond a Junior role once they're here -- and we don't want people to be Juniors forever.