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This seems counter intuitive to me. All through your 20s, you're working your way up through the bottom of some crappy bigco, paying your dues and getting expe

This seems counter intuitive to me. All through your 20s, you're working your way up through the bottom of some crappy bigco, paying your dues and getting experience under your belt so that you can jump to better jobs later. By your mid 30s, at least in our industry, you can get to a position where you can choose a nice gig at a good company, and pretty much steer your destiny as you choose. So it's surprising that you'd hate your job more then than when you were younger.

sonnyblarney 8y ago
"and pretty much steer your destiny as you choose" Generally no - every rung up the ladder gets about 500% more competitive, and even worse, it's political competition. Middle management is the worst kind of work beyond raw labour. When you're young, usually you're learning, doing 'actual work' and you can make no mistakes really. If you have a protected executive job, and can handle politics, there can be stability there. Bug upper manager and Director ... my god - you still have to show hard results, and you're not always in position to do it. It's thankless. You don't even get to make the big decisions.
- jasonkester 8y ago
  Why move to management then? Software Developer is the best gig imaginable right now, in pretty much any dimension you can measure. - Senior level pay is pushing $500k for employees, ( and higher for consulting) - Pretty much any gig can be remote - Hottest job market in history - Lots of fun work to be found if you don't want to go the BigCo track So yeah, why fight all that stuff you list on that path when you can stay in individual contributor and have it easy?
  - vonmoltke 8y ago
    > Senior level pay is pushing $500k for employees, ( and higher for consulting) At a handful of elite, highly-competitive companies. > Pretty much any gig can be remote The defense, health care, finance, and embedded sectors would beg to differ. Also, can be remote often does not equal "allowed to* be remote. > Hottest job market in history "In history" is too strong, but it is definitely a hot market (in most areas). > Lots of fun work to be found if you don't want to go the BigCo track If you choose this your first bullet doesn't apply.
    - jasonkester 8y ago
      So to be clear, in response to me asking why a developer in this market would intentionally put himself into a disadvantageous situation, you have chosen to list off a bunch more disadvantageous situations a developer could put himself into. I’m willing to concede that one can find a second tier company willing to pay sub-market rates for boring work in a cubicle, if one chose. But again, I’ll ask why you would do that to yourself when there are such better options?
ehnto 8y ago
You make a lot of realisations about the nature of work along the way. I imagine it's less that people hate their job specifically and just that they are tired of the grind in general. You can love your job and still not want to be at it for 40 hours a week.
TheCoelacanth 8y ago
What you are missing is that rate of improvement often matters as much or more to happiness than absolute quality. In your 20s, it is easy to make rapid career progress. By the mid 30s, most people's careers have plateaued or are progressing much more slowly.

sonnyblarney 8y ago

"and pretty much steer your destiny as you choose" Generally no - every rung up the ladder gets about 500% more competitive, and even worse, it's political competition. Middle management is the worst kind of work beyond raw labour. When you're young, usually you're learning, doing 'actual work' and you can make no mistakes really. If you have a protected executive job, and can handle politics, there can be stability there. Bug upper manager and Director ... my god - you still have to show hard results, and you're not always in position to do it. It's thankless. You don't even get to make the big decisions.

jasonkester 8y ago
Why move to management then? Software Developer is the best gig imaginable right now, in pretty much any dimension you can measure. - Senior level pay is pushing $500k for employees, ( and higher for consulting) - Pretty much any gig can be remote - Hottest job market in history - Lots of fun work to be found if you don't want to go the BigCo track So yeah, why fight all that stuff you list on that path when you can stay in individual contributor and have it easy?
- vonmoltke 8y ago
  > Senior level pay is pushing $500k for employees, ( and higher for consulting) At a handful of elite, highly-competitive companies. > Pretty much any gig can be remote The defense, health care, finance, and embedded sectors would beg to differ. Also, can be remote often does not equal "allowed to* be remote. > Hottest job market in history "In history" is too strong, but it is definitely a hot market (in most areas). > Lots of fun work to be found if you don't want to go the BigCo track If you choose this your first bullet doesn't apply.
  - jasonkester 8y ago
    So to be clear, in response to me asking why a developer in this market would intentionally put himself into a disadvantageous situation, you have chosen to list off a bunch more disadvantageous situations a developer could put himself into. I’m willing to concede that one can find a second tier company willing to pay sub-market rates for boring work in a cubicle, if one chose. But again, I’ll ask why you would do that to yourself when there are such better options?

ehnto 8y ago

You make a lot of realisations about the nature of work along the way. I imagine it's less that people hate their job specifically and just that they are tired of the grind in general. You can love your job and still not want to be at it for 40 hours a week.

TheCoelacanth 8y ago

What you are missing is that rate of improvement often matters as much or more to happiness than absolute quality. In your 20s, it is easy to make rapid career progress. By the mid 30s, most people's careers have plateaued or are progressing much more slowly.