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Sorry but: fuck this. I also work as a software engineer, and I focus on one thing only: professionalism. Professionalism is about: 1. knowing my stuff. I got

Sorry but: fuck this. I also work as a software engineer, and I focus on one thing only: professionalism. Professionalism is about: 1. knowing my stuff. I got my degree, I read, I experiment with new tech and I never stop learning. 2. responsibility. Am I working on Issue 345? You bet I’ll do my best finishing it on time or I’ll inform you if that’s not possible way beforehand. 3. don’t harm others with the excuse of points 1 or 2. I don’t care about visibility or playing politics. I don’t care about levels. The idea of “performing” at a certain level is ridiculous. I do care about getting compensated for the stuff I do, but based only in points 1 and 2 above. It has worked for me in many cases, although sometimes I’ve had to quit because companies were expecting me to play the game.

irrational 5y ago
This is me. Every year at review time I get the usual, where do you want your career to go? What are your next steps? Um, frankly I very happy where I am, with my current compensation, with my current benefits, etc. I don't really want to go anywhere? It has worked for me the past 20 years. Hopefully it will work for the next 15-20 years or whenever I retire. Though, I enjoy my work so I'm in no hurry to retire.
- jiofih 5y ago
  Do you manage to make the same as your peers? I think this strategy tends to limit your earnings significantly compared to playing the game.
  - irrational 5y ago
    I work for a Fortune 500 company. Recently they wanted make sure women and minorities were making the same as white men in comparable jobs within $1. But they checked everyone salary to be fair. I ended up getting a 15% raise. I was happy with that, but I was also happy with my previous pay. I thought I was overpaid before. Now I really feel overpaid.
- Jemaclus 5y ago
  (Caveats for this post: First, my experience is largely in rapidly growing startups, so take with a grain of salt if you are not in a high-growth environment. Second, I'm going to be using you as an example, but this post isn't really necessarily for you, it's for anyone else who happens to read it and can maybe take something away from this.) I've been managing engineers for the last 6 years, and I just want to put it out there that this is a perfectly acceptable thing to say as far as I'm concerned. It's refreshing to have someone who knows exactly what they want out of things. If you want to stay at a company for 4-6 years and then move on to another one and do the same thing, this is a great strategy. But from a managerial perspective, there are reasons why people don't want to hire people like this. The most obvious one is money. (Note: I'm going to use nice round (and unrealistic) numbers to illustrate the point. It's not the specifics that matter, but the overall pattern.) Let's say you make 100K, and your company has a generous 10% merit increase each year. Let's also postulate that you can do 1000 scrum points worth of work per year with your current set of responsibilities. As far as a compensation efficiency ratio goes, you're basically making $100 per point worth of work. In Year 2, you get a 10% raise, so now you're at 110K. Based on your statement of "I am happy where I am", that suggests that you aren't interested in additional responsibility (I.e., promotions or management). Due to that, your output is still somewhere around 1000 points. Now you're making $110 per point of efficiency. In effect, it's costing the company 10% more for you to do the same work! Year 3, you're at 110K + 10% = 121K. Year 4 at 133K. Now the company is spending 33% more for the same amount of work. Rough numbers, take with a huge grain of salt. But the point remains: generally speaking, management wants engineers that are ambitious and willing to take on more responsibility and grow. From the business perspective, this means that you're getting more done with fewer resources. (After all, it's cheaper to pay you 10-20% more than to hire a second engineer.) All of that said, if you are happy doing what you're doing and earning the compensation that you earn and getting the benefits that you get, then I, as a manager, think that's fantastic. But the "business" will most likely eventually decide that's not enough. I personally manage three engineers whose answer to "Where do you see your career in 5 years?" is "Doing exactly what I'm doing now, 9-5. I enjoy coding, but my true passions are elsewhere." All three are great engineers, and I would hire them again if I move to a new company. Just my two cents. I'm glad you're happy and I hope you continue to be happy in your role. To me, that's the most important bit about your job! Keep it up.

irrational 5y ago

This is me. Every year at review time I get the usual, where do you want your career to go? What are your next steps? Um, frankly I very happy where I am, with my current compensation, with my current benefits, etc. I don't really want to go anywhere? It has worked for me the past 20 years. Hopefully it will work for the next 15-20 years or whenever I retire. Though, I enjoy my work so I'm in no hurry to retire.

jiofih 5y ago
Do you manage to make the same as your peers? I think this strategy tends to limit your earnings significantly compared to playing the game.
- irrational 5y ago
  I work for a Fortune 500 company. Recently they wanted make sure women and minorities were making the same as white men in comparable jobs within $1. But they checked everyone salary to be fair. I ended up getting a 15% raise. I was happy with that, but I was also happy with my previous pay. I thought I was overpaid before. Now I really feel overpaid.
Jemaclus 5y ago
(Caveats for this post: First, my experience is largely in rapidly growing startups, so take with a grain of salt if you are not in a high-growth environment. Second, I'm going to be using you as an example, but this post isn't really necessarily for you, it's for anyone else who happens to read it and can maybe take something away from this.) I've been managing engineers for the last 6 years, and I just want to put it out there that this is a perfectly acceptable thing to say as far as I'm concerned. It's refreshing to have someone who knows exactly what they want out of things. If you want to stay at a company for 4-6 years and then move on to another one and do the same thing, this is a great strategy. But from a managerial perspective, there are reasons why people don't want to hire people like this. The most obvious one is money. (Note: I'm going to use nice round (and unrealistic) numbers to illustrate the point. It's not the specifics that matter, but the overall pattern.) Let's say you make 100K, and your company has a generous 10% merit increase each year. Let's also postulate that you can do 1000 scrum points worth of work per year with your current set of responsibilities. As far as a compensation efficiency ratio goes, you're basically making $100 per point worth of work. In Year 2, you get a 10% raise, so now you're at 110K. Based on your statement of "I am happy where I am", that suggests that you aren't interested in additional responsibility (I.e., promotions or management). Due to that, your output is still somewhere around 1000 points. Now you're making $110 per point of efficiency. In effect, it's costing the company 10% more for you to do the same work! Year 3, you're at 110K + 10% = 121K. Year 4 at 133K. Now the company is spending 33% more for the same amount of work. Rough numbers, take with a huge grain of salt. But the point remains: generally speaking, management wants engineers that are ambitious and willing to take on more responsibility and grow. From the business perspective, this means that you're getting more done with fewer resources. (After all, it's cheaper to pay you 10-20% more than to hire a second engineer.) All of that said, if you are happy doing what you're doing and earning the compensation that you earn and getting the benefits that you get, then I, as a manager, think that's fantastic. But the "business" will most likely eventually decide that's not enough. I personally manage three engineers whose answer to "Where do you see your career in 5 years?" is "Doing exactly what I'm doing now, 9-5. I enjoy coding, but my true passions are elsewhere." All three are great engineers, and I would hire them again if I move to a new company. Just my two cents. I'm glad you're happy and I hope you continue to be happy in your role. To me, that's the most important bit about your job! Keep it up.