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There's also nothing wrong with plateauing for a while or even topping out, especially if you are generally happy with life and career. There's pride to be had
by thwayunion 4y ago
There's also nothing wrong with plateauing for a while or even topping out, especially if you are generally happy with life and career. There's pride to be had in being a good individual contributor; not everyone needs to make it to Senior Super Special Principal :)
- spacemadness 4y agoI keep being told I shouldn’t be writing code at my level and should be knee deep in design docs and estimations all day long. This is actually what happens but I would much prefer to be writing software and am wondering if I can even be happy in this career any longer. This industry has some real bizarre notions of career progression.
- davewritescode 4y agoYou need to write code and you need to get people around you to write better code. That’s basically what a staff engineer does in addition to making large design decisions.
- spacemadness 4y agoThat’s my belief as well but there are managers out there that think staff engineers should never write code. It boggles my mind they think this way but many do.
- lumost 4y agoWriting code means that your impact can be directly measured. Others can see quality, volume, and impact. If you stop writing code then you can't be measured. If your impact is measured by others, and you aren't bound by a team... then you can just float to where the wind is blowing. It's comparatively easy to surf in this manner.
- spacemadness 4y agoI agree and know all this and argue it weekly, trust me. Bad management doesn’t care.