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It's almost beyond unreal. In the past two weeks I've had multiple discussions about promoting staff with 1-3 years of experience in this, their first job out o

by bane 4y ago

It's almost beyond unreal. In the past two weeks I've had multiple discussions about promoting staff with 1-3 years of experience in this, their first job out of undergrad, into positions that have typically required 15-20 years of broad industry experience with various responsibilities or accomplishments (successful P&L management, regarding in their field, etc.). My management has basically just shrugged, "it's the market right now" without considering any long-term ramifications. I'd almost be fine with it if the rising tide lifted all boats, but it seems to be highly particular to the incoming <5 years of experience people. Before too long, I'm going to end up working for people who know almost nothing, and don't even have the experience to know it. That'll be the moment I retire.

Victerius 4y ago
Sorry, but I think it's you who are out of touch here. Requiring 15-20 years of experience? Just... no. Software engineers are so well paid that many of them retire from the job market permanently after 15-20 years. You might as well ask people to be 65 years old until they can occupy the position. 20 years is 25% of a lifespan, and 33% of an adult lifespan. Why isn't 10 years good enough? Unless it's an executive position for people who are at the end of their careers. You can become a Brigadier General in 20 years in the military, which would be broadly equivalent to a SVP.
- chinchilla2020 4y ago
  Yeah this is a weird mentality that I encounter pretty often. It is completely juxtaposed with the reality of most senior managers, who are identified by companies in their early 20s. Companies tend to promote high velocity career climbers and want to promote them young in order to get plenty of years of service from them.
trifurcate 4y ago
One thing that you haven't touched on here (and most people don't) is that "professional experience" is highly nebulous in a field like software development where you may have a >10 year head start compared to your peers in terms of life stage. I started programming when I was 8, and have been a contributor to many software projects from age 11 onwards, with a lot of those contributions still publicly visible on my GitHub profile. Straight out of college, sure I have "~1 year of experience" (that is, if you even count my internships) but I've been programming for more than half my life. If you sum my ad hoc experience contributing to FOSS projects, doing one-off contract work, personal projects, and just tinkering over 15 years I might very well be as good as someone with "15-20 years of broad industry experience", but it doesn't show on my resume as an easily quantified number. I've definitely come across and worked with these kinds of tenured, experienced workers who went into software development not as a hobby or interest but as a mere career and ended up falling behind in their later years due to a lack of drive. This kind of thing is rare in most professions, so people aren't used to it (and I'm not saying that it's 100% what's happening in your anecdote), but I believe it is becoming increasingly common in software development.

by bane 4y ago

Victerius 4y ago

Sorry, but I think it's you who are out of touch here. Requiring 15-20 years of experience? Just... no. Software engineers are so well paid that many of them retire from the job market permanently after 15-20 years. You might as well ask people to be 65 years old until they can occupy the position. 20 years is 25% of a lifespan, and 33% of an adult lifespan. Why isn't 10 years good enough? Unless it's an executive position for people who are at the end of their careers. You can become a Brigadier General in 20 years in the military, which would be broadly equivalent to a SVP.

chinchilla2020 4y ago
Yeah this is a weird mentality that I encounter pretty often. It is completely juxtaposed with the reality of most senior managers, who are identified by companies in their early 20s. Companies tend to promote high velocity career climbers and want to promote them young in order to get plenty of years of service from them.

trifurcate 4y ago

One thing that you haven't touched on here (and most people don't) is that "professional experience" is highly nebulous in a field like software development where you may have a >10 year head start compared to your peers in terms of life stage. I started programming when I was 8, and have been a contributor to many software projects from age 11 onwards, with a lot of those contributions still publicly visible on my GitHub profile. Straight out of college, sure I have "~1 year of experience" (that is, if you even count my internships) but I've been programming for more than half my life. If you sum my ad hoc experience contributing to FOSS projects, doing one-off contract work, personal projects, and just tinkering over 15 years I might very well be as good as someone with "15-20 years of broad industry experience", but it doesn't show on my resume as an easily quantified number. I've definitely come across and worked with these kinds of tenured, experienced workers who went into software development not as a hobby or interest but as a mere career and ended up falling behind in their later years due to a lack of drive. This kind of thing is rare in most professions, so people aren't used to it (and I'm not saying that it's 100% what's happening in your anecdote), but I believe it is becoming increasingly common in software development.