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Ask HN: Is it bad that I don’t want to be a senior engineer?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it bad that I don’t want to be a senior engineer?

#11

Post by giantg2 »

iSloth wrote: post #6

I’ve felt the same way, and actually left my last role 3 months ago because of it. I did have some burn out, however I was increasingly becoming more aware that the small salary jump for a senior role just didn’t match the massive jump in responsibilities. In the end I’m working on my own stuff now, but failing that I’d be looking for a more normal role, or significantly more remuneration to take on that stress/work…

My company gives a 7% raise and expects an extra hour of work (13% increase). Why would I take an hourly rate cut for a position with more responsibilities? I work at a financial company that constantly pushes financial acumen. If workers actually had the financial acumen to recognize what's going on...

Re: Ask HN: Is it bad that I don’t want to be a senior engineer?

#12

Post by 3minus1 »

My perspective based on the places I've worked:

* Jr Engineer - Your work is given to you as bite-sized well-defined tasks.

* Mid-level - You're working on and delivering entire projects. The project is often well-defined.

* Sr Level - You're more working on a problem space, and it's much more open-ended. You may have to come up with and define your own projects.

* Tech Lead - Your focus shifts from your own impact, to the impact of your entire team. This is the biggest shift, where you need to spend way more time communicating, getting alignment with multiple teams, etc.

I sympathize with OP for missing the days of only working on well-defined tasks. However, being able to tackle open-ended problems is a huge value to businesses and it's the reason senior engineers make a lot more.

Re: Ask HN: Is it bad that I don’t want to be a senior engineer?

#13

Post by ingvul »

I feel the same (from time to time). It's becoming harder and harder to be just "a software engineer" in this industry. All of a sudden, the "perfect" software engineer must:

- be "product oriented: "Think big", "Think customers-first", "Get shit done"

- make his/her colleagues better (by mentoring, by leading by example, by giving talks)

- stand up and make himself heard (e.g., working on projects that touch on multiple teams... because staying in your corner is so 90s)

- focus more on "delivering features" instead of making the products more stable (otherwise, no salary increase. Bugfixes don't bring money)

- be on call, because "you build it, you run it, you own it"

- ... all of these, of course, while keeping your tech skills up-to-date (which is in itself quite taxing)

Re: Ask HN: Is it bad that I don’t want to be a senior engineer?

#15

Post by ingvul »

3minus1 wrote: post #12

My perspective based on the places I've worked: * Jr Engineer - Your work is given to you as bite-sized well-defined tasks. * Mid-level - You're working on and delivering entire projects. The project is often well-defined. * Sr Level - You're more working on a problem space, and it's much more open-ended. You may have to come up with and define your own projects. * Tech Lead - Your focus shifts from your own impact,…

> However, being able to tackle open-ended problems is a huge value to businesses and it's the reason senior engineers make a lot more.

If you have "open-ended" problems, your managers are doing a bad job. Hell, I know that happens in real life, but then senior engineers are not more just senior engineers, they are jack of all trades (and not only at the tech level): they know about people, they know about product, and sure they know about tech. With these kind of senior engineers, one doesn't need managers anymore.

Re: Ask HN: Is it bad that I don’t want to be a senior engineer?

#16

Post by decafninja »

throwawaytable wrote: post #7
decafninja wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends. I'm a senior SWE at a non-tech (tech is a cost center) company. However, many tech (tech is a profit center) companies - not just FAANG - will pay at least, if not significantly more, for midlevel roles. Hence one of the reasons I don't mind downgrading. OP mentions "Fortune 500", which I often see used for non-tech companies. If this is the case, the above is something to keep in mind. The downside is yo…

Decaf is it fair to say that you’re experiencing the same thing? I’m not actually at a Fortune 500, I shouldn’t have said that. Tech is a profit center and I’m in the Bay Area. Yeah I’m just wondering if I should either work at a place where tech is a cost center or just seek a less exhausting L4 role somewhere.

I think you misunderstood me :).

If you have a pedigree at any well known "tech as a profit center" Silicon Valley company, you will likely be treated as a celebrity at a non-tech company and given a senior position doing those very activities you are trying to avoid.

Re: Ask HN: Is it bad that I don’t want to be a senior engineer?

#17

Post by throwawaytable »

beforeolives wrote: post #8

> I’m a senior engineer who is expected to be a tech lead for my team and work on cross functional projects. Shouldn't the title then be "Is it bad that I don't want to be a tech lead?"? I think that there is a distinction between a tech lead and a senior engineer. As a tech lead you have more responsibility for the success of a given project while as a senior engineer you're (mostly) responsible for your own contrib…

This is a good perspective, and you’re right. I don’t want to be a tech lead. It just seems like all senior eng roles imply that.

Re: Ask HN: Is it bad that I don’t want to be a senior engineer?

#18

Post by adkadskhj »

Heh, i'm a "Team Lead" for a small/medium company and it's a joke. We're in desperate need of the CTO/Leads to own problems in our development cycles (the usual, tests, documentation, etc), and for my area i recognize, can identify and want to prioritize it... yet i'm too damn busy. Everyone is. I "own" several mission critical aspects in the company and we just don't have the manpower to move it to someone else.

Your burnout and architectural decision comment resonated with me.

Re: Ask HN: Is it bad that I don’t want to be a senior engineer?

#20

Post by deeteecee »

I don't see anything wrong with that but I do feel like you can still attain that same role but have it less overloaded. Maybe try a different company or share this with your boss?

I think I rarely read about people being burned out at Fortune 500 companies but saw your other comment that you aren't actually at one.

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