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Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?

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Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?

#51

Post by pelagicAustral »

Onawa wrote: post #46
dartharva wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't be so sure considering what's happening with federal govt offices in the US right now..

Yep, I'm a federal contractor working in NIH as a data scientist, and completely agree with the above comment. Before November, I would have said the same thing as the parent comment. After January 20th, everyone who is left is currently looking for backups in case they get laid off. Gov and fed contractor positions used to be the most stable jobs you could get. Now, they are just as uncertain as industry jobs. It's…

Sorry to hear... I hope this situation gets sorted sooner rather than later.

Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?

#53

Post by david-gpu »

Qualcomm, at least until I left in 2017, had two parallel career tracks, one for management and another for individual contributors. Both had equal pay grades. It was up to you whether you wanted to follow one or the other.

So if your concern is that you don't want to become a manager while still being well paid, that is an option. Other than that, the culture was pretty nice, especially in the Markham (Canada) office.

Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?

#54

Post by seanw444 »

giantg2 wrote: post #47
ac-swe wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

state & local are always options

Government adjacent jobs with NGOs that are not federal government funded might also be options.

A lot of NGOs are government funded, just through multiple layers of indirection, so they can claim they aren't.

Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?

#55

Post by giantg2 »

JohnFen wrote: post #12

> Has anyone worked somewhere that they felt they could just do their job without worrying about the career advancement aspect? That's every place I've ever worked, to be honest, including tech megacorps. Lots of places will put a lot of emphasis on career advancement, but I've never seen anyone punished for not doing it. I'm not counting "won't get promoted" as a punishment, for obvious reasons.

My non-tech company seems to also have this up or out mentality. They don't have a specific timeline, but if you're a midlevel for too long like me, they definitely try to manage you out. I've had a few friends who are managers confirm this.

Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?

#56

Post by seanw444 »

giantg2 wrote: post #52

Maybe just job-hop. Sure, you're a senior for 10 years at one company, then be a senior at another company for another 10 years. I know that's easier said than done, and could run into ageism as you get older.

I keep hearing about this "ageism" but it's never made sense to me. I would always want to hire an older, wiser developer, if I were calling the shots. Why is this a thing?

Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?

#57

Post by seabit »

I've mostly worked as an IC and a manager in technical organizations outside of VC backed startup land. In those orgs I've found that most places consider 'Senior Engineer' to be a terminal level. By that I mean until you get to senior engineer it us up or out. In fact, as I manager, I've had explicit timelines on which I've had to get people to senior, or manage them out. Once you DO get to senior engineer they are happy to let you stay there forever because a) senior engineers are what keeps the tech org going day to day b) the staff+ path and management path are not just 'up' from senior - they are actually different jobs from senior requiring a different skillset. The downside of this is don't expect anything more than cost-of-living increases in pay.

Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?

#58

Post by dowager_dan99 »

look for smaller, private companies. They'll require you to do a broader range of tasks, but there's no progression because there's no hierarchy or formal management. Most of the devs I know who've been in the same role for longer than ~10 years work for < 50 people companies that will always be < 50 people companies.

Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?

#59

Post by fancyfredbot »

Try to think of this from the organisation's point of view. The up or out culture serves two purposes. It helps ensure senior roles go to people they know well and trust, and it ensures there is room for other ambitious and motivated people to move up.

In other words the whole objective is to have a well run organisation with motivated employees. The objective is definitely not to force hard working and talented people to leave.

If you are hard working and talented it's incredibly unlikely they will want to push you out and then go through the whole process of hiring and training a replacement. It's worth having a conversation with your manager before looking for a new job.

Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?

#60

Post by thiago_fm »

For many companies 'senior' engineer is a terminal level, meaning you can continue on it and will be respected if you do so.

As you've said, both Staff or Eng. Manager role carry out more responsibility, as they are both leadership positions, one being more technical and the other more related to people.

There's a natural push for sending experienced people into the Staff/Manager bracket but I see plenty of people in their 40s and 50s working happily as a Senior Developer.

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