Have you talked to your manager about it? I’m at a large tech company and I know people who have requested to stay at their current level.
Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?
91–100 of 152 posts
Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?
#92Co-owner of a "consulting company" with partner(s) that are more into the business and management side of things, are cool with you mostly just coding, handling the software related fires, and help guiding, mostly independent, developers, as needed.
After 20 years, I was fortunate enough to know the right people, and be in the right places at the right time, for it to fall into my lap, so I have no advice on how to achieve that, but I never want to go back to regular employment again.
Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?
#93In the U.S., maybe somewhere like Naval Undersea Warfare Centers (at least when I worked there). The problems they're solving are pretty constant, but they go very deep technically for those who are interested. There's a very long learning curve compared to most private sector jobs, but you can power through it in proportion to your personal ambitions. Downsides: (1) You're a political punching bag for 50% of the can…
"National defense" as defense of nation's interests. Politicians can phrase it however they like. Pay is meh, benefits are pretty good if you locked into 0.4% FERS deduction prior 2013, that's like 16% annualized compounding... health insurance is getting less and less attractive by the year. Salary growth is also slow and next few years probably gonna be a big fat zero and eaten alive by inflation. Like OP said, it…
I was at NUWC Newport. Depending on the department, there was more or less programming to be done.
Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a cat owner I'd suggest that dog food is likely closer to a complete diet for humans. Cats are obligate carnivores, dogs are omnivores like us. Also, most cat food smells pretty bad
OTOH, if you're barely able to afford food, if they're the same cost, high protein might be a good thing.
Completeness is more important than optimal balance. For example, a high protein diet is no good if you get scurvy because cats produce their own vitamin C and you don't (although dogs also don't need vitamin C, which suggests that a pet-food-only diet needs to include at least some guinea pig food)
Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?
#95In the U.S., maybe somewhere like Naval Undersea Warfare Centers (at least when I worked there). The problems they're solving are pretty constant, but they go very deep technically for those who are interested. There's a very long learning curve compared to most private sector jobs, but you can power through it in proportion to your personal ambitions. Downsides: (1) You're a political punching bag for 50% of the can…
I interviewed at NUWC Keyport when I was in college. Seemed like an interesting place to work but they didn’t have any real programming roles at the time. My interviewer asked if I had experience with UML and talked about how he wanted someone to document and optimize their assembly line procedures. I’m not sure he knew exactly what he wanted.
In my experience, tasking was really department-specific.
On the bright side, once you were inside and got your bearings, it was reasonably easy to get transferred to a department that better suited one's interests.
Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?
#96has your job security actually been threatened or is this another episode of Using Ask HN as My Therapist
Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?
#97Maybe 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.
10 years rofl
Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Yeah, you can run into it anywhere. When I was in the pizza delivery business in my early 20s, once you got into management, there was very much an up-or-out mentality. You couldn't just be a really good assistant manager; you were pushed to move up to manager and then to a bigger store and so on. It just seems to bother the climbers to see someone content to stay in the position he knows he's best suited for.
My theory is they want more than they pay for. They want to pay you the salary for Level X while you work hard to get to Level X+1
Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
I'd say that they are more uncertain than industry jobs at this point, unless you're talking about companies that have recently been taken over by private equity where the new owners intend to gut the place and sell off the parts.
> unless you're talking about companies that have recently been taken over by private equity where the new owners intend to gut the place and sell off the parts.
Off topic, but this is starting to feel like the rule rather than the exception. This practice should not be legal.
Re: Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?
#100Get the same job working for government. Work stability in government is unparalleled, and there is so much cruft and technical debt that you will literally spend up until your last breath fixing legacy code and trying to get people off ancient software systems. You will stagnate, and nobody will give a shit. People will come and go next to you, but you will be stable through the ages, like a pillar in an ancient Rom…
I wouldn't be so sure considering what's happening with federal govt offices in the US right now..
how about working for state govts like IL or CA. I have friends in both but they are not worried (yet).