Ask HN: How to climb up in tech technologically (not by becoming a manager)?

#1

Post by ronenlh » Fri, Oct 09, 2020, 10:29 AM UTC

I'd say I'm past junior and entering senior dev experience. I want to advance in my field as much as possible, but I'm a technical person. I don't want to manage teams or sit in boring corporate meetings, which is what I see around as my peers advance.

I want to earn as much as possible while tackling more and more exciting technical problems.

What positions should strive for in 5, 10, 20 years? I'm willing to study and work hard for it. I don't have certificates or degrees to show, but my work can speak for itself, hopefully.

I'm involved in client development, beginning to work on cloud and microservices. Love coding, math, and open to learn completely new fields.

Re: Ask HN: How to climb up in tech technologically (not by becoming a manager)?

#2

Post by onion2k » Fri, Oct 09, 2020, 10:53 AM UTC

... sit in boring corporate meetings

... tackling more and more exciting technical problems

I have some bad news for you.

Boring corporate meetings are where exciting technical problems are defined, and where it's decided on whether or not they're worth tackling. If you're not actively participating in the boring corporate meetings then you'll only ever be solving problems that other people have decided to tackle - which means you'll never be working on the things that you want to work on unless you're very lucky.

If you're really opposed to corporate meetings the alternative is to start your own company, but then you'll end up in sales meetings instead and those are much worse.

Re: Ask HN: How to climb up in tech technologically (not by becoming a manager)?

#3

Post by mhay » Fri, Oct 09, 2020, 11:08 AM UTC

There are companies that have two career streams: technical and management. If you go down technical, you might become a principal engineer, etc. If you go down the managerial, you can pursue a director role. If you feel your company isn't offering that and is unlikely to, you can look for such companies.

Note however, I think a bit of management is inevitable as you become more senior. Being senior means you often have the knowledge and expertise to multiply your team's output through interactions beyond individual contribution. By this I mean, bringing senior expertise to the table when planning, being part of the long term strategy and roadmap discussions, involving the team, seeking out contribution for your projects, etc.

Re: Ask HN: How to climb up in tech technologically (not by becoming a manager)?

#4

Post by ronenlh » Fri, Oct 09, 2020, 12:41 PM UTC

mhay wrote: post #3

There are companies that have two career streams: technical and management. If you go down technical, you might become a principal engineer, etc. If you go down the managerial, you can pursue a director role. If you feel your company isn't offering that and is unlikely to, you can look for such companies. Note however, I think a bit of management is inevitable as you become more senior. Being senior means you often h…

Thanks. I like the concept seeing management tasks as multiplying the team's output beyond individual contributions. That has a lot of value.

I'll focus on the technical career stream, even though that's not that clearly defined in my company.

Re: Ask HN: How to climb up in tech technologically (not by becoming a manager)?

#5

Post by ronenlh » Fri, Oct 09, 2020, 12:46 PM UTC

onion2k wrote: post #2

... sit in boring corporate meetings ... tackling more and more exciting technical problems I have some bad news for you. Boring corporate meetings are where exciting technical problems are defined, and where it's decided on whether or not they're worth tackling. If you're not actively participating in the boring corporate meetings then you'll only ever be solving problems that other people have decided to tackle - w…

Never thought of that. Corporate meetings to be able to say "we can tackle the challenge" and then go and do it.

The meetings are for "what" vs "how."