Ask HN: I've realized I'm a bad software engineer and I'm over 30, what's next?

Post by vlovich123 » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 3:23 PM UTC

epm7384 wrote: post #22

I'd argue differently. Congrats for having the courage to recognize your problem. The analogy that comes to mind is I've been playing basketball in my local town, and now I've gotten promoted to play in the big city. I now feel like a small fish in a big pond. If you enjoy software engineering, I'd say, double down. Now that you're at the medium software company, seek mentorship and coaching from others. In addition,…

Post by brandall10 » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 3:23 PM UTC

ipaddr wrote: post #107

brandall10 wrote: post #78

We hired someone like this last year who was a lead in the last role at a small firm, had senior titles over a couple roles prior. This person is smart and well-liked and called out their concerns early on, so we're working with them and have seen considerable improvement in the half-year since they were hired. So I'd say it really comes down to your environment. If you have a good, supportive culture, I would have a…

We had a similiar issues where a senior employee came and interviewed great. She ended up becoming a pm. At another place something similiar happened and she ended up as a pm / developer. I think pm move is a great idea for someone who can sell but maybe isn't as strong. Perhaps moving to pm is a good answer for thread poster.

Post by arethuza » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 3:26 PM UTC

sokoloff wrote: post #91

It's not clear from your post (and you don't have to make it clear, of course) whether you're getting fired from your current company or not. Merely failing one task won't get you fired and if you have the self-awareness demonstrated above to realize that you haven't yet learned what you need to become senior, gives you a clear path (and one that won't even be that hard if you've been selling and making software for…

   public final static string HTTP = "http";
   public final static string COLON = ":";
   public final static string SLASH = "/";
   public final static string WWW = "www";

Post by mgerullis » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 3:27 PM UTC

catears wrote: post #104

I started programming at gymnasium and through uni. Throughout uni I did a lot of Competitive Programming. Most programs in CP are written and discarded within hours of each other. You also pretty much only use the standard library and no third-party tools. You never interact with the hardware of the system that the program runs on. Maybe reading files from the filesystem (depending on judge software) but definitely…

Post by jgwerner » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 3:29 PM UTC