Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Seniority Roller Coaster and Down-Leveling in Tech

blog.pragmaticengineer.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 202 posts

Re: The Seniority Roller Coaster and Down-Leveling in Tech

#31

Post by celim307 »

pcmoney wrote: post #16

“For example, a senior title at Big Tech typically expects more from an engineer than a small developer agency, a non-tech-first company, or a recently founded start-up does” This is simply not true. Seniors at FAANG type companies simply dont do that much. Typically have a narrow specialty and a good grasp on how it fits into the larger Org’s strategy etc. Senior engineers at a small shop do EVERYTHING. Front end, b…

This has been the opposite for me. Yes I wore a ton of hats at the startups I worked at but working at big tech I’ve been exposed to scale and quality standards beyond what I was used to before. Plus my coworkers are all higher quality so it’s like being in college again and hanging out with all these smart people I’m learning from just by interacting with them.

And this is coming from someone very cynical of big tech otherwise

Re: The Seniority Roller Coaster and Down-Leveling in Tech

#32

Post by MattGaiser »

nkingsy wrote: post #5

I got down leveled when I moved to big tech. Spent two years completely remaking the product I was tasked to work on, while the two other engineers on my team, both a level above me, cheered me on and didn’t do much. I turned our product from a total waste about to be cancelled into a promising tech with some momentum, but I spent all my time coding instead of writing about coding, and I likely won’t get promoted aga…

One of the things I have noticed in both my full time jobs at this point is that my direct managers have had no idea what I do day to day.

There are entire weeks where I could have achieved absolutely nothing and I am not sure if it would have been noticed.

And that is probably not conducive to promotion as nobody who has power has any idea what I do.

Re: The Seniority Roller Coaster and Down-Leveling in Tech

#33

Post by MattGaiser »

azdle wrote: post #21
nkingsy wrote: post #5

I got down leveled when I moved to big tech. Spent two years completely remaking the product I was tasked to work on, while the two other engineers on my team, both a level above me, cheered me on and didn’t do much. I turned our product from a total waste about to be cancelled into a promising tech with some momentum, but I spent all my time coding instead of writing about coding, and I likely won’t get promoted aga…

Are you me? I spent the last 3 years completely redeveloping the foundation of our platform which will save the company millions of dollars a year. I didn't do it alone or anything. But I started the project, was the only one to work on it full time throughout the whole project, defined the underlying architecture, and implemented most of the lowest layers. I poured all my energy into the project. We launched beginni…

> I was convinced not to and am now putting my unlimited vacation to work. I'm 3 days into a month I'm taking off.

So just quit after the vacation.

Re: The Seniority Roller Coaster and Down-Leveling in Tech

#34

Post by dnautics »

nine_zeros wrote: post #24
nkingsy wrote: post #5

I got down leveled when I moved to big tech. Spent two years completely remaking the product I was tasked to work on, while the two other engineers on my team, both a level above me, cheered me on and didn’t do much. I turned our product from a total waste about to be cancelled into a promising tech with some momentum, but I spent all my time coding instead of writing about coding, and I likely won’t get promoted aga…

Leave. Burnout happens when outcome != expectations. Did you skill up? Switch jobs asap. Get yourself a 20% raise.

hell, take a pay cut and get a job that is much more likely to validate your efforts.

Re: The Seniority Roller Coaster and Down-Leveling in Tech

#35

Post by mabbo »

pcmoney wrote: post #16

“For example, a senior title at Big Tech typically expects more from an engineer than a small developer agency, a non-tech-first company, or a recently founded start-up does” This is simply not true. Seniors at FAANG type companies simply dont do that much. Typically have a narrow specialty and a good grasp on how it fits into the larger Org’s strategy etc. Senior engineers at a small shop do EVERYTHING. Front end, b…

I think there's a lot of variability here.

I've met Principal Engineers at Amazon who never write a line of code and barely do any mentoring (I don't like those PEs).

But I've also worked with Senior and Principal Engineers who do incredible work, mentor, truly lead. They are force multipliers, making adjustments to the course of the organization in ways that have huge benefits and gains. And if you dropped these people into a new challenge with a totally different stack and business, they'd do the same thing there too.

I hope to someday be one of those people.

Re: The Seniority Roller Coaster and Down-Leveling in Tech

#36

Post by nine_zeros »

vbtemp wrote: post #22
nine_zeros wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A link to the reddit post would benefit an audience like me

https://www.reddit.com/r/ExperiencedDevs/comments/nnw7yd/sob... It's a little cheeky and at times a little hyperbolic, but I stand by it.

I agree with every single point

Re: The Seniority Roller Coaster and Down-Leveling in Tech

#37

Post by romanhn »

pcmoney wrote: post #16

“For example, a senior title at Big Tech typically expects more from an engineer than a small developer agency, a non-tech-first company, or a recently founded start-up does” This is simply not true. Seniors at FAANG type companies simply dont do that much. Typically have a narrow specialty and a good grasp on how it fits into the larger Org’s strategy etc. Senior engineers at a small shop do EVERYTHING. Front end, b…

Have you worked at a FAANG? I'm sure it depends on company/team, but it was pretty common for externally hired senior engineers to struggle (and sometimes flame out) due to consistently high and enforced expectations, different mode of work (extremely cross-org and cross-functional) and very high ambiguity (which can also come with low handholding in fast growing areas).

Re: The Seniority Roller Coaster and Down-Leveling in Tech

#38

Post by MattGaiser »

pcmoney wrote: post #16

“For example, a senior title at Big Tech typically expects more from an engineer than a small developer agency, a non-tech-first company, or a recently founded start-up does” This is simply not true. Seniors at FAANG type companies simply dont do that much. Typically have a narrow specialty and a good grasp on how it fits into the larger Org’s strategy etc. Senior engineers at a small shop do EVERYTHING. Front end, b…

That still seems to be expecting more in terms of skill.

I have only ever worked on small teams with smallish companies in my short career, so I have had to handle everything from test to database to frontend to cloud config.

I really don't think these kinds of roles let me master anything because I am so often switching modes.

If you get to focus, you probably become more skilled very quickly.

Re: The Seniority Roller Coaster and Down-Leveling in Tech

#39

Post by gringoDan »

nkingsy wrote: post #5

I got down leveled when I moved to big tech. Spent two years completely remaking the product I was tasked to work on, while the two other engineers on my team, both a level above me, cheered me on and didn’t do much. I turned our product from a total waste about to be cancelled into a promising tech with some momentum, but I spent all my time coding instead of writing about coding, and I likely won’t get promoted aga…

My conclusion after working in tech for a few years: If you don't want to play the politics game, just interview with new companies and get a new role and a significant pay bump every 1-2 years.

Sad that the incentives are set up this way.

Re: The Seniority Roller Coaster and Down-Leveling in Tech

#40

Post by WORMS_EAT_WORMS »

nkingsy wrote: post #5

I got down leveled when I moved to big tech. Spent two years completely remaking the product I was tasked to work on, while the two other engineers on my team, both a level above me, cheered me on and didn’t do much. I turned our product from a total waste about to be cancelled into a promising tech with some momentum, but I spent all my time coding instead of writing about coding, and I likely won’t get promoted aga…

Sorry to hear this. Feeling validated and appreciated for your work is often overlooked in all career types in multiple jobs. Try to find peace with the small wins you’ve done for yourself. It sounds super impressive and something you definitely should be proud of.
Post reply on HN