Veteran engineers (10 yrs exp+) advice needed • Hacker News Board

Re: Veteran engineers (10 yrs exp+) advice needed

#21

Post by jdjdidkkeksksk » Wed, Oct 13, 2021, 9:25 PM UTC

For me, leaving the States.

There is an impenetrable glass ceiling in the states based on where you come from, where you went to school, if you can pass made up tests, and if you’re an extrovert.

For example, I’ve always wanted to work in R&D, but it’s impossible in the states. If you don’t have a masters degree from a good school, you can’t even get an interview. And (from my experience) you can’t get a masters degree from a good school unless you’re already rich.

For reasons I won’t bother going into, I’ve been denied getting into any Uni that would allow me to even get a degree that pass any kind of HR filter. Let alone have the personality to pass any needlessly high pressure white board interview.

Almost none of these things have mattered since I left, and I’ve had way more opportunities. Additionally, people in tech, in general, are far less shitty.

I was close to committing suicide in the states, and my life now is amazing (and has been for years).

Depending on the issues you’re facing, your personality, and if you live in the states now, I would highly recommend leaving and trying your hand elsewhere on the globe. Especially if you grew up poor.

(To preempt the “oh you didn’t try hard enough, it’s easy I just did xyz” - good on ya!)

Re: Veteran engineers (10 yrs exp+) advice needed

#22

Post by astuyvenberg » Wed, Oct 13, 2021, 9:33 PM UTC

Recognizing that employment is a marketplace, and thus the value I can provide might be worth 5x (or more) to Company A vs Company B (even if it's a similar title or role).

Re: Veteran engineers (10 yrs exp+) advice needed

#23

Post by solarkraft » Wed, Oct 13, 2021, 9:37 PM UTC

jdjdidkkeksksk wrote: post #21

For me, leaving the States. There is an impenetrable glass ceiling in the states based on where you come from, where you went to school, if you can pass made up tests, and if you’re an extrovert. For example, I’ve always wanted to work in R&D, but it’s impossible in the states. If you don’t have a masters degree from a good school, you can’t even get an interview. And (from my experience) you can’t get a masters degr…

Where did you go?

Re: Veteran engineers (10 yrs exp+) advice needed

#24

Post by fdgsdfogijq » Wed, Oct 13, 2021, 9:39 PM UTC

All that matters career wise is whether you can leetcode. If you can, great! Go get a 450k offer. If you cant, get into management ASAP or move out of your developer role, because your pay is capped and theres no where to go.

Re: Veteran engineers (10 yrs exp+) advice needed

#25

Post by exelib » Wed, Oct 13, 2021, 9:52 PM UTC

Two things:

1. Observe a great developer. How he/she think? How he/she approaches the problems? I was lucky and met Winsley back in 2008. Despite I was working only ~1 year for the company, this changed my whole life.

2. Do everything and try hard to do it great.

Re: Veteran engineers (10 yrs exp+) advice needed

#26

Post by tmaly » Wed, Oct 13, 2021, 10:06 PM UTC

I have been at my current company for 16 years.

Developing great people skills and helping people when you can has been a great level up.

Re: Veteran engineers (10 yrs exp+) advice needed

#27

Post by knightofmars » Wed, Oct 13, 2021, 10:07 PM UTC

You are a mercenary.

  * Loyalty does not exist (company, coworkers, etc)
  * You dictate pay for the work you do (or leave the job)
  * You dictate your own hours (overtime is your own choice not company's)
  * Strive to always provide maximum value (efficiency not time spent)
  * Focus on keeping a core set of skills sharp
  * Quit if conditions are untenable

When a person does the above, they start focusing on how to provide value instead of "doing a job". A person can be a phenomenal engineer and yet have a poor career because they never figured out how to be a valuable engineer.

Re: Veteran engineers (10 yrs exp+) advice needed

#28

Post by aljgz » Wed, Oct 13, 2021, 10:37 PM UTC

20+ Years of dev, some of these I did right, some I wish I did ;)

1-Learn one language/stack inside out. That knowledge translates very well o other stacks: They need to solve the same problems, they just have different approaches/solutions.

2-Don't be a fanboy of one stack: Work with others, if you are a backend developer, do some frontend, if you work with strongly typed languages, try python for some time, if you have always used GC languages, try rust, etc. Different languages/stacks teach you different ways to come up with solutions.

3-This one is suggested by the others, but it cannot be overemphasized: Learn SQL, and learn it well. Postgres (with all its gotchas) is an incredible work of engineering, learn that and you can easily switch to others when needed.

4-Take care of your body. Find the exercise that works well for you. I hate gym, but love tennis.

5-Take care of your mind. Avoid people and workplaces that waste your mental energy. The world is packed with awesome people and companies to discover.

6-Be reasonably kind to people. They tend to re-appear later in your life and play roles you would not imagine now. But be kind and forget (as in fire and forget): don't expect people to return your kindness, this expectation leads to disappointment. Also, don't make your plans based on that.

7-Push your limits. This is not overworking. Learning for 1 hour/day for years can make a huge difference. But also be ready to finish a book on a weekend and come back next week with some firm understanding of a concept/technique/tool... if that's needed.

Re: Veteran engineers (10 yrs exp+) advice needed

#29

Post by ldbooth » Wed, Oct 13, 2021, 11:24 PM UTC

12 years here. Got certified. Grew network by getting outside the office for corporate marketing or other reasons. Found a job where I worked/ran the business side with technical aspects. Went out on my own, learned the value of earning on my own asset. Read a lot, always reading. Still a work in progress. I Burned bridges. Don't do that. Takes doing it enough to realize relationships compound and you don't want that going the other way.

Re: Veteran engineers (10 yrs exp+) advice needed

#30

Post by DLA » Thu, Oct 14, 2021, 12:34 AM UTC

Great ask. I have 20 years of experience. In no particular order…

- Read great code: e.g. Redis

- Learn systems thinking: Book like Thinking in Systems, The Systems Thinker, or similar. Learn how to structure your thinking.

- Disagree well. Argue with data. Learn about people you work with to understand how they are wired and how they think (credit Ray Dalio’s excellent Principles book)

- Learn, practice, and hone above average human skills! Don’t be an ass. Listen. Be slow to criticize.

— Obsess about being awesome at communicating—1:1, group, written, presentations.

- Learn algorithms and data structures well so you have a firm foundation upon which to design solutions.

- Learn about how nature designs systems. Learn about fields outside yours (architecture, civil engineering, etc) to gain perspective on how they solve problems.

- Ask many questions!