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

A career ending mistake

bitfieldconsulting.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 332 posts

Re: A career ending mistake

#221

Post by amyjess »

jimmaswell wrote: post #194
onion2k wrote: post #23

If you love what you're doing now and don't ever want to change jobs, great: you've reached the end of your career, even if it plays out over many decades. Even if you love what you do and you don't want to change anything, the world around you is going to have other ideas. Especially in tech.

It depends how dynamically you can define "what you're doing now." I don't really care what I do so long as it's remote with a good work-life balance and pays well, and I'll do what it takes to keep up with tech stacks. I expect this to carry me just fine to retirement.

Same. I've done SRE/platform/infrastructure engineering my whole career, and I intend to keep doing that until I die or retire. Platforms can and will change, but there will always be a need for engineers to work on them separately from the application code.

I don't think I've ever worked on the same exact stack at any two different companies, but what I do has always been in the same ballpark.

Re: A career ending mistake

#222

Post by ghaff »

trulyme wrote: post #216
musicale wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't pass the smell test for me, for several reasons: Most of the "new" ideas in computing (neural networks, quantum computing, etc.) aren't new at all. Not to mention that Linux and macOS are basically 1960s-style operating systems. Knowledge of short-term technical details and skills at dealing with brand new systems are much easier to acquire than deep understanding of core principles as well as engineerin…

Well it goes both ways. Young people are cocky and dismiss older peoples' experience as irrelevant, and more senior people think they've seen it all already and that there is nothing new that hasn't been around since 60s. Neural networks are a good example. If you skipped the last decade (/two) and you think you know about ANN because you mastered them in 60s... boy do I have news for you. :) Another paradigm shift f…

>One of the biggest pitfalls of an experienced person can be lack of curiosity, and it is really easy to fall for it, because let's face it, most of the new things are crap and will be forgotten in a few years. However, there are nuggets to be found in the mud, one just needs to keep looking.

It's easy to reflexively dismiss reimaginings of things that have been tried and failed half a dozen times over the years. But sometimes the concept has been tweaked enough, the environment is different enough, the technology underpinnings are better enough that it actually works this time. Virtualization (z/VM--or whatever it was called at the time) was mostly a curiosity on IBM mainframes for years. Then VMware came along (and Linux on Z was pretty successful on IBM mainframes as well).

Re: A career ending mistake

#223

Post by duxup »

dookahku wrote: post #207
duxup wrote: post #42

I changed careers at 40+ years old. I'm very happy that I did it. People have all sorts of constructs / ideas about how careers work (based on experience) or how they think it works, or how they want it to work. I talk to some college graduates who tell me what they're planning for and have ZERO clue what industry they're talking about, their description is unrecognizable to me ... even tho I know it is the one I wor…

What are the other career destinations I should look out for?

I'm not sure I understand completely / believe in this career destinations concept.

As I described it I think things vary from company and even job to job a great deal.

But I'm sure there are more than 3 ;)

Re: A career ending mistake

#224

Post by hnthrowaway0315 »

Jaruzel wrote: post #118

I hate my job. I don't know how I got here. Like many I started out in small scale IT just as desktop computers were becoming a thing. I transitioned from mainframe support to desktop support, from there I worked through several desktop support roles, wishing I was server support but never managing to get there... over time I became a desktop architect, and then infrastructure architect, and now well.... I just don't…

I think you need to find some sort of "savior" in a hobby or something more than that. But maybe a hobby is going to be enough and you need something bigger in picture...maybe take some volunteering work. Anything that satisfies your search for meaning of life.

Re: A career ending mistake

#225

Post by dhairya »

bckr wrote: post #150
dhairya wrote: post #74

A couple things that come to mind with this article. My own journey has been quite nonlinear both in terms of roles (business systems analyst -> data analyst -> technical project manager -> data scientist -> AI research scientist) and environments (F100 -> academia -> startups). My undergrad (creative writing and social sciences) would not have predicted my current role (Senior AI researcher focusing on deep learning…

It sounds like you have had an amazing adventure so far, and it's really inspiring to see that you've been able to have such a fluid career. Could I contact you to learn more about your adventures? My email is Anthony at yesrobo dot net

Happy to chat.my contact info is on my profile.

Re: A career ending mistake

#226

Post by hnthrowaway0315 »

AlwaysRock wrote: post #170
onion2k wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The beauty of your argument is that it's unprovable. No matter what language someone might suggest they enjoy that they can't find a job writing any more, you'll always be able to counter saying "Ah, but you've not looked hard enough! They're out there!" It'll always be the candidates fault for not scouring the world searching for that AP/L role or Shockwave Flash advert. The assertion that no matter what tech you wa…

Sure... I guess nothing is provable. I know COBOL devs. They say its harder and harder to find gigs but they just tend to stay in their jobs longer now. I have a relative that will probably retire in his current COBOL gig.

Not a bad thing. One becomes an expert in one niche domain (I wouldn't say COBOL is niche but you know) and comfortable sit on top of it. One can just work maybe 15, 20 years and retire early.

Re: A career ending mistake

#227

Post by closeparen »

kosievdmerwe wrote: post #30
tdumitrescu wrote: post #27

Feels like the "senior IC" role described in this article corresponds mainly to today's "3-5 years of experience 'senior' engineer" roles. The reality that I've seen and experienced is that advancing beyond that on an IC track means a lot more people/political work, rather than constant "hands on keyboard" coding as described in the article. It's not the same as management, but it's inevitably more meetings and evang…

This is something people seem hesitant to realize: that after a certain point you can only grow your career by "managing" other people. This is true in a lot of (most?) fields. At some point you cannot become more productive as an individual and you need to start coordinating the work of many people if you want to increase your productivity. This can of course take many forms, but the essence is inescapable.

Of course there is some ceiling, however it seems to be kept much lower than it could be at many companies due to inexpressive "idiot proof" programming environments and highly bureaucratic processes.

Re: A career ending mistake

#228

Post by yurishimo »

jimmaswell wrote: post #193
Jaruzel wrote: post #118

I hate my job. I don't know how I got here. Like many I started out in small scale IT just as desktop computers were becoming a thing. I transitioned from mainframe support to desktop support, from there I worked through several desktop support roles, wishing I was server support but never managing to get there... over time I became a desktop architect, and then infrastructure architect, and now well.... I just don't…

Maybe you just need more hobbies or interests outside of work. Working remotely and making good money gives you a lot of freedom outside of work hours, and even during work hours it sounds like nobody will notice if you spent half the day painting or woodworking. I don't think it's necessary in life to be in love with your job - most people out there aren't.

I struggle with this. Sometimes it just doesn't take "full time" to get all my work done. I hardly ever have work roll to a future sprint, but I feel obligated to sit next to the computer in case people have questions I can help with.

I think later this year I might want to move to a product focused company instead of the consulting agency I'm at now, but I'm not sure if that will help in the way that I hope it will.

Re: A career ending mistake

#229

Post by salisburysteak »

ansible wrote: post #24
namdnay wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wouldn't sales be a form of IC ?

I would categorize a senior field applications engineer to be more IC than sales. But some people move directory into sales. I don't know if this counts as steering an existing technical career or switching careers entirely.

From my experience, I would say it's a horizontal move. I had been out of the industry for 5 years, an eternity in IT. Attempting to move into a sales-related role was my strategy to use my experience in both tech and communications and hopefully find a company willing to take a chance on me. It worked. Being able to have a friendly conversation seems to be a challenge for most IT folks. I currently enjoy not being "in the trenches" everyday putting out fires. Plus, I'm not frontline sales so I'm not on the phone all day or head-down in a contract negotiation. It's also provided a great opportunity to get up to speed with automation (looking at you, Ansible ;) and containerization on the company's dime.

Re: A career ending mistake

#230

Post by fleddr »

The article is Schwarzenegger-style motivational nonsense.

That sounds a lot more harsh than I want to, as the advise in itself is solid. Yes, you should very much plan for happiness if you can.

The problem is the silent majority that actually doesn't want a career. At all. They work out of necessity, not to find meaning. They just want to live. American optimism has slowly and carefully made this attitude unacceptable to express, hence the silent majority.

But the underlying reality is still there. People don't want to work. That's why you pay them. If you believe the people at your work are there for meaning and joy, give them fuck-you-money and see how you find yourself alone the next day.

If I may turn a bit morbid for a minute, I've attended too many death beds already. I've never heard any of them spend a single breath on work or career. Isn't that telling, if work is supposedly purpose and meaning, and you spent most of your life on it, it's not even worth mentioning?

Anyways, it's still solid advise to switch to a field or role that fits you, in case it currently doesn't. The problem is, work sucks everywhere. It's not the field or the actual tasks, it's other things. You have no control over your time, your colleagues, the quality of management, and most of your time is spent on reporting and communicating rather than actually working or doing things that bring actual joy.

Everything is factory-like, financialized, metric porn. Even the academic world is like this now, and so are non-profits.

Post reply on HN