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Ask HN: Is it wrong not wanting career progression beyond senior?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it wrong not wanting career progression beyond senior?

#11

Post by englishrookie »

You might consider hiring yourself out as a contractor. This is especially interesting if you're specialized in some vertical where you can bring consultancy skills to the table. Be the guy who's brought in when there's a problem, replace some proverbial screw, and then charge a week's salary for it. Because nobody else knew exactly which screw to replace.

Also, this path allows you to delegate work to other contractors that you have vetted. After all, your clients care about the results, not who does the actual job.

Re: Ask HN: Is it wrong not wanting career progression beyond senior?

#14

Post by creaktive »

“Even if you win the rat race, you’re still a rat”.

I’m in this field because I like writing code. So many of my managers tried to push me to advance my career, and generally speaking, there is peer pressure. Don’t give in, if you’re having fun, and make enough for a dignified living, that’s what really matters, not the title.

Re: Ask HN: Is it wrong not wanting career progression beyond senior?

#16

Post by cfeduke »

seige wrote: post #8

Of course, it's not wrong. You do you man! But if you are looking for general advice, I think it's important to want career progression. Generally speaking, for most people, bills go up as they age (kids, health, yada-yada). Unless you are sitting on inheritance money, you'll want to have a bigger pay-check to meet life's challenges.

> Generally speaking, for most people, bills go up as they age (kids, health, yada-yada).

To a point yes. There was a time when you could realistically pay off your mortgage before you were fifty, and for some people maybe this is still the case. College expenses are another consideration, just depends on how much you as a parent are going to shoulder those costs compared to grants/military/self earn.

For myself, costs have lowered and I'm able to donate more money to charity. So if you can swing a bigger paycheck and you're motivated help others I think it's worth doing so.

Re: Ask HN: Is it wrong not wanting career progression beyond senior?

#17

Post by taylodl »

I know people in their 60s who are senior engineers and are quite content with their career and where they are. I know people in their 30s who are directors. It really depends on the person and where your talents and strengths lie.

The key, though it's admittedly easier said than done, is for you to do you and not worry about what everyone else is doing.

Re: Ask HN: Is it wrong not wanting career progression beyond senior?

#18

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o »

englishrookie wrote: post #11

You might consider hiring yourself out as a contractor. This is especially interesting if you're specialized in some vertical where you can bring consultancy skills to the table. Be the guy who's brought in when there's a problem, replace some proverbial screw, and then charge a week's salary for it. Because nobody else knew exactly which screw to replace. Also, this path allows you to delegate work to other contract…

The thing I can't figure out is how to get a good pipeline of screws that need replacing. All of my previous roles have been full-time salaried staff, and my network is all people like that. Getting a new job of that type is the infamous hurdle of interview panels, which would mean getting the contract takes more time than executing it, if the model I knew applied.

So what model does apply? How do you find enough work efficiently enough with that kind of model? How do you make it sustainable and not run out of the screws that your professional network needs replacing?

Re: Ask HN: Is it wrong not wanting career progression beyond senior?

#19

Post by deepsquirrelnet »

For me, I have two competing worries in deciding what’s next after senior. I like to spend my days in code. I don’t enjoy time spent in meetings like some people seem to. I don’t enjoy managing other people. But I also don’t enjoy poorly planned work, which is problematic as I’m become more opinionated about over time.

Ultimately, I think you should feel ok rejecting a promotion if it forces you into responsibilities you don’t want to have. But you’re probably going to have to accept the consequences of that either way. And you might even be forced into doing some of those responsibilities and not get paid for it.

Re: Ask HN: Is it wrong not wanting career progression beyond senior?

#20

Post by izacus »

In general no, but as you age (and gain years of work experience), being "Senior" for e.g. 15 years will make some hiring people look down on you and try to skip you from someone "that can grow". So in combination with ageism in this industry, it might become a problem in the future, especially if the market doesn't recover and everyone else title inflates to Staff and other fancy titles.
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