The advice I would give a person coming to me with that question would be tough to say: I don’t know if it’s possible to grow one’s career today as quickly or as far as I was fortunate enough to do. It’s just a very different dynamic overall.
I don’t mean to be cynical, or throw cold water on anyone’s ambitions, but I do want to add a different perspective here for those that care enough to read on.
I entered the professional software world at a time when there simply weren’t enough people building software. There was an extremely high priority on “bringing people up” throughout the industry. That didn’t change for decades.
But today there are approximately the right number of folks doing this work; still too few but the scarcity of candidates is far worse in other industries. Frankly, an electrician may have better long term prospects as far as I can see. But more importantly, this industry has matured and the focus is more “normal” (market adjacency, efficiency, risk reduction, globalization, benchmarking, etc). There is plenty of opportunity still, but also less.
In addition to that “cheerful” opinion, I’ll offer that I (to some degree) regret moving “up” so quickly. I missed opportunities to become truly expert by taking on new roles. It all worked out okay, but didn’t do much for my imposter syndrome. And, it kept me in positions working for others when I (looking back) would have done better financially and felt better about it had I pursued my own path (entrepreneurship). Hence, being here on HN and paying attention to YC.