> Won't this just apply to any career?
To some extent, yes. I think SE is a little special in the sense that our job is very taxing mentally but we get very little respect for it. We are considered and managed like assembly line workers, expected to hit absurd deadlines or objectives while being given absolutely no control over the factors influencing these (must work fast, quality be damned; strategy and roadmaps are decided for us instead of with us; we tend to be pushovers and not stand for ourselves). We’re also expected to work like cogs in noisy open space environments with interruptions all day when our work requires intense focus.
Most of us (at least on here) wanted to become SE because we enjoy writing code, finding elegant solutions to difficult problems, and delivering reasonably robust software. The big mismatch is that it’s not what the industry wants: instead the industry wants cheap and fast, nevermind the resulting dumpster fire and constant panic. As a SE you’re at the bottom of the food chain, anything that goes wrong is your responsibility but you’re not allowed to address the root cause for it not to reoccur.
We basically do a very abstract, intellectual job but are managed and considered as if we were just laying bricks in an assembly line.
The cognitive dissonance and low grade permanent stress is what makes so many of us burnt out so badly after 10–15 years in the industry.
Of course this is a generalization. You can be insanely lucky and have amazing management, at a company that’s not so dysfunctional, and have a happy 30–40 years career. But that’s very very rare in my experience. I’ve worked across North America and Europe, had many jobs at many companies, and I’ve never come across such a work environment. However, I have dozens of burnt out SEs in my network of all skill levels, backgrounds, company size, etc.
> bizdev
This is more sales oriented. The earning potential is high because it’s partly commission based so the more you sell the more you make as the company makes 10x more. Having a technical background helps because you can talk shop with technical people on the client’s side and better understand what they need and if your company can provide it at all.
I’m sure it has downsides as well, but the thought of being a salaried SE again makes me physically sick and I don’t want to throw away my decade + of tech experience. So that’s the avenue I’m exploring at the moment to see if it suits me better.
Overall, and whatever you end up doing, know that burn out is prevalent in our industry. Keep your costs very low so you can save 70–80% of your paycheck and retire early and/or afford to not work for a long while if you need to.