A career-ending mistake
Engineers reflect on how to navigate a tech career in an industry shaped by rapid change, offshoring, automation and ageism. Commenters debate long-term planning versus “going with the flow,” the tradeoffs between individual contributor and management tracks, and how life stages, family, and burnout reshape ambitions over time. Many conclude that optimizing for financial resilience, autonomy, and meaningful relationships often matters more than titles or climbing to VP level.
Career Planning vs. Flexibility
- Many argue long-term (20+ year) career planning in tech is unrealistic due to rapid change, offshoring, automation, and life-stage shifts (family, health, burnout).
- Others say planning is still useful: not for predicting outcomes, but for clarifying direction, mapping options, and course-correcting every 3–5 years.
- Several posters describe successful “no-plan” or short-horizon careers, moving opportunistically from project to project.
IC vs. Management Tracks
- Strong disagreement on whether you must choose between technical and management tracks; some companies offer very hands-on lead/director roles, others force a hard fork.
- High-level IC roles exist but are seen as rare, prestige-gated, and often harder to attain than equivalent management titles.
- Management is widely described as a different skillset, not a promotion from engineering. Many note the “good IC → untrained manager” pipeline produces poor middle managers.
Quality of Management
- Many say most managers are bad; others counter that bad ICs are equally common but less damaging due to guardrails, whereas management has no “code review.”
- Some report consistently good managers who set clear expectations, align interests, and teach how to “manage your manager.”
- Structural issues: lack of training, misaligned incentives, selection by other managers rather than reports, and the Peter Principle are recurring themes.
Meaning, Money, and Career “Ends”
- One camp: optimize for fast wealth accumulation without draining life energy (e.g., FIRE, high-paying management).
- Another: prioritize satisfying work, reasonable stress, and relationships; money is secondary once basic security is met.
- Various “career ends” are proposed: stable senior IC role, VP/exec, independence/consulting, digital nomadism, frequent role hopping, public-sector stability, or early retirement.
Legacy and Impact
- Several note that in big tech, code, docs, and individual contributions often vanish or are forgotten within years; relationships and personal growth matter more.
- Others highlight long-lived systems and foundational components that persist for decades, but still see personal meaning as more important than corporate memory.
Agency and Constraints
- The thread notes a divide between high-agency readers who can re-skill or pivot and those constrained by family, health, or exhaustion.
- Reframing “I can’t” as “I won’t” is suggested by some; others call this dismissive of real structural limits.