Comment by nine_zeros | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nine_zeros | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I know the reasons for me (mid 30s).

I just don't have patience for artificial hoops and barriers to career growth set by management.

I don't want to "write more docs" or "be visible on slack" or "join some engineer guilds" or "give demos" or "mentor juniors" just for a promotion.

Just look at what I produce, is it valuable for the company? If yes, extra curriculars don't matter.

It is these bullshit hoops that make me wonder - why should I listen to anyone in management? I have only one life and I have to dance to this fools tunes? Leading me to switch jobs for a higher pay.

I know I will still have to report to a manager at the new job, but by switching, I get the promotion, I get more money and don't need to jump through artificial hoops set by a middle manager, who doesn't want me to rise as fast as I can.

Hold on. If you jump every few months you actually never have to do anything and can probably find an endless string of companies. Hell, you might even land at one where they never realize you aren't doing anything as long as you can complete tickets....I mean "stories."

> I don't want to "write more docs" or "be visible on slack" or "join some engineer guilds" or "give demos" or "mentor juniors" just for a promotion.

That hit close to home. Such a depressing reality.

I can't fathom why this would be depressing.

Senior developers aren't paid to write code. They're paid to cause good outcomes. Sometimes writing code is helpful for that.

If the team needs more documentation, more demos, or more mentoring, and you don't want to do it, you don't sound like you're behaving like a senior dev to me.

> If the team needs more documentation, more demos, or more mentoring, and you don't want to do it, you don't sound like you're behaving like a senior dev to me.

That's a big "if". Sometimes those things are just not needed by the team. But management is imposing it on you because they want to make you jumpy through hoops.

You could invent a new kind of desalination plant, bringing in millions for the company but the manager still wants you to first spend a year through bullshit hoops.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com