Why Most Senior Devs Plateau, and What to Do

stackandscale.substack.com

6 pointslucyb02074 comments

This is missing the non-exiting, but completely viable path:

Accept it. Do your work. Collect your paycheck. Go home and live your life. Save and invest. Build wealth from your 20s through your 40s, still be wealthy and independent in your 50s.

The idea that "a plateau is a bad thing" is rooted in ambition for its own sake. Not everyone needs that to be happy and satisfied with their life. No shade intended if you are one of the people who do want more, but for those of us who don't, acceptance of our reality is a really solid response to a plateau.

I feel seen. What happened to contentedness as a life goal? I feel as though I'm treated like a bafoon for not wanting to be a billionaire at the expense of my enjoyment, my pride and common decency. I have never been able to separate ambition from greed.

Why, beyond the pay rise, would you spend your whole professional life getting better at being an engineer only to throw it all away to become a middle manager ?!

Because we value leadership over craftsmanship. Ever since people like Ford showed that it was not individual skills but optimized systems that make the biggest corporate machines with the most potential for profit, we have prioritized one over the other.

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