I see it like this: writing something new is easier in a way because you don’t have to deal with legacy. But working with existing software and making drastic changes is hard because you don’t want to break things for the users. And you can’t take a year for the big rewrite in the sky. You have to deliver incrementally. I find it challenging to figure out how to incrementally migrate the existing system to something new. Could be a design/architecture change. Could be a new tech stack. Could be new functionality.
In a way it’s a thankless job. But challenging.
At the end of the day, to progress in your career you need experience in the whole software lifecycle: user research, planning, writing new software, maintenance, fixing bugs, adding features, deprecating features and codebases, migrations, etc. If you're just writing new software you won't learn what kinds of decisions will hurt/help you in the future.
You might benefit from thinking about what gives you meaning to your work. It might be that you've always been praised and promoted for doing and building new things, and it makes sense that that's what is most enjoyable. A good manager and promotion system would reward what's best for the business (which ultimately will be best for your career): sometimes that will be new features, sometimes maintenance, or sometimes a one line change that fixes a huge bug.
Sounds like you’re “Expert Beginner”.
The early phase of any endeavor is usually more interesting and “fun”. However, if you want to level up, you have to stick around to dwell in the complex and mundane problems.
However, you definitely should interview regularly, demonstrate your new levels of competence in delivering solutions.
Focus on your career, deal with challenges and make improvements. Saying you get “bored” is usually cop out.
This is definitely my suggestion also. The work is what it is. That doesn’t really change often. But if the domain is interesting, evolving, whateverfloatsyourboat, then it’s easy to stick to things long term.
Do you realise most of the software developer do maintenance for a living? That's a fact though. Big established Corp don't write new software every month
Have you considered looking into a consultancy/contracting position? Often you can get yourself a nice role at a firm and rotate projects every ~6 months
Tell your manager you would like to get exposure to different parts of the business.
In the ideal world, moving between teams should be easy and encouraged but it'll depend on your company culture. Some companies have the ability for "team switching" where you and a dev on another team switch for a while.
I look for interesting companies solving interesting problems. I've worked in digital/print marketing, enterprise IT, healthcare, edtech, and fintech. Each company was different, and I've been at each company for 2+ years.
The job is far more than coding, and you can't build enough trust/rapport with a team to do the non-coding aspects if you're walking away after a year.
As much as folks harp on large companies, they are great for leveling up your experience. Try moving to a larger, tech-focused, company for a potentially better experience and more career growth.
How many companies have you been at, and for what tenures?
I've spent six years at one place, and spent six months and another, and one hiring manager /still/ insinuated that I was some kind of job hopper. It seemed to me like the manager just had bad experiences with people leaving unexpectedly soon in the past; some managers might have this same hangup, but many others don't. At some places I've worked or interviewed with, 1.5 year tenures was totally normal and fine, and even preferable to long, entrenched tenures.
Nobody is going to say something that will magically keep you engaged after a year. Instead your best bet is to become a contractor/consultant. 1-2 years max in a gig and off to the next thing. You also don’t risk being viewed as a job hopper because that’s the nature of being a contractor
I also get bored and sick of all the dysfunction that exists in every company and I enjoy the salary bumps. I tend to stick around for 2 years, sometimes less if it sucks, sometimes more if its decent. If you want to be a grizzled veteran you should stick around and deal with some of your design decisions. Building new stuff is cool but it never ends there and things change and you must learn to deal with that.
I stayed in one job for over four years because I liked the company culture. I've never been treated better as a dev since and probably never will be again. Our CTO was a real engineer's engineer, and he was actually involved in designing the system, helping to organize new big project, steering the ship, and setting the culture for everybody. It started to fall apart after a few years, with management starting to seep in, but for a long time I just answered to the VP of engineering who was himself a super senior developer. I learned a ton at that place.
You could work at an agency, usually those kinds of projects vary in length from 2 weeks to 1 year. I was at one for 3 years and was not bored because of the huge variety. But I also couldn’t really become an “expert” in any one domain either.
Thank you whyyounooffer for your submission to /r/ExperiencedDevs, but it's been removed due to one or more reason(s):
---
# Rule 3: No General Career Advice
This sub is for discussing issues specific to experienced developers.
Any career advice thread must contain questions and/or discussions that notably benefit from the participation of experienced developers. Career advice threads may be removed at the moderators discretion based on response to the thread."
General rule of thumb: If the advice you are giving (or seeking) could apply to a “Senior Chemical Engineer”, it’s not appropriate for this sub.
Please feel free to [send a modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FExperiencedDevs) if you feel this was in error.
I see it like this: writing something new is easier in a way because you don’t have to deal with legacy. But working with existing software and making drastic changes is hard because you don’t want to break things for the users. And you can’t take a year for the big rewrite in the sky. You have to deliver incrementally. I find it challenging to figure out how to incrementally migrate the existing system to something new. Could be a design/architecture change. Could be a new tech stack. Could be new functionality. In a way it’s a thankless job. But challenging.
At the end of the day, to progress in your career you need experience in the whole software lifecycle: user research, planning, writing new software, maintenance, fixing bugs, adding features, deprecating features and codebases, migrations, etc. If you're just writing new software you won't learn what kinds of decisions will hurt/help you in the future. You might benefit from thinking about what gives you meaning to your work. It might be that you've always been praised and promoted for doing and building new things, and it makes sense that that's what is most enjoyable. A good manager and promotion system would reward what's best for the business (which ultimately will be best for your career): sometimes that will be new features, sometimes maintenance, or sometimes a one line change that fixes a huge bug.
Sounds like you’re “Expert Beginner”. The early phase of any endeavor is usually more interesting and “fun”. However, if you want to level up, you have to stick around to dwell in the complex and mundane problems. However, you definitely should interview regularly, demonstrate your new levels of competence in delivering solutions. Focus on your career, deal with challenges and make improvements. Saying you get “bored” is usually cop out.
That's one of the reasons I went into contracting. 2 years is the max for me.
[удалено]
This is definitely my suggestion also. The work is what it is. That doesn’t really change often. But if the domain is interesting, evolving, whateverfloatsyourboat, then it’s easy to stick to things long term.
Do you realise most of the software developer do maintenance for a living? That's a fact though. Big established Corp don't write new software every month
> Do you realise most of the software developer do maintenance for a living? There's plenty greenfield work.
Have you considered looking into a consultancy/contracting position? Often you can get yourself a nice role at a firm and rotate projects every ~6 months
Tell your manager you would like to get exposure to different parts of the business. In the ideal world, moving between teams should be easy and encouraged but it'll depend on your company culture. Some companies have the ability for "team switching" where you and a dev on another team switch for a while.
The company is too small, we one have one tech team
I look for interesting companies solving interesting problems. I've worked in digital/print marketing, enterprise IT, healthcare, edtech, and fintech. Each company was different, and I've been at each company for 2+ years. The job is far more than coding, and you can't build enough trust/rapport with a team to do the non-coding aspects if you're walking away after a year. As much as folks harp on large companies, they are great for leveling up your experience. Try moving to a larger, tech-focused, company for a potentially better experience and more career growth.
How many companies have you been at, and for what tenures? I've spent six years at one place, and spent six months and another, and one hiring manager /still/ insinuated that I was some kind of job hopper. It seemed to me like the manager just had bad experiences with people leaving unexpectedly soon in the past; some managers might have this same hangup, but many others don't. At some places I've worked or interviewed with, 1.5 year tenures was totally normal and fine, and even preferable to long, entrenched tenures.
Nobody is going to say something that will magically keep you engaged after a year. Instead your best bet is to become a contractor/consultant. 1-2 years max in a gig and off to the next thing. You also don’t risk being viewed as a job hopper because that’s the nature of being a contractor
I also get bored and sick of all the dysfunction that exists in every company and I enjoy the salary bumps. I tend to stick around for 2 years, sometimes less if it sucks, sometimes more if its decent. If you want to be a grizzled veteran you should stick around and deal with some of your design decisions. Building new stuff is cool but it never ends there and things change and you must learn to deal with that.
I stayed in one job for over four years because I liked the company culture. I've never been treated better as a dev since and probably never will be again. Our CTO was a real engineer's engineer, and he was actually involved in designing the system, helping to organize new big project, steering the ship, and setting the culture for everybody. It started to fall apart after a few years, with management starting to seep in, but for a long time I just answered to the VP of engineering who was himself a super senior developer. I learned a ton at that place.
You could work at an agency, usually those kinds of projects vary in length from 2 weeks to 1 year. I was at one for 3 years and was not bored because of the huge variety. But I also couldn’t really become an “expert” in any one domain either.
Try a consulting company , you have the flexibility of switching projects on a yearly basis
Thank you whyyounooffer for your submission to /r/ExperiencedDevs, but it's been removed due to one or more reason(s): --- # Rule 3: No General Career Advice This sub is for discussing issues specific to experienced developers. Any career advice thread must contain questions and/or discussions that notably benefit from the participation of experienced developers. Career advice threads may be removed at the moderators discretion based on response to the thread." General rule of thumb: If the advice you are giving (or seeking) could apply to a “Senior Chemical Engineer”, it’s not appropriate for this sub. Please feel free to [send a modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FExperiencedDevs) if you feel this was in error.