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The 5 Existential Crises of a Tech Employee

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First: A Warning

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Second: A Spoiler This is actually a message of hope.

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Brandon Hays. developer-turned-manager? @tehviking manageveloper? ummm… ex-developer?

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Co-founder/CEO (quit) Software developer (meh) Marketer (failed) Network Engineer (failed) Video editor (failed) Graphic designer (failed) Manager (TBD)

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C A R R E E }Meta-Career?

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5 Existential Crises

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ERRor ERRor ERRor ERRor ERRor Our calculators are broken

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1. Breaking in (OH NO!)

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[Breaking into the industry] sucks, and I’m sorry. - @tomdale

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“I don’t have all that so I won’t apply”

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The soul-crushing interview

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Got my first dev job

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2. Where is my Obi-Wan?

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But you keep calm and carry on

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3. Am I a real contributor yet?

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What even does “senior” mean?

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1. Do a bunch of work 2. ??? 3. Voila! Senior!

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I don’t know what “senior” means but it’s in my LinkedIn profile

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4. Groundhog Day

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New job, new shiny stuff! Stressful, but learning! Learning slows down Leave, find a new job No learning, just stress :(

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It’s… unsatisfying

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5. Total existential meltdown

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5. Total existential meltdown hashtag #farmlife

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Why the hell is this happening?

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ERRor ERRor ERRor ERRor ERRor Broken calculator formulas

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Broken calculator formula 1: “I’ve got 10-15 years in this career, tops”

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No 20-30 year veteran role models I only have 10-15 years, I better learn fast The new folks are getting good faster than me I don’t have a place here, I’ll take that manager job I have kids now, I can’t keep up with OSS anymore

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Gymnast vs. Marathoner

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Broken calculator formula 2: “I should be more like Industry Hero X”

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What constitutes heroics?

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HERO

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If becoming a parent wrecks someone’s ability to perform “heroic” feats of technology, we have failed to properly define the term.

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Broken calculator formula 3: “The new disruptive tech is the most valuable”

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That Elm’s so hot right now

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“Programming is a pop culture… pop culture holds a disdain for history.” - Alan Kay

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Broken calculator formula 4: “There’s no track for me past Senior Contributor”

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-Lester Freamon “Follow the money.”

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We don’t need more 10x problem- solvers solving the wrong problems 10x faster.

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We need folks that know which 9 of 10 problems don’t need to be solved in the first place.

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This adds up to subtle (and blatant) ageism

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“…So I’m just gonna take the ‘promotion’ to Manager.”

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But we need you

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Maybe turning our mega- senior contributors into junior managers isn’t the only path

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And we can fight this

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The 6-Point Plan™

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3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 We can fix ‘em!

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1. Take a breath.

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Allen Wirfs-Brock Created early Smalltalk implementation Wrote the ES2015 (ES6) Language Spec 45 years of sustained, industry-shaping work Cool guy

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“For the first 15 years, I was just learning how to be an engineer” “The next 15 years, I learned how to apply what I’d learned” “The next 15 years, I tried to learn to have industry-scale impact” 15 30 45

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A 45-year view means you have room to breathe

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2. Find your board of advisors

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It helps to have smart friends

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It helps to have kind and honest folks in your life

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3. Design your map

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Keynote Speaker Chief Architect Principal Engineer Evangelist Author/ Speaker Junior Contributor Team Lead Product Manager Freelancer Solopreneur Startup Founder Small Business CEO Founder, 3rd company Chairperson of the Board Director of Product Engineering/ Dept. Lead VP of Product VP Eng CTO contributor Manager Entrepreneur Founder, 2nd company Senior Dev Mid-level Dev

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Is there a better term than “individual contributor”?

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A Path to “Senior Level” & Beyond

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There’s no such thing as a “Senior React Developer.”

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There’s no such thing as a “Senior SCSS Designer.”

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There’s no such thing as a “Senior JIRA Project Manager.”

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There’s no such thing as a “Senior Rails Developer.”

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12 traits of senior contributors

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Work produces artifacts (or for you Brits, artefacts)

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It’s about the muscle, not the concept

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Technical Capability Curiosity Rigor & Discipline Fearlessness Propensity to ship

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Curiosity Junior: Just enough to Mid: Deep exploration of 1 toolset Senior: 2+ toolsets Beyond: Synthesis advances state of the art

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Technical Capability Curiosity Rigor & Discipline Fearlessness Propensity to ship

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Rigor & Discipline (for instance, documenting their work) Junior: Very bad or no documentation Mid: “Good enough” documentation Senior: Great documentation & feedback Beyond: Redefines approach to documenting

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Technical Capability Curiosity Rigor & Discipline Fearlessness Propensity to ship

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Fearlessness Junior: “Isn’t there a framework for this?” Mid: “Imma write a framework LEEEROY JENKINS” Senior: “Let’s not write a framework” Beyond: “I can fix the framework we already have”

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Fearlessness Junior: “Isn’t there a framework for this?” Mid: “Imma write a framework LEEEROY JENKINS” Senior: “Let’s not write a framework” Beyond: “Let’s fix the framework we already have”

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Technical Capability Curiosity Rigor & Discipline Fearlessness Propensity to ship

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Propensity to ship Junior: Nothing to show just yet Mid: A graveyard of abandoned projects Senior: Maintains a few long-running projects Beyond: Has projects with industry-wide usage

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Leadership Owner's mindset Communication & Persuasion Purpose “Next right thing” focus

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Owner's mindset Junior: The technical problem is plenty, thanks Mid: Can explain the business impact of their work Senior: Sacrifices preferences for biz impact Beyond: Started/run/failed/succeeded in business

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Leadership Owner's mindset Communication & Persuasion Purpose “Next right thing” focus

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Communication & Persuasion Junior: “Communication is prolly good lol” Mid: Adapts communication to situations Senior: Defuses, turns around tough situations Beyond: LOL thought leadership

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Leadership Owner's mindset Communication & Persuasion Purpose “Next right thing” focus

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Purpose Junior: Happy to be on the team Mid: Acts on extrinsic purpose Senior: Acts on intrinsic purpose Beyond: Compelling vision & followers

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Purpose Junior: Happy to be on the team Mid: Acts on extrinsic purpose Senior: Acts on intrinsic purpose Beyond: Compelling vision & followers

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Leadership Owner's mindset Communication & Persuasion Purpose “Next right thing” focus

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“Next right thing” focus Junior: Needs lots of help breaking down work Mid: Unintimidated by blank codebase/page Senior: Unintimidated by big refactors/editing Beyond: “How the hell do you get so much done?”

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Connectedness Community-orientedness Mentorship Empathetic work Courageous honesty

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Community-orientedness Junior: Little/no community involvement Mid: Meetup talks and/or blogs Senior: Conference talks, organizing events Beyond: Industry-impacting community work

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Connectedness Community-orientedness Mentorship Empathetic work Courageous honesty

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Mentorship Junior: Looking to be mentored Mid: A couple folks call them a mentor Senior: Several owe their careers to them Beyond: Large-scale influence on devs’ growth

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Connectedness Community-orientedness Mentorship Empathetic work Courageous honesty

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Empathetic work Junior: Gets that users & teammates are people Mid: User-centered development Senior: Also coworker-oriented Beyond: Large-scale impact on the way we work

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Connectedness Community-orientedness Mentorship Empathetic work Courageous honesty

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Courageous honesty Junior: Overly polite Mid: Needlessly blunt Senior: Life/business-impacting critical conversations Beyond: Sees patterns & establishes processes

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Courageous Honesty == Radical Candor

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Community-orientedness Mentorship Empathetic work Courageous Honesty Curiosity Rigor & Discipline Fearlessness Propensity to ship Owner's mindset Communication & Persuasion Purpose "Next right thing" Junior Mid Senior Beyond Connectedness Technical Capability Leadership

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No one can focus on all 12 things

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3 strengths per weakness

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Combine your strengths

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4. Pitch your plan

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How do I put this into practice?

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Spreadsheets.

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Spreadsheets. No, Seriously.

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Spreadsheets. No, Seriously.

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One size DOES NOT fit all

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5. Plan your exit

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Know where the track runs out

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6. Change your plans

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#goals

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Back to the crises

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Only now, with a new inventory

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1. Breaking in

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2. Where is my Obi-Wan?

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3. Am I a real contributor yet?

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4. Groundhog Day

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5. Total existential meltdown

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You are right where you need to be on your own personal path.

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Never underestimate the power of making small improvements over a large amount of time.

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Patience, persistence, and love

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I love you and I believe in you.

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Thanks. <3. Hugs. @tehviking brandonhays.com

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