Question: Devs with 3+ years of exp.
Do you like coding? Or do you like HLD/LLD or general tech solutioning more?

@iiii 3+ years is a convention. I think the rule is 3+ years is not-junior, you can call that whatever (semi-senior, semi-junior...).

About the rant question, yes. Although I've been coding for 3.5 years, working for 3 years and having a job for 2 years, so I think I'm in the lower limit of being able to answer.

Both. Need to have both

Not that im far past 3 years in work experience, but yeah, I still love programming. I've done it since I was a kid, and I'm afraid I'll continue to.

16 years+, still enjoy coding my ass off , not that I get to do that a whole lot any more. (Maybe 1-2 days a week)

But having to do HLD / LLD prior just sets the path of what you're going to build and allows other devs, business stakeholders, and who ever else is involved, to get a firm grasp of what it is they are asking for before building something and somewhat prevents having several iterations of change.

You come to appreciate both sides.

I'm curious how ~3 years = senior though, 3 years is barely a mid dev in my books, a junior/mid I can trust to get the sprint work done but not someone I'd expect to be solutionizing changes or features on their own.

@fruitfcker you make a good point. I like coding how I like socializing. It’s important, interesting to a point, but after a while my battery for it runs out. I need a break to recharge.

@iiii no, 3+ is I presume when you have learnt programming decently well to write good software. Hence you can do some HLD/LLD.

@C0D4 I asked this question coz I'm 3+, already working with some freshers in my team. Slowly but definitely I'm losing interest in "actually" writing code, instead, I like thinking about solutions and helping interns/junior devs solve it.

I just wanted to know how others feel.
IMO 3+ is where one can become a totally independent contributor. Before that, a lot of devs require help/mentoring.

@C0D4 so it's more like, just randomly thinking about my future I want to understand where I want to head, and does it align with where I am actually headed to.

@BugsBuggy ah ok, well usually the longer you work in the field the less you have hands on tasks (writing code) and become more of a mentor and determine the way forward for your team(s).

Basically management with high level / architecture planing but still technically focused enough to help the team if needed, unlike those Project Managers we all complain about that wouldn't know a bar of soap from a bar of white chocolate 😒

I guess it's always better under an Engineering Manager, than a Project Manager.