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i wanted some advice on career progression. I am a CS graduate from 2020, have been a decent mobile dev for last 3 years and switched 2 companies so far. i currently have an average ctc (considering i reside in the world's most populated country) as a junior dev.

i want to grow but don't know the next steps. here are my options:

1. stay in the same company . role growth: senior in 2 years , more senior in 4 years . comp growth : avg 10% every year

>> this feels okay-ish path but 10% growth seems very less

2. switch every x years . role growth : unpredictable. comp growth min 30-50%

>> this has been my approach. as i grow bore of a company, i switch . the first time i got a 200% hike, but at that time, i was already earning very less. however companies do not usually take you for a senior role unles you were a senior before, so i think i am losing something here

3. do a masters in tech . comp growth : ? role growth :0
>> this is an unknown territory for me. i haven't heard of anyone bragging about how they did a masters in some tech field and got a better job/position. most people prefer masters in business or do a masters in tech only if they had a poor bachelors degree

4. do a masters in business. comp growth ? role growth?
>> another unknown territory for me. i really wanna consider a managerial position, just because i want to be leading the action , but that's probably because of being a beta guy in all my life and not just the tech/work.

1. managers have a great comp but they also get fired more often than techies. how do you become a good manager/vp/director etc?

2. what are your goals, how do you improve/work upon the goals as a manager?

3. how do you grow as a manager?

honestly i put a lot of tasks and capabilities into one category : the skills of a manager. but i think there might be different roles for such categories. let me know which one is which and if they are worth going into:

1. an x is a person that researches on market trends, other companies, amtheir audience etc and come up with new ideas to implement and improve growth/business of the company

2. an x is a person that makes sure that devs , qa, designers etc are aligned , knows what to do , clears their doubts and ensure the proper functioni5 of the team and timely releases of new features.

3. an x is an ambitious and curious person who can think of new , original ideas.

4. an x is a person with all knowledge of product features.

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in all above statements, is x== junior manager? then what are senior manager, vp, directors, president, tech lead, qa,etc?

also how can one start to become x?

Comments
  • 0
    Not sure if I understood all of it, but regarding career I got and hand on the simple advice: "Do what you love."

    If you're doing it all for the money, then simply focus on that, but most likely you would have to deal with boredom.

    If you know what you love, then don't shy to stay in the same company for several years. Loyalty is an underrated value.

    If you have the feeling to be on the wrong place, then switch. However there is no "always happy" job. Endurance is also an important quality, even more for yourself when you managed to get trough rough times.

    So no "take Option X" from me. Sorry. :)
  • 2
    It entirely depends on what you **truly** like.

    Don't make money your prime motive, as life is more than paying bills and spending money. Especially if earning more money grants you the permanent depression state.

    For management ... It's easy. Go to a boxing gym, become a punching bag for a day. That's management.
    :)

    Regarding senior roles... Senior is just a nonsensical title. What's more important is that constant company hopping usually means that you're a trouble maker... That will be the first impression when reading a resume of someone who stays less than 2 years in a company.
  • 0
    @IntrusionCM 100% agree.

    Regarding company-hopping: In Germany this is seen as a "trouble maker", but is it the same in the US and/or other countries?
  • 1
    @glowFX

    In my opinion, it's rather universal. Though I don't have many ties with international management ;)

    Found this LinkedIn post:

    https://linkedin.com/pulse/...

    I'd say it's controversial / opinionated.

    Maybe to add as a further elaboration:

    It depends for me as a manager on 3 factors:

    1 what type of job

    2 what is their work experience

    3 what is their "behavior"

    1 is pretty simple. A developer who does job hopping, but applies only for a junior / mid-job: Mkay. An administrator / manager / senior: nope. You need someone long term who will stay in the company.

    2 when someone does constant job hopping with different jobs, they lack specialization. I'm not against a generalist, quite the opposite! But when you work 1 year in field X, 1 year in field Y, 1 year in field Z... Then you're not a generalist. You have outdated experience in field X, outdated experience in field Y, current experience in Z... :-(
  • 0
    3 Even in writing, behavior is recognizable...
  • 1
    @IntrusionCM good points, thanks.
    1. as of now, what i truely like is developing stuff in multiple domains(mobile, web , backend) because i got to work on these as a software engineer.
    i am yet to learn about any software dev making millions, so i am not sure if doing what i love is going to make me happy always, financially

    2. regarding management, again, i never experienced it so am not sure if i like it or not, but again, management role folks end up at cxo levels, so its somewhat proven to be a financially good role

    3. regarding hopping and not keeping money as the goal: i agree and do not want to do both of these. My last company was the one where, after completing an year i had 0 plans for switching, but i had to coz of a policy change which is a seperate story.

    i am capable of working years into one place, i just worry that my skills and domain will not be valuable enough to give me enough money in future to live a decent life and achieve my goals.
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