Ask HN: How does the “ten years a junior” find better work?

Breaking out of the loop of the inability to improve is difficult in certain jobs.

This is a serious problem with some employees, in particular in the software development world where on-boarding and mentoring is more of a crapshoot or even non-existent.

I think the following major factors put people in this situation:

- "greedy" path of needing to take the first job offered (because beggars can't be choosers)

- Poor opportunities to follow relevant industry trends that are greater in demand

- The stigma that a weak career implies weak competency

These people get little sympathy in the job market. With sufficient bad luck, they're often ineligible for jobs at their expected level of competency, and have to apply for jobs below that. But no one wants to hire them as "overqualified".

These things don't happen on a dime. It happens slowly over the course of years. With the inability to get more appropriate job opportunities, they have to usually pick the first (and therefore only) offer that comes along. Provided that you are aware of the situation and have an interest in getting out, what do you do?