How do you know it's time to do the next thing?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17257923

by brooklyndan • 8 years ago

37 19 8 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hive mind:

We've all had good career runs (for varying values of "all" and "good") working with one particular technology or another. But at much as we may have loved it, there comes a time when it becomes apparent that that particular string has played out and it's time to figure out what's next.

How do you know when that time has come -- and how do you figure out what your Next Thing is?

JSeymourATL• 8 years ago

how do you figure out what your Next Thing is?

Good framework figuring out your next thing in the book Designing Your Life by a couple of Stanford professors-

Here's a podcast interview with the authors, to give you a flavor of what it's about > http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2016-10-03/using-design-th...

Also, NY Times review > https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/fashion/design-thinking-s...

coaxial2• 8 years ago

I don't know how representative it is as a whole, but my experience (working for various companies of 15-200 employees) has been that there are two classes of engineers:

- Those that have been there for years (3/5/since the beginning), are usually underpaid for the long hours they put in, and may or may not have stock options.

- The rest of us.

And it seems that the first group rarely moves on. I suspect it's because they're too heavily invested in the company with some sort of golden handcuffs, or they've become too comfortable and don't want to look for a new job. They also seem to prefer ignoring the fact that they're underpaid comparatively to more recent hires or to the market.

The second group usually moves on after 10-12 months on the job, sometimes up to 18 months. Sometimes it's a lateral move, sometimes it's a step up, but it's almost always for more money and slightly different technologies or a better work situation.

Short of the usual advice that if you're dreading going to work, aren't feeling challenged anymore, or your managers don't support you then it's probably time to change jobs; it would seem that the typical time to move on is every 12-18 months.

Keep in mind that these are my anecdotal observations, it may or may not be representative.

NhanH• 8 years ago

12-18 months job change sounds a bit too much, especially after you have a few years of experience under your belt.

konradb• 8 years ago

It feels to me that a period as short as that would prevent you from learning a whole bunch of interesting things.

Technical lessons about design, architecture, and infrastructure choices one has made, how they cope with scale, subtle mis-steps, etc. Interpersonal lessons about how people develop and communicate. Lessons about why some approaches work and don't work organisationally.

svilen_dobrev• 8 years ago

IMO it's not the actual move that is interesting, but when one switches on "search/scan mode"... probably when one feels a downarrow in every morning's answering the question "why should i get out of bed". (somebody formulated it this way some time ago here on HN)

Then figuring out what/whether/is-it-worth is the on-going interesting part, and it can last months - or even years.

Jtsummers• 8 years ago

When you have realized your present goals or have new goals that cannot be achieved by what you're doing.

I greatly enjoy my day job as a developer. But my organization is floundering (aspects of my team need improvement, but also the multitude of others across the org). I want to improve it, I can't do it as a developer (alone). So I'm moving up closer to management (but doing my best to stay out of management proper) to a position where I can have more sway on decision makers, and advocate for the resources, training, and improvements the product producers need.

I have other goals with respect to learning and improving my craft as a developer, but they're slightly (just) lower priority than getting this organization to function better. And if I fail, I can at least say I tried. To pursue my developer craft goals, I'd need to leave this company. And I'm not ready to yet (I'd have to move, which is not something I'm ready for).

In the worst case, I tried. I learn something new about how management functions. How to be a leader. And that'll prepare me (success or failure) for my next role.

EnderMB• 8 years ago

For me, it was when I reached a point where there was nowhere else in my area that excited me.

For eight years, I had worked in both small and large agencies as a .NET developer, working on a whole range of sites - some tiny ones, mostly medium ones, and the odd behemoth. I had a few user group talks behind me and a good reputation amongst my peers.

My breaking point was when I thought to look who else was hiring, and couldn't find anyone I was either excited or scared to work for. Sticking with agencies would've been no different to what I was doing, and the larger .NET houses were fairly boring affairs. I had made a career as a .NET developer without moving into enterprise, so I had no intention of doing that now.

So, I decided to jump not to the next big thing, but for something different. I now work with startups outside of the .NET stack, and the challenge of switching from being a solid .NET dev to a beginner in various languages on the Linux stack is both exciting and scary. Sure, I could make more elsewhere, and I've put myself in a position to look stupid, but I forced a change and hopefully the change in scenery will push me towards a more complete understanding of development, and onwards to the next big thing.

CyberFonic• 8 years ago

In terms of moving on from one technology to another I have found that the best indicator is when the large consulting firms start hiring lots of staff with a specific technical skill, most of them poorly qualified for that technology. If you prefer to contract directly to the larger client firms, then the big firms start being your competitors.

In my experience high demand and high rates environment lasts 3-5 years. Bit of a challenge to pick the next best technology. Not too soon on the adoption curve and not too late.

kewafb14• 8 years ago

You know it's time to move when either you've lost motivation for what you do, and/or your KPIs aren't encouraging enough even after you've already adapted the model a few times. As to figuring out your next thing, ask yourself what you'd spend so many hours doing without counting the hours. It's always worked for me. Hope this helps.

path101• 8 years ago

Up, couldn't agree more

sfsd11• 8 years ago

What if there are multiple answers to this question? How do I filter?

bausshf• 8 years ago

Once you'd rather do nothing, than do something.

stealthmodeclan• 8 years ago

When conversations become bitter, when i feel defeated and nothing interests me then i move on to not drag the team down, i start completing documentation to not keep any knowledge to myself.

muzani• 8 years ago

First, you have to have somewhere to go. Most people don't and so they stay at the same spot until retirement.

Somewhere can mean anything - a career improvement, or benefits like child care. Maybe even a team that clicks with religious beliefs. In some cases it's money.

More often, it's a kind of experience one longs for. Maybe you just really want to make a game or a CRM. Maybe you just want to enjoy traveling the world on company money.

Second, you just measure how you're going along this path. Ideally your job will take you there.

AnimalMuppet• 8 years ago

When the challenge is gone. And how do you know that? When you're bored - not bored for a day, but bored for six months.

That may not mean that it's time to change careers. It might just be time to change jobs.

pasbesoin• 8 years ago

Speaking generally, I think one's intuition continues to be under-valued.

If you are a reasonably aware and informed person with regard to the matter at hand (and additionally, shouldn't your own well-being be a principal "matter at hand"?), it is yourself cluing in, ahead of constructing a fully-conscious analysis and argument.

The times my intuition has really -- in the gut -- pushed me, it's been right. Often, later -- days, week, or longer -- I find myself placing that gut feeling into context and events in a way that totally makes sense.

Some might argue I'm just rationalizing it. Seemed much too immediate -- and then crystal-clear, in hindsight.

segmondy• 8 years ago

When you find yourself asking yourself if it's time to do the next thing, it's time.

sloaken• 8 years ago

It appears you are talking about a MAJOR shift, not just a job change.

First part - When to know when it is over? In the simpliest form, when the jobs available suck. Either the pay or the volume. When I have changed it was both. So actually this is how you know you should have changed a year or two ago.

Second part - What to do next? That is a gamble. Anything that is up and coming has a risk of being overplayed (too many others going into it) or fading out. This then becomes an issue of your objectives: 1) Write books 2) Become the industry expert 3) Just make good money 4) Be happy If you are #2 or #4 then it involves exploring a few technologies, I recommend either MOOCs or reading on forums, to decide what excites you. If you want #2, you need #4. #3 You still need to explore, but I would start with what you see job demand for. Then explore MOOCs to see if you can stand the tech. Then be sure there are enough resources available for you to learn enough to be hired. You might have to do some pro bono work for resume food. #1 - sorry no clue.

What ever you choose you cannot rest. You must evolve, why? 1) others will compete and drive down the value of your skills 2) because you do not work cheap, there is a large profit motivation to make your skills more of a commodity (easier for #1)

How do you know it's time to do the next thing?

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