Career progression - are you always seeking to climb the ladder to become a VP, Director, CTO, CDO? Or are you content with what you do at the moment

Forums › IT Pro and developers › Career progression - are you always seeking to climb the ladder to become a VP, Director, CTO, CDO? Or are you content with what you do at the moment

turtleattacks

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#289707 24-Sep-2021 11:57

Just wondering what you guys are at in terms of career progression.

Are you guys:

Content with your salary, responsibilities and what you do at work?
Or that you have constant desire to progress to climb the corporate ladder, for more money and responsibilities?

At what point is it okay to just be content with your salary, what you do and sit back and enjoy life?

Will one look back in ten years time and regret this lack of ambition?

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SirHumphreyAppleby

2844 posts

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#2783524 24-Sep-2021 12:37

I consider myself a developer but never wanted to do it as a career. I found myself a bit of a niche being responsible for performance testing across multiple development teams, building internal test infrastructure, working with R&D on product integration and undertaking general product development that interested me. Working under Agile, even though I wasn't a full time developer, I could pick tickets that interested me and contribute code to the products if I didn't have enough work to keep me occupied in my other (varied) roles. I enjoyed doing that, but writing code every day was something I never wanted to do.

Not everybody wants those senor roles and I certainly don't think they lack ambition if they don't. I know many senior developers who are quite content doing what they are doing. They don't want to deal with people. I've worked hard to overcome my own introverted nature because I knew where I wanted to be in my career (even if I don't know what I want to be when I grow up). I know where I want to be to contribute most effectively in a development team, but getting there is a challenge. I've been holding out for a development manager role or some kind and had interviews for a few, including three rounds of interviews for two of them. I never quite managed to seal the deal. There does seem to be a bit of a bias towards people from a business background moving into those roles, rather than people with a technical background, especially if they're not skilled in the exact languages or proprietary frameworks the company is using. Personally, I think this is rather short sighted, particularly for a role which isn't hands-on.

Salary is only one metric on which to evaluate achievement. I want to live comfortably, but I also want to enjoy the work I am doing.

duckDecoy

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#2783534 24-Sep-2021 12:47

Not one single person I met who was dying ever said to me they regret not working more, but many sure did say to me they regretted not spending more time relaxing or with family. This includes people who were very successful and loved their jobs. I took that lesson on board, and I was about 30 when I decided I didn't want to dedicate my life to work, and found a job with low responsibility and very flexible working arrangements. Everyone here is basically in it for the lifestyle our work allows you to have.

Way less money than if I had gone corporate, but certainly livable.

Never looked back. Naturally I have occasional bouts of envy when my friends have fancy overseas holidays and cars etc, but more than made up for by being there for my son, and afternoons at the beach etc.

turtleattacks

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#2783541 24-Sep-2021 12:55

duckDecoy:

Not one single person I met who was dying ever said to me they regret not working more, but many sure did say to me they regretted not spending more time relaxing or with family. This includes people who were very successful and loved their jobs. I took that lesson on board, and I was about 30 when I decided I didn't want to dedicate my life to work, and found a job with low responsibility and very flexible working arrangements. Everyone here is basically in it for the lifestyle our work allows you to have.

Way less money than if I had gone corporate, but certainly livable.

Never looked back. Naturally I have occasional bouts of envy when my friends have fancy overseas holidays and cars etc, but more than made up for by being there for my son, and afternoons at the beach etc.

Well said, and congrats for finding your balance.

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scuwp

3885 posts

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#2783547 24-Sep-2021 13:00

The older I get the more I value things like job security, flexibility, reasonable hours, and lower stress. The higher up you go the less secure your job is. There will always be a need for people that 'do the job', but not so much management, particularly middle management, that is prone to the whims of company restructures. As the Peter Principle says....you get promoted to your highest level of incompetence. I guess this is mine.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

alavaliant

222 posts

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#2783562 24-Sep-2021 13:12

I wouldn't consider moving into any sort of management role 'progression'. I view that as a totally different career. So I'd never go there as that's not the career I'm interested in.

turtleattacks

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#2783593 24-Sep-2021 13:50

scuwp:

The older I get the more I value things like job security, flexibility, reasonable hours, and lower stress. The higher up you go the less secure your job is. There will always be a need for people that 'do the job', but not so much management, particularly middle management, that is prone to the whims of company restructures. As the Peter Principle says....you get promoted to your highest level of incompetence. I guess this is mine.

Job security, flexibility, reasonable hours, low stress and salary good enough to buy organic milk and posh ice cream if you wanted to..... life goals achieved?

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Senecio

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#2783612 24-Sep-2021 14:19

I'm at really weird point in my career. I chased the corporate dream when I was younger, let my work and my title define me. Climbed the ladder at home then got a chance to go to Europe and climb some more. Made it into senior director positions and finally a VP in my field in a large multi-national. Then one day as I was getting closer to what I thought I wanted, I realised it wasn't what I wanted after all.

It wasn't the work or the work load, I enjoyed that. I was realising that the next step was going to require me to compromise on value I hold dear to me. It was a bit disheartening, I tried to buck the trend. I wanted to be the first to make that leap while not compromising who I was. It wasn't working so in the end I had a choice to make.

I chose to stay true and to de-prioritise my career and focus on my health, wellbeing and those around me. It was the right choice for me and I couldn't be happier. I'm still working at a fairly senior level but in a much smaller organisation and one that holds values that are better aligned with my own. I still need to check myself occasionally as I am prone to overdoing it but its pretty to see it happening. If I don't pick it up quick enough my wife with slap me out of it quick smart!

As I've aged I've reset what success means to me in my career. These days I take greater joy out of seeing those around me succeed.

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Inphinity

2780 posts

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#2783618 24-Sep-2021 14:30

Always wanting to progress, but that doesn't necessarily mean in a corporate/enterprise environment to me. There has to be balance, it can't all be work-work. I'd rather be in a technical leadership role in a smaller org that values it's people, than in a large corp that doesn't - but dollars makes a difference as much as time does for me at my current point, so would be a situational-specific choice.

alasta

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#2783621 24-Sep-2021 14:41

A lot of this really resonates with me.

I was very ambitious from my early 20s through to about my mid 30s, and I'm glad I worked hard to develop myself over that time because it's given me financial stability and good quality of life in my 40s. I still need to challenge myself a bit to ensure my skills stay up to date, but I've got to a point where I really want to focus on personal development rather than career progression.

chevrolux

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#2783628 24-Sep-2021 15:02

The above stories all look similar to my own.

Worked for a bit straight out of school, got some skills, got ambitious. Went to Auckland, started a business with a business partner. Spent 5 days a week in hotel/motels and travelling and just generally busting my ass because "that's what it takes" right? Did that for a few years, made some money, but then realised how stupid it all was if I didn't have time to enjoy it with people I actually liked.

Sold up there, came back home and started work as an employee again. Couldn't be happier. My boss understands my skillset, and as such, I get pretty much left to it, and I run the team when its required. And I really enjoy my work now! It's the same work

I would never want to "be the boss" ever again. It'd need to be "Spark CEO" kind of money to even come close to considering it again. You spend so much of your life working, it's got to be something that excites you.

turtleattacks

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#2784092 25-Sep-2021 11:12

I guess it’s just different career progressions and people have different needs and wants.

We use need to get used to the fact that the lack of desire to progress into SLT doesn’t mean laziness or lack of ambition.

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