What 10 Yrs Of Experience As SDE Has Taught Me
Disclaimer😅: Before I share my thoughts, I want to mention that I don’t want to judge anything/anyone. These are my personal thoughts and if they match with yours, then I hope these bits help you in some way or the other in your career.
Every software engineer starts his career with one or more of the below long term goals -
- Build Skillset
- Earn Money
- Entrepreneurship(maybe?)
I agree all of us want to earn money to lead a better life, don’t we?
But, is that the only thing we truly want?
I have been working for 10 years in IT industry and have worked with 4 different kinds of companies — A mid size company, an MNC, a mid sized startup and another startup turned unicorn with 6 tech people across BE, FE, QA.
When I scroll through twitter, I come across folks who have worked at 4 different companies in 3 years! And by looking at their profiles, they are surely great companies. Then, what would be the reason for switching so fast?
Non-challenging work? Not a very good manager? Poor culture? Not really — It’s the insane CTC that they are being offered.
Though money could be one of the important factors, in the long run this might not help in building a sustainable career!
When you switch companies at that pace, you are not giving yourself the opportunity to learn and gain in-depth knowledge — be it technical, functional or other soft skills.
👆 This is the most valuable thing I have learnt in my career!
The new generation is running after money without understanding the real satisfaction of experiencing the challenges and glory in solving them! I’ll tell you one thing, if you become good at tech at an early stage of your career, you’ll definitely make good money worth the efforts you put earlier. But if you keep switching just to chase a higher CTC, you may miss putting efforts on enhancing your skillset which is extremely vital in an industry which is evolving rapidly.
This might be a biased opinion, but I would prefer working with a small scale company(less than 100 folks) than an MNC. I strongly feel that the learning curve in big MNCs is pretty flat(no offence)!
Here is what I would suggest a newbie to do -
- Try to join a small scale startup if you see the potential for growth.
- Spend at least 1.5–2 years.
- Observe the phases through which the startup goes!
- Tackle the challenges you face and build optimal solutions!
- Observe how the startup grows and in turn see yourself growing.
You’ll find much more satisfaction in this process. You’ll be a valuable addition to any company in future when you have this kind of credibility with you. It makes you more matured and more knowledgable than switching between companies. Mind you, if you have in-depth knowledge, you’ll always have endless possibilities of making money! So work on growing your skillset instead of growing your package.
I would also like to acknowledge that sometimes working in start-ups comes with its risks. The point I am trying to make is that since start-ups would have less folks, the learning is humongous as compared to established MNCs. However, needless to say, the stability that an MNC has to offer in terms of job security can be devoid in a startup which is just strengthening its roots. Hence, this decision has to be made considering all the pros and cons and your greater aspirations.
At the end I would also like to say that everyone’s journey is their personal choice. We make some mistakes and we learn from them. Even these mistakes are our teachers and we should enjoy all of it! 🙂
