[bsenftner]

Keep in mind these are "conservative developers" - they work in C/C++ - meaning a preference towards C styled C++, a preference towards maintainability, and a preference away from the latest features of C++. That is being a developer, yet in a tech shop. There are lucrative alternatives too:

When one looks outside the traditional technology industries, there are a huge number of technology jobs as the tech person in a non-tech industry, being forced into the tech world. These tend to be C-Suite level jobs, so picking up an e-MBA is also be pretty good idea - to know how to talk and operate in their terms, how and why what you're doing for them is what you're paid to do. They have no idea, and very likely a history of being burned by low level tech consultants.

[atomic-hedge]

Thanks for the info. I'm kind of burned out on the shiny new things, so C and maintainability sound like a breath of fresh air. I think reading an OS paper from ~1983 that described what is effectively Kubernetes (with working prototype written in ML) really drove home how little the fundamentals of our industry change.

The way I describe my career goals now is: I want to work in a domain where quality and performance is the product.

I hadn't considered getting an MBA and using it in that way, that's something that I will take a hard look at. Thanks for the advice!