[new12345]

In essence, its essential that we as software professionals work in company that's really motivates us and hence can call us to grow, otherwise we would soon find ourself getting left behind in fast paced software world. Seen this happening to experienced developers in my company.

[tspike]

Or: you recognize that you are a disposable commodity, accept that fact, and focus your growth not along dimensions that benefit your company, but strictly in ways that benefit you and your loved ones.

[scarejunba]

You are only valuable if you can align those well with company goals. That’s the way I see it: I try to find employers where the dot product of their desire vector and my desire vector is high and where the dot product of their desire vector and my capability vector is high. Not just the basis vectors but the actual value.

So far it’s worked. But I haven’t had the decades of experience yet to reflect on it.

[irrational]

>You are only valuable if you can align those well with company goals.

As I see it, that's my manager's job. He's always blathering on about aligning with this or with that, but I have more than enough work to keep me busy and if he wants me to work on something else, he will tell me. This has worked well for me for 2 decades and I'm more than satisfied with my benefits and compensation that I'm happy to just keep plugging along.

[scarejunba]

Haha, I imagine neither of our experiences has sufficient predictive power as to what works. Ah well, let’s hope the next decades don’t teach us both too many hard lessons about our respective philosophies.

[enraged_camel]

>>As I see it, that's my manager's job.

No, it's your job, because it's your future at stake.

Never put your destiny in the hands of others.

[bluGill]

It is the job of both of you. However the motivations are different. Over time one or the other will be more useful to follow.

Your manager needs you to bridge the gap between when the company was doing yesterday (this is what is making the money today), and what the company will do tomorrow. When your manager sees that next year they will need a skill and gets you to develop that skill they have your domain knowledge of the existing product to apply to the next thing and the whole gets done faster because of your experience and new skills.

You are responsible for yourself. If the next job is a variation on what you did today no training is required so he won't give it - it makes you less valuable to outsiders so you won't leave. Also because you are not growing he doesn't have to give you top raises to keep you from leaving - which is more money to give someone else who is better than you. The downside of this is you need to guess where the next big thing will be and sometimes you will be wrong.

[__jal]

Your manager's job is aligning their talents with company goals. When your manager aligns you with company goals, that's no longer called a 'job', is illegal in civilized countries, and isn't a role many folks seek out.

[tspike]

That's a good way of putting it.

If your goals are too closely aligned with the company's, you risk devaluing yourself for your own or the next company's goals. If your goals are too different from your company's, you risk finding yourself out of a job.

[chasd00]

it's surprising how few realize this. I would use different words than "disposable commodity" but the point is the same. Your job is the revenue stream for you and yours. Your focus should be maximizing that revenue stream, it doesn't matter what company the end is attached to. If you're a live-to-work type and your life is defined by your work that's perfectly fine too, the stream goes from revenue to.. I don't know, a "fulfillment" stream. But again, the focus is maximizing that stream not what it's connected to.

[le-mark]

What are your thoughts on "maximizing the revenue stream"? We commonly hear that job hopping is one way to maximize income. Contracting and consulting? Others?

[chasd00]

what works for me is just keeping my professional network in good shape and my ears up. I've doubled my pay in about 5 years by just keeping in touch with people. My last transition started with a simple linkedin msg like "hey I'm starting a new practice at this other firm, i need a delivery director, you in?" and that was that.

[closetohome]

Cynical, but not necessarily wrong.