Ask HN: What point in my career should I be getting at by now?

[sibila]

Hi,

I'm a regular reader of the hacker newsletter and I've been wanting to pose a question to all of you (in the form of a vent) but I haven't gathered myself to do it (until today) because, honestly, I feel embarassed for what I have to show and tell, curriculum speaking, in comparison to what I see here.

I'm a 28 yo working in the Information Visualization industry (or, as LinkedIn like to call it, Business Intelligence). I'm on it for about 3,5 years but I feel I'm not accomplishing anything meaningful, technically speaking.

In terms of stack, I've only come across working with Tableau and Qlik Sense and nothing more. I do throw around a little SQL, but very, very little, and at the end of the day I feel I'm only 'making charts'. Although Qlik (Sense) allows for some ETL, where I can put into action some cleansing and transformation strategies, I'm feeling I'm not learning what I should be learning. I want to get deeper, into more abstract terms.

I suck at optimizing - code, workflows,... I suck at understanding the architecture of things. I have a bachelor degree in computer science but it seems I haven't put that much into practice. I should be devising mental algorithms when working on things and I'm not capable of that. I should have a pipeline when working, like a method to do things, 'use this tool for this, that tool for that', that sort of operating. Instead, my to-do list is a collection of tabs in notepad++. If I need to do a copy & paste, I paste it into notepad++ and it says there forever. There is no structure.

Do you think I have stagnated/should be in an advanced stage of my carreer? Which stack of tools and skills should I have 'mastered' by now? I'm not exactly young... I know I am mixing practical limitations with technical ones, but for me those two aspects are intimely connected. I can't differentiate between having a practical, structured mind and being technically good.

Thanks for any word you might find relevant!

[s3nnyy]

I think being good with a proprietary technology like Qlik isn't so bad. That is a rare skill and there are jobs.

The question is what you want in life and your job. You are saying you have the feeling you should have learned more but why is that? Do you want more money, fame or freedom?

[sibila]

I guess I want to feel I know a variety of things (I was going to write 'shirt', lol) that makes me a good developer (heck, I don't even consider myself a developer - what IS a developer, anyway?!). Right now I don't think I'm good at my job. I don't think I'm leveraging technology. Every profile I look into linkedin that is into this industry (information visualization) is so skillfull in a variety of technologies and topics, and I only have "Qlik Sense" to show, you know. No favorite frameworks (because I don't apply one), no github profile to show, no parallel projects,... I think I wouldn't stand a chance competing against all this people in the market if I were to change jobs.

I have a stable job, with demand for it - projects are coming, there is work to do and value to add, but I don't think I'm developing as I should.

In the end, yes, I want more money and more freedom to do whatever I please at my own pace. I have enrolled in a Data Analyst with Python course (in dataquest) that will put me through a variety of technologies and challenges, and I'm hoping I will reach some clarity on the path I'm following on my current job. Don't know if this makes sense.

[s3nnyy]

Most developers also just know certain stacks in-depth (e.g., Python + Django / Angular + Javascript). Yes, these technologies enable someone to solve a bigger variety of problems, but it doesn't mean they are then more worth to the market than you. It always depends on what the market wants.

Github profiles matter less than you think because it is hard to tell what the person did themselves and what is a fork. Recruiters and hiring managers I work with look at an online profile for roughly 10 seconds to see if you use certain technologies, that is it. I elaborate on this at length in "Coderfit: All you need to know for your programming career" https://gumroad.com/l/cdrft/

[sibila]

But isn't the market demanding? At least if I want to have a nice job, with a nice pay... I feel I must raise the ceiling today if I don't want to be in a dead end by the time I reach the 30s (which is just in 2 years).

Thanks for your perspective, sk3nnyy. That newsletter of yours (coderfit) really is some public service. I will definitely be seeing into the ebook.