[kbrannigan]

If I could rewind my career I would do these things.

* Stay longer at my first company. It was an old school tech company most of the developers were 40+ years old. It had cubicles and outdated technologies. After 2 years, I grew bored and I left because I wanted to work with exciting tech,make more money, and work with younger people. Over the years, I realized it was the perfect company for my personality. Stable, low key, and quiet, they allowed people to grow into a real engineer. I took it for granted.

[non-entity]

> they allowed people to grow into a real engineer

would you mind expanding on what you mean by this?

[kbrannigan]

In my observation there's a difference between sales driven companies and engineering driven companies.

Some companies are sales driven they just want profit, and want to deliver the product as quickly as possible. They hire developers to work like assembly line workers. Come in, do the tasks you're assigned, work overtime and repeat the next day.

From the perspective of leadership, you're the helper. Feed the nerds snacks and caffeine, maybe have ping pong table, to look like you're fun. You have to be there are 9AM sharp. You have to be at your desk the whole time "working".

Signs: If you feel like you can't go for a walk without getting in trouble. During Stand-up meetings, if the conversation is more about deadlines then solving the problem.

Engineering driven companies are companies were the engineers have a lot of influence. While you're expected to provide business value, you're not at the mercy of product managers or product owners. you're encouraged to spend reasonable time building your skills.

Because building the product requires deep technical expertise, they can't just ship it without consulting the tech leaders, they can't impose deadlines and expect developers to deal with it, there's more conversation.

Signs: You are allowed to research, you're allowed to experiment, you're allowed to make mistakes.