| The first thing I think I would say is: Hang in there. Regardless of your situation there's going to be a way out of it with the facts on hand -- you have a lot of the skills you need to do "Senior Software Engineer" type roles, as well. For example: one large professional skill you have is this: "I've been able to always have work on my desk because I'm always moving and talking with people in the industry" combined with this: "I've always managed to solve the problems in front of me but in a 'hacky way'." Those to things together say to me: "This person is able to communicate with others in order to solve problems" which is really one of the key differentiators between a more "senior" software engineer and a more "junior" software engineer. I have some questions:
Are you still at the company? If so I think you have a great opportunity ahead of you to improve some of your software design/engineering/crafting skills while leveraging some of your strengths. If not, I think you should consider another medium sized company and not worry about this most recent experience as being the end of your software career. Next question: The code that was filled with hardcoded values, wrong structure, difficult to debug bugs... was that your code or the existing code? If it's your code, then you're in a great position (like others have said) because you've already identified problems and so that's your list of things to work on next. What does "failed to accomplish it" mean in terms of the task?
The thing about software, especially at a company that's not going to go down in flames because of a problem you've failed to solve is that... you can try again. You can keep taking swings at the task until you figure it out and eventually knock it out. So that doesn't seem bad. "I'm thinking about looking for semi senior roles but I'm afraid it'll look weird..." As a hiring manager who's been interviewing people in this industry for more than 15 years it never looks weird. And if it looks weird and you have something to offer and the company can't see past whatever "weirdness" that's their loss -- you sound like a thoughtful, introspective employee who's got an impetus towards self improvement. That's gold. You could transition to PM, you could "take a break" -- but I'd want to think carefully about the answers to the first few questions if I were you because it sounds to me like you are interested in software development and are interested in self improvement in software development and if so it sounds to me like you have a great opportunity in front of you. If you are still feeling lost, and actually make it to my message, hit me up at the email in my profile -- I would be happy to talk about it further in more detail. |