| > If software development is your 9-5, and not your passion. How do you keep improving? I'd flip the question and ask: why do you think the 40+ hours of work you do for your employer every week isn't also helping to improve your skills? > Where does your confidence come from? Your employer hired you because they think you'll be able to do the job well; after 6 months your manager is telling you that you're doing the job well. Where is your lack of confidence coming from? Literally the only people who matter are saying that they're confident in you. > When layoffs come around, how do you know that you are safe? Ah, this one's easy: you're not. No one is. Stick with the industry long enough and you will: (a) get laid off, and (b) watch better engineers get laid off while you don't. Decisions for layoffs are made at a high level by people who don't know your name and don't care about you. > how do you know that your skill set is relevant and desirable? That one's tough. I've always chosen to focus on fundamentals rather than learning the latest language/framework/whatever, and so far it has worked out quite well for me. Beyond that, I'd recommend worrying more about building a network of people who respect you and your work -- they're the ones who will get you a new job when you need it. Meritocracy is a half-truth at best, and having someone who will help you get your foot in the door at a company is a huge benefit. |
You're 100% correct here. I'm definitely learning and improving just by doing my normal work. I suppose I worry about how much of that learning will transfer to another job.
"Stick with the industry long enough and you will: (a) get laid off, and (b) watch better engineers get laid off while you don't."
Thank you for the perspective here. I'm probably better off thinking about how I will navigate a lay off, instead of praying it doesn't happen.