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Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise?

108 points throwaway929997 | 16 comments | 14 Mar 25 14:17 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom

(Throwaway for hopefully obvious reasons) I’m a software developer (web, fullstack) that’s been in the industry for about 10 years now and I’ve gotten to a point where I don’t care about advancing my career. My current title is Senior Software Engineer and, if I had it my way, I would be happy to keep that title for the rest of my career. I tried being a manager for a bit and hated it, and, in a similar fashion, the increased responsibility and scope of going down the road of Staff+ engineer holds no interest to me.

My only issue is that my current job has a very strong “up or out” mentality that I’m starting to push up against. And most other places I’ve worked at or talk about with friends seem to have similar attitudes toward career progression. I just want to do my job well, learn new things, and contribute to the businesses success. I don’t want to have to try and figure out with my manager what projects I should work on to make myself look good and be able to work my way up the ladder.

Has anyone worked somewhere that they felt they could just do their job without worrying about the career advancement aspect? I’ve contracted a bit and know that this would align well with this goal, but I enjoy having health insurance and not having to scrounge for work all the time.

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pelagicAustral ◴[14 Mar 25 15:00 UTC] No.43363263[source]▶
Get the same job working for government. Work stability in government is unparalleled, and there is so much cruft and technical debt that you will literally spend up until your last breath fixing legacy code and trying to get people off ancient software systems.

You will stagnate, and nobody will give a shit. People will come and go next to you, but you will be stable through the ages, like a pillar in an ancient Roman temple... Seasons will leave behind memories, but the winds will not take you with them. You will prevail, no matter what. Maybe forgotten, maybe overlooked, but more certainly not underestimated.

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1. dartharva ◴[14 Mar 25 15:02 UTC] No.43363289[source]▶
I wouldn't be so sure considering what's happening with federal govt offices in the US right now..
replies(4): >>43363329 #>>43363353 #>>43364296 #>>43365204 #
2. ac-swe ◴[14 Mar 25 15:06 UTC] No.43363329[source]▶
state & local are always options
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3. Onawa ◴[14 Mar 25 15:07 UTC] No.43363353[source]▶
Yep, I'm a federal contractor working in NIH as a data scientist, and completely agree with the above comment.

Before November, I would have said the same thing as the parent comment. After January 20th, everyone who is left is currently looking for backups in case they get laid off.

Gov and fed contractor positions used to be the most stable jobs you could get. Now, they are just as uncertain as industry jobs. It's extremely unfortunate.

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4. giantg2 ◴[14 Mar 25 15:08 UTC] No.43363364[source]▶
Government adjacent jobs with NGOs that are not federal government funded might also be options.
replies(1): >>43363431 #
5. pelagicAustral ◴[14 Mar 25 15:08 UTC] No.43363369[source]▶
yeah... There is always a niche in government. Plus, I haven't heard of many layoffs affecting software teams in government. Some people are so deeply rooted in their specific concerns that taking them out of a codebase is borderline like cutting the wrong cable on a bomb.
replies(1): >>43363646 #
6. pelagicAustral ◴[14 Mar 25 15:09 UTC] No.43363384[source]▶
Sorry to hear... I hope this situation gets sorted sooner rather than later.
7. seanw444 ◴[14 Mar 25 15:14 UTC] No.43363431{3}[source]▶
A lot of NGOs are government funded, just through multiple layers of indirection, so they can claim they aren't.
8. dgfitz ◴[14 Mar 25 15:29 UTC] No.43363581[source]▶
Defense contractors most likely do not share the same sentiment.
9. kaikai ◴[14 Mar 25 15:36 UTC] No.43363646{3}[source]▶
They shut down 18f, laying off the entire team.
10. not2b ◴[14 Mar 25 15:36 UTC] No.43363649[source]▶
I'd say that they are more uncertain than industry jobs at this point, unless you're talking about companies that have recently been taken over by private equity where the new owners intend to gut the place and sell off the parts.
replies(1): >>43364241 #
11. excalibur ◴[14 Mar 25 16:31 UTC] No.43364241{3}[source]▶
> unless you're talking about companies that have recently been taken over by private equity where the new owners intend to gut the place and sell off the parts.

Off topic, but this is starting to feel like the rule rather than the exception. This practice should not be legal.

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12. apwell23 ◴[14 Mar 25 16:35 UTC] No.43364296[source]▶
how about working for state govts like IL or CA. I have friends in both but they are not worried (yet).
13. pelagicAustral ◴[14 Mar 25 16:43 UTC] No.43364389{4}[source]▶
It's all about money, isn't it?
14. MangoCoffee ◴[14 Mar 25 17:54 UTC] No.43365204[source]▶
I don't think it's that different from the private sector. I've been with my current employer for almost 7 years. The company has been sold twice with layoffs. My manager, who hired me years ago, is leaving.
15. scarface_74 ◴[15 Mar 25 19:42 UTC] No.43374738{4}[source]▶
I worked for a compaby as the dev lead that was bought by private equity along with other smaller companies to eventually get big enough to go public.

I saw the writing on the wall. I knew it didn’t make sense to try to build a development department - what I was originally hired to do. I became more of an “enterprise architect” responsible for managing and coordinating third party consulting companies.

I left a year and half later and went to work for a startup. I left there abs when I was looking for a job three years later, the company that acquired the startup offered me a job as a staff architect responsible for integrating all of their acquisitions. As soon as I found out it was PE backed, I noped out.

I still inadvertently ended up at a PE backed company that also had a roll up strategy. It was shitty and I only lasted a year before moving on

16. scarface_74 ◴[15 Mar 25 19:44 UTC] No.43374751[source]▶
They also in danger now. Red states are trying to implement mini-DOGEs and all states have to rethink their budgets with the federal government cutting back.