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

108 points throwaway929997 | 4 comments | 14 Mar 25 14:17 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

(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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JohnFen ◴[14 Mar 25 14:42 UTC] No.43363092[source]▶
> Has anyone worked somewhere that they felt they could just do their job without worrying about the career advancement aspect?

That's every place I've ever worked, to be honest, including tech megacorps. Lots of places will put a lot of emphasis on career advancement, but I've never seen anyone punished for not doing it. I'm not counting "won't get promoted" as a punishment, for obvious reasons.

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giantg2 ◴[14 Mar 25 15:14 UTC] No.43363437[source]▶
My non-tech company seems to also have this up or out mentality. They don't have a specific timeline, but if you're a midlevel for too long like me, they definitely try to manage you out. I've had a few friends who are managers confirm this.
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aaronbaugher ◴[14 Mar 25 15:19 UTC] No.43363478[source]▶
Yeah, you can run into it anywhere. When I was in the pizza delivery business in my early 20s, once you got into management, there was very much an up-or-out mentality. You couldn't just be a really good assistant manager; you were pushed to move up to manager and then to a bigger store and so on. It just seems to bother the climbers to see someone content to stay in the position he knows he's best suited for.
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1. giantg2 ◴[14 Mar 25 16:40 UTC] No.43364352[source]▶
I have a disability, so I'm stuck where I'm at.
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2. scarface_74 ◴[15 Mar 25 19:53 UTC] No.43374796[source]▶
And what happens when they let you go?

I also have a slight disability. Are you saying there is no other place in the US where you can work? Not even remotely?

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3. giantg2 ◴[16 Mar 25 12:10 UTC] No.43378386[source]▶
I'll probably just work at Walmart or something. There are very few opportunities in my area for tech jobs and remote isn't the best fit for me. My wife isn't open to moving either.
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4. scarface_74 ◴[16 Mar 25 12:41 UTC] No.43378570{3}[source]▶
If you can actually work in an office, what does your disability have to do with not being able to get another job? I can’t imagine a disability where you are mobile enough to go into an office but limits your ability to get another job.

Especially if you can work at Walmart where you have to stand on your feet and move stuff all day.

For reference: I have cerebral palsy that for all intents and purposes affects mostly my left hand. But standing all day in a retail job day in and day out would be detrimental because of a slight affect of CP on my left foot.