Ask HN: I am “trapped” in a senior engineering role, how can I escape?

First congratulations for reaching where you are! Second, I was exactly where you are from "trap" standpoint and would like to offer couple of things that helped me.

1) Level Up - pick a discipline and practice hard on your free time. Example: It could be becoming a cloud architect (pick aws or azure). There are tons of courses available for free on the company websites/youtube etc... learn theory -> practice -> repeat. Seek a mentor in that career path and keep your progress in check with her/him. There will come a time where you will feel confident to start applying for that position.

(2) Read good code from awesome contributors (open source repositories on Github).

(3) Persist (as you have been) - you had been amazing at switching from your earlier profession to software developer ( kudos to you!). write those good memories and experience and read them everytime you feel low.

(4) Make sure you are physically and mentally fit? Talk to your doctor. Sometime something as simple as proper nutrition / vitamin levels / exercise can do wonders to lift your mood and get you going.

I am no way at the level of being a mentor but reading your story wanted to share my two cents.

Feeling the world is going to implode is overwhelming, I admire your courage for speaking out.

From your post it is a bit unclear what you mean by feeling under-experienced compared to your peers. Is it at technical level? Work ethic/principles? Understanding of the whole technology stack? Or perhaps process in your company?

While any of these topics can be tackled and improved independently, little would contribute so much as literature on:

- Clean methodology from Robert C. Martin. In particular, "Clean Coder" (ISBN-13 : 978-0137081073).

- Software craftsmanship. In particular "The software craftsman" (ISBN-13 : 978-0134052502).

These should give you, in my humble opinion, some fresh motivation and abstract overview on software development in general.

I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors!

It sounds more like a confidence / imposter syndrome issue than an actual lack of your skills or experience. Secret is, many thoughtful, intelligent people who practice self-reflection feel this way. We tend to overestimate the capbility of others and underestimate our own. Other people thought you were capable which is why they encouraged you and why you got the job. Maybe it's just confidence? Sure, you might not have the skills/experience required to really be successful right now but few people are. It can take time to figure things out. I say stick with it and continue asking these sorts of questions and seek help. As another poster said, what's your overall health? exercise, diet, mental health, etc. These things can mean the difference between success and failure yet the situation external to ourselves doesn't change. Keep looking for answers, you will find them.

> I no longer have the financial means to take a step back into a less senior role at a company with a larger engineering team.

If you don't mind sharing (and I understand if you don't want to), why not? Often when feeling stuck just having some spare cash so you 'could' escape can really help, even if you never use it.

Find a group of engineering leaders. (I'm a member of CTOLunches.com and the Rands Engineering Slack, but there are many others.) Learn from them. I bet there's one for financial systems engineers.

Take steps internally to become more technical. This may include stepping back from some of the other roles, promulgating hack weeks, or even shifting departments. Explain to the owners that you want to be more technical.

You can also hire a career coach who can give you some other steps.

Interview. Prepping and having an interview will teach you more about how "fit" you are for a senior engineer than any other advice.

Be prepared to take some kind of financial hit. Start saving and cutting back now (if you can). This will make the transition easier.

I feel you, I've been in a similar place. You can leave.

Hey! Definitely look at the other advice here, and take mine with a grain of salt. However, I want to offer a slightly opposing view.

"I no longer have the financial means to take a step back into a less senior role at a company with a larger engineering team"

I would argue you can't afford to stay where you are. If you're not happy and feel under-qualified (true or not), you'll never get promoted again. You're dooming your career ultimately, for a short-term tradeoff.

Now, that's not to say you should go more junior! Rather, you need to find your zone of genius. It sounds a bit cheesy, but I recommend you spend some time trying to figure out what you're both good at AND enjoy:

https://medium.com/the-mission/6-ways-to-uncover-your-person...

There are so many highly-paid/highly-rewarded roles in tech! I think you're underestimating your ability to find a job you both love and which will value you (financially and intrinsically).

To sum it up: you don't need mentorship, you just need a new job :) After 5 years, that feels insurmountable. It's not!

(My email is in my profile if you want to reach out and share more explicitly about your financials if you're willing to share numbers. I'm happy to help you figure out your options, and talk about comp! And obviously I'll keep everything confidential.)

Switch to another role where you’ll have more time to practice and learn technical skills. For example, switch to testing, support, training, sales. Then follow your intuition.

Hey there, I'd be happy to talk to you about mentorship (and I'm sure lots of other people here would, too). Please shoot me an email and I'd be happy to talk you through some options. I'm currently managing remotely for a Silicon Valley company but have worked at other local market companies, as well.

Key point like others have already said: You're not on the precipice, though it sometimes feels that way!

Email is in my profile.

First, take a deep breath.

"Senior Developer" is a heavily diluted term at this point. You can generally only count on it meaning 3 years experience. It's effectively code for "did not wash out".

The problem here seems to be that you are in fact a Lead Engineer, not a Senior Engineer, which does have some pretty hefty expectations associated with it. You feel like the blind leading the blind.

If you want to go back to being 'just' a Senior engineer, then you need to do what the rest of us do when we are objectively or subjectively good at something that makes us uncomfortable or unhappy.

You lie by omission.

Downplay the leadership responsibilities of your position on your resume, so you look like someone who can be groomed into a lead role instead of expected to do it from Day 1. You'll get to backfill some of your experience along the way into that role, or they'll leave you alone.

> I have been here for over half a decade now with some success. However, I now feel woefully under-experienced compared to my peers and sorely need mentorship.

It would be best to first understand why this is bothering you. You've been there for 5+ years already so I guess if you weren't good, you wouldn't make it that long.

- Are you having problems talking with other engineers because they look down on you? Is it a recent thing?

- Or are you burned out by the current company/type of work? (normal after so many years)

- Or are you afraid you'll be unable to find a new job if the company lets you go?

Great you are reaching out for mentorship. Great move. Some of the best moves I made in my career I also felt woefully out of my depth - scared even, but it stretched me and I grew. You'll be amazed at what you can do. But you've been in your current position for 5 years, you should be more confident by now. Why is it you still feel under-experienced. Are you talking about your field of software engineering, or the field of financial services. It is ok to not be an expert in financial services industry, you are there because of your software skills. So continue to learn and grow in software engineering. If you don't have the passion to learn about financial services in your spare time, then I'd look for a job at different company. Life is too short not to absolutely love what you are doing at work.

I believe one of the biggest barriers to personal advancement is self-perception, in particular, the difficulty in imagining yourself in a role that is not your current one or some version of it within a company or industry hierarchy. For what it’s worth, I’ve managed to enlarge that self-perception and change jobs by a) asking good friends and professional colleagues for their honest views on what I’m good at and where my shortcomings are and b) networking outside my professional circle to understand how my role is perceived in terms of what constitutes success (personally and for a company) and how others succeed in non-engineering (e.g. sales, management) roles. You will probably be surprised at the answers and, I hope, see that there are many more options out there for you once you see yourself as more than just your job title.

> I no longer have the financial means to take a step back into a less senior role at a company with a larger engineering team.

I'm already the third person to pull this quote out of your post. I think you need to stop and look at this. You are saying "I am living beyond my means."

As long as you are living beyond your means, you are going to have to make compromises in your career. Look around outside. Any of us could be laid off three months from now if something doesn't change soon. As much as you need a career mentor right now, you need to look at how finances trap you too.

If what you say or what I say are true, this may be the last time in a good long while that you can refinance your loans at a lower rate. Limiting your discretionary spending, finding a new 'normal' that is sustainable.

I'm not sure this will reflect the advice others here would give you, but maybe try to take a position with a larger tech company? They typically have good resources and opportunities for career development and you shouldn't have to worry about taking a financial hit.

First congratulations. You broke out of the cycle of can’t get a job because you don’t have experience and you don’t have experience because you can’t get a job. That’s an achievement by itself.

I’m going to die a little bit inside for suggesting this and I realize that it is an r/cscareerquestions cliche, but the easiest way going forward might be to “learn leetCode and work for a FAANG”. In other words study how to prepare for coding interview. Even if you are “down leveled” to a more junior position, you will probably make more at a big tech company or one of the 2nd tier (no judgement intended) tech companies than you do now.

I definitely went down a level in terms of title from “architect” at a small software company making close to the top of local salary to the second lowest level as a consultant in professional services (not complaining they leveled me correctedly) at $BigTech but ended up making a lot more money.

Are you willing to move? I got lucky that my job was always designed to be remote.

This is more of a question for other posters. Are most companies changing their policies to be fully remote?

You've learnt by doing stuff. That is awesome. That's how I started (started younger, but still).

I'd suggest trying to become a little more well rounded. Take some online Comp.Sci. courses if you feel like you're missing something in that area. Or even start a degree program while you're working. The stuff you think you don't know, go and tinker with that, ideally while getting paid ;) I'm willing to bet that in the specific areas you spent 5 years on you've got a lot of relevant experience.

Presumably you've built relationships and some human credit where you are that you can cash on here.

If you're looking to switch jobs your new employer is likely to match or offer you a better salary. Whether your title is "senior engineer" or whatnot. Given you work in a smaller company I wouldn't be surprised if a larger tech company pays higher salaries anyways. You can always carefully test the waters there... No shame in staying with the same company though if they're happy with you and you're happy with them...

Without knowing you or any of the specifics this sounds like a success story. Stay positive!

Hey, I feel like we share some experiences although I'm taking a slightly different path at the moment (focus on my health). I was in a somewhat similar position not that long time ago.

> My scenario is certainly not unique but I have no peers to discuss this issue with so I am reaching out to HN for stern and dispassionate advice.

I'm trying to connect to more people I can help and learn from. You can find more info here:

https://sonnet.io/posts/hi/

If any of the things mentioned in the post sound valuable to you—give me a shout! Worst case, we spend 10 minutes ranting but I am yet to see a conversation started with this post that I'd regret.

> I feel hopelessly trapped and constantly on the precipice of professional and personal catastrophe.

You describe how I felt when I reached my limit of stress, after years of burnout.

If you can, try to get some rest and be easier on yourself.

Coming from your background (having experienced and escaped poverty, being a self-taught engineer) makes it really easy for one to feel like this. Consider that you might not have the right perspective due to the stress. You might as well feel like this with decent savings in the bank, a three letter job title and a six-figure salary. Often it makes no difference.

Sometimes I envy my friends and colleagues who grew up feeling safe, because it's much easier for them to avoid making decisions driven by fear. Now, I live a fairly comfortable life, and _rationally_ I am aware of the irony of that statement, but it doesn't change how I feel.

If you're anything like me—consider speaking to a therapist. I'm not kidding, the only thing I regret is doing this so late.

> I am not fit the for job market as a senior engineer, and I no longer have the financial means to take a step back into a less senior role at a company with a larger engineering team.

Whatever other problems you have, this is the the one that you need to solve first. You need to learn how to manage finances - getting fired shouldn't be a catastrophe for someone in a role of lead (or senior) developer.

Something to consider is that as you gain more experience in a domain to start to realize how much you really don't know and understand. This is a natural progression from being more of a novice. If you see gaps in your experience, you need to fill them. I think your best options are professional training or courses or learning by doing. Building a network is also valuable, such as building a group of colleagues who meet regularly to share best practices, issues, etc.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. It sounds like you need optionality and mentoring. I've found larger and top-tier places to be great for this.

With smaller firms, you run the risk of insufficient n-value to find great mentors (though you can be lucky.) In larger firms, esp with cross-functional roles, you increase your chance of finding great mentors.

FAANG seems like one obvious choice. I'm not sure what the top tier consultancies might be in 2020 but they will also be great choices. Good consulting firms are sociable, you work in intense situations where you quickly develop relationships, and there is lots of attrition and cross-pollination -- which means you constantly increase the n-value and your chances of meeting super-interesting people.

I started my career at Accenture (the consultancy.) Many of my informal mentors are still from Accenture. I've had the pleasure of seeing many progress through their careers. Some have rapidly ascended at other firms. Others more slowly, to the extent that the mentoring relationship has flipped. It has been 19yrs since I started there, 14yrs since I left there and the relationships still continue.

Happy to chat, contact info in my profile.

There is a term for what you need to do. Autodidacticism. You obviously have grown into the job you have and now you administer the works of others who are at the cutting edge of the assorted tasks your company needs. Many senior engineers 'rust' out and would no longer qualify as a new hire. How often do you find yourself out of your depth on a project? This happens nall the time. There are huge chances for online learning that have been expanded by this pandemic. What to study? That is the question. You do not want to make yourself into a new hire. You need to identify what aspects of your current degree of education you need - and your company needs, to grow you into your role. Obviously this sort of self teaching is what you need. The problem is to find just what you need and in a disciplined manner get about learning this. There are huge numbers of free online courses. The MIT academy is one. There are also a large number of fee based institutions that offer the courses for free as long as you do not want the diploma that you can market. You are in your mid 30's from your timeline. I do not know if you have the free time, as you may be married with kids etc by this time. Hopefully your significant other will be completely behind you. Modern computer tech, thousands of youtube/Vimeo/etc instructionals are there to assist you while you do this in a stealthy way as you keep your regular job properly done. You will need to avoid game playing, consumer TV, etc., except as a limited relief from your future studies. Tens of thousands of people have done this with success, and you can as well - with discipline. Avoid scams and schemes, multi-level marketing etc = traps. Some other good ideas may emerge from others. Good luck.

1) Seems like your career progress should have given you more confidence in yourself than was naturally provided by your background. There's an expression "fake it till you make it" that might apply. If you can't fake it, can you take courses or work on open source projects that will upgrade your resume?

2) Do you have control over the tech stack of tools you work with? After a period of unemployment I got a dev job at a tiny company that allowed me to choose the tools and the framework I chose at the time (ExtJS) got me head hunted to join a much larger better-paying company six months later.

I find a lot of junior devs have this vision of what a senior or lead developer is, It sort of equates to an upper classman. When you get to that point you realize you don’t know much more than you did when you were younger, but you’re called on to make decisions. More often than not, it’s organizational structure and responsibility. I always counsel people to try to grow into their role rather than abandon it for fear they’re doing it wrong. There is rarely a ‘wrong’ way to be a senior developer short of just refusing the added responsibility. (And in my experience, that has almost nothing to do with software dev. )

Thank you to everyone who has offered commentary here. I can't imagine there are too many communities around which respond so graciously to such a self-pitying post.

It's a huge relief for me to be able to speak on this issue. I'll continue to read through over the weekend and do my best to parse the feedback.

Quit