HN Explorer

Ask HN: How long is too long?

2 points by davegb3 ↗ HN
I've been in my current dev job for about 4 years, moving a C++ fat client to .NET/web (mainly .NET dev and team lead prior to that). I'm probably the one with the most experience/knowledge of the "newer technologies" in the office, but compared to your average hacker in a startup, I'm just a beginner.

Most of what I'm learning is what I'm teaching myself, although I'm learning the odd bit about C++ from colleagues (easily my weakest area).

I live in Berlin, so the startup scene is pretty good, and the prospect of working with a bunch of "like minded" talented people really excites me. On the other hand, I'm gaining experience in web (specifically JS, angular), and I've run training sessions for the company, which I find a really good way to get a deeper understanding of a language or technology. Being the "go-to" guy for questions & architecture certainly has a feel-good factor, even if I still feel like a beginner.

This will be my 5th year, and I'm weighing up staying on, learning-by-doing (as opposed to from colleagues) as much as I can, or trying the startup scene.

5 years feels like a limit - I don't want to stagnate, but I enjoy what I do.

How long do you consider to be too long? i.e. if you read a CV (EDIT: resume), how long would give you a negative feeling about the candidate?

3 comments

[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 19.3 ms ] thread
VLM
Hows the local ageism in Berlin aka how much longer will you be able to work? If you soon will be unemployable anyway, then how the resume looks doesn't matter. Or perhaps you'll only have one more chance to "get it right" so maybe you should stay at a decent place. On the other hand maybe the job market is healthy and you have no such limitations. Just bringing up a dimension that was not discussed yet.
davegb3
Good question. I'm 35 now, but I honestly don't know what the local ageism factor is. This was also my first job in Germany (previously UK), so I've not got much to compare it too. It's a factor I previously hadn't considered, so thanks for bringing it up.

I guess a startup would be more likely to be ageist, and hence that move should be sooner rather than later.

_delirium
It really depends on the company. I think 5 years being a long time is very much a startup-sector mindset. It's not uncommon for good devs to stay with bigger companies 10+ years if they like the job and working conditions (pay, hours, benefits, etc.). The classic 40-year IBM tenure is maybe no longer as common, but that doesn't mean everyone has gone all the way to the other extreme of only 3-4 years per company.