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I'm contemplating my future career. I have the idea that from a rank-and-file-programmer position, I can advance either along a management track or along a programming track. I'm really not interested in management, so I'd like to know what kind of opportunities there are to advance as a programmer. What kind of jobs are the logical next steps in the progression? |
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Depends entirely on the company. Some recognise dual tracks to progress along, where a team can simultaneously have a Team Lead and a Technical Lead. Some refuse to accept that anyone wouldn't want a management role eventually. Some find a need for an Architect. More recently, some recognise the need for Software Configuration Management, which you would only give to your more Senior Developers. Some Agile companies have Coaches, whose entire purpose is to walk around looking for signs of someone struggling and help them. I've often wondered if there's a role for an equivalent to an Editor in publishing, perhaps a Code Reviewer. Someone who keeps an eye on other people's code but never writes code directly. But I've never seen such a role anywhere. In other words, don't think too much about it. Job titles are relatively meaningless in this industry, unless it's a management role (and even then I've seen some odd ones). In each company that you work for, fill whatever role is available and interesting to you, and ask for the appropriate money to justify your existence. Edit: To explain a bit further, given Oded's comment. There may come a time in your career when you go from being a technical lead at one company to a senior developer at another and that will still be a progression. You can know your technology as well as you like but, if someone else there knows it better, (or even knows it slightly less but also has 3 years of domain knowledge,) you're not going to make technical decisions over their head. As long as you're not taking a pay cut, what do you care what your new title is? And if there is an even-better developer to learn from, all the better. |
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Firstly, @Oded is right (apart from the Team Lead role, which generally involves some managerial responsibilities) - most companies support a non-managerial career progression path for developers these days. Secondly, I wouldn't worry too much about it at this stage - people change, and in a few years you might actually decide that you can do as good a job as the managers you've experienced, and want to give it a go. Thirdly, there are more than just these two tracks for you to follow. Off the top of my head, you could become a contractor, go freelancing, set up your own business, go into consultancy, move into project management, etc. And I'm sure there are others I've missed. Oh, and one more point - most companies will go out of their way to keep a good employee, even if they don't want to take on man-management responsibility. |
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Well, I've been doing programming for almost 25 years and the 'highest' title I've had is something like "Senior Programmer" or "Senior Systems Analyst" depending on the company. I've had a couple of "Team Lead" positions but I decided the management track wasn't for me. Sometimes a "team lead" position doesn't include significant managerial duties but this varies from company to company. As I half-jokingly noted in the comment on Oded's entry, many companies find creative, legal, ways to get rid of programmers not on the management track once they reach a certain age (40+). While we can hope that this age discrimination in our industry will fade in the years to come, it does impact career path choices and options. |
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I am surprised to see no one mention Project Management to this list of possible choices. In the environment's that I have been in, Programmers that may not want to progress into 'Management' per say, usually go the architect route, or Project Management. PM roles do vary company to company, but for the most part (having a standardized test for the role) PMs have the word Management in the title, but are the furthest thing from the preconceived notion of Management. My thought is, if you have spent years of your career working on large scale development projects, your experience alone on what has worked and what has not, puts you in a position to do well as a PM. For the most part, these roles require technical knowledge, client interaction, dealing with varying personalities, and extreme organization. The huge draw for the guys I know, is the higher salary. Might be an option to look into further. |
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