Re:Should I start thinking about moving away from embedded s...
by moonboon on Saturday September 21, 2019 @06:31PM
(#21038295)
I have had management opportunities where i was managing 4-8 person projects and I absolutely didn't enjoy it, most of the time i felt like i could do a better job, and i sucked at giving back criticism. and the main reason was i just couldn't go to work for a day where i could just sit in peace, put on headphones and lose my self coding im always distracted by people and assigning tasks.
I think part of my current motivation to move away might be my lack of ambition and outlook for what i want to do future career wise, im still relatively young with only 5 years of experience. Money is nice, but it's never been the main issue for me. I do find myself feeling jealous of my friends who are full stack developers because their jobs always drive them into new technologies, whereas i spent the last 3 weeks writing a driver for an SPI flash controller.
Thanks for the pointers though, you might be right, there might be other factors that are driving me into this thought process that i need to reflect on.
First, examine your reasons not to move into management or architecture roles and make sure they are valid, and not knee jerks. This is a whole big discussion in its own right.
Second, within your current organization, look for mentoring opportunities as a mentor or a mentee. Either way, you may find your knowledge and skillset expanded in an unexpected way.
Also, are there ways you can move horizontally within your organization? Maybe there's a tooling team, or a testing team.
Finally, just understand your own goals. Do you want to maximize income or savings over time? Do you want to maximize something else (fun? knowledge? recognition?) while reaching a minimum income or savings amount? Then, over time, reevaluate those goals and make sensible plans to reach them. Expecting excitement from doing the same kind of thing over a 40 year career is probably not a fair expectation.