Re:Ask HN: How to find senior position focused on “pure” tech?
by tmp404 on Monday April 24, 2023 @09:51PM
(#35695651)
Well business and tech are not a dichotomy, we're talking about tech companies after all.
I'm not asking how to look for "pure tech" positions that _contradict_ business values, but rather positions where working on tech problems as a senior engineer happens to align with business values.
Re:Ask HN: How to find senior position focused on “pure” tech?
by gregjor on Monday April 24, 2023 @10:40PM
(#35695957)
Tech company or some other sector, the main goal of any business amounts to making money. That may involve working on "pure tech" however defined, but it will also necessarily require implementing solutions to business problems. Some of those problems will look more interesting and challenging than others.
Where in the organization you might find more satisfying work comes down the organization and what you find interesting. I doubt it has much to do with job titles, though if you have to spend a lot of time managing other people and going to meetings that won't feel like working on "pure tech."
Businesses pay people to solve business problems, not "pure tech" problems. What you call "pure tech" fits into either the academic field of computer science or expanding your own skills in a direction not necessarily valuable to your employer.
Core infrastructure and important libraries must have value to the business and solve business problems, at a level removed far enough to look like "pure tech," but the business likely wouldn't invest in those efforts for the sake of doing pure research, so maybe you just romanticize that work because it has less contact with customer concerns, marketing, or management.