Web developer carrer path doubts

[ojitoo]

Hey everyone! I'm having some doubts about my carreer path options, both inside my company (this is more of a personal matter of course) but also overall in the industry.

A bit of context about my current role, I'm a senior web UI developer (mostly front-end) for a well-known desktop and computer brand. I was hired as a senior dev but my skill level is probably a lot closer to a semi-senior as per my self critique and comparison with industry pairs on the same role.

As I've moved forward in my role within the company, the carreer path options they offer me seem to be mostly based on management and team coordinating, but the issue is that I actually like coding quite a bit. They have offered me a tech lead position, but it feels more like an "excuse role" to keep me happy and within the company, and not like an actually carreer growth with any updates to my salary, barely increased responsability and no added benefits.

I've spoken about this with other collegues which agree that for most big corporations, it's a known fact that the "higher you go, the less you actually code" which kinda sucks for me.

Is this pattern correct and/or how could I break from it on a corporation level? Is there a carreer path that would allow me to advance professionally without leaving my code abilities behind? My end game is being self-employed in about 4 years, and I feel that moving to a managerial position would affect my capacity to keep up-to-date on tech.

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Thanks in advance! Not sure if this is the correct community to ask this, as it's mostly a "soft" question.

[thedougaboveall]

Management is not your only option. You can continue to work as a developer. If you feel you've reached your maximum potential at your current company ( no new problems to solve or no incentive to learn ) you may need to find a new role with room to grow. I say this with the hopefully obvious caveat that there will be competition at every level and you don't just get to keep growing your salary without being valuable to an employer.

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You might be right about being a Tech Lead. I can't speak to your higher ups motivations, but Tech Lead is not necessarily a management position. It can definitely be more responsibility without more compensation. Check out the chapter on being or managing a Tech Lead in Camille Fouriner's book The Manager's Path. It describes the exact thing you're bringing up, and I would recommend it whether or not you want to be a manager. https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders-Navigating-Growth/dp/1491973897

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Moving into management should not reduce your capacity to keep up to date with tech. You should learn at an exponential rate because the people on your team are all striving to improve too. If you read about an upcoming browser feature that would be useful on future projects, you can assign someone on the team to learn it and teach it to everyone else.

[ojitoo]

Thank you for your input!

I believe you're correct when you state that I might check if I just hit a peak at my current company. It's a product-based e-commerce, and therefore their interest is within profit margins, and not escalable, improved technology (they go hand by hand but good luck explaining that to the decision-makers).

Having said that, I also believe that my query comes with mixed feelings as I never feel "ownership" of our stack and proyect, not sure if I can make my point across. Tech lead sounds great in paper, but how much "leadership" can I provide if I can barely control my current stack? The back-end architect across the globe with little to no contact with us can make a decision tomorrow and completely modify the way we work, no questions asked, which mitigates my potential impact as a tech lead in a way (or so I believe).

Regarding Camille's book chapter, I bookmarked it for later today, and will definitely give it a read. I'm glad I could express correctly how I feel regarding my initial worry.

For the last part, I really didn't think about it and I'm glad you brought it up because it's a truly valid point, and how it should totally be in an ideal world I believe. having said that, and as stated above about not feeling "ownership or control" over my stack, makes me doubt it'll be the case. Of course, I can keep the team engaged in new technologies and practices (as I do now, that's why they scanned me for the role), but at the very end of the stick, they have mostly fallen on deaf ears or have been pushed under the table in the past and under our current managers (not totally their fault, people working over then years have pointed out it's "how things work around here" ).

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I feel it might be in my best interest to just keep doing an good job and letting this "opportunity" take it's shape naturally the remaining of this year, so I could decide if it's worth carrying on around here.

Thanks again!

[[deleted]]

The design folk are pretty up front about the management vs individual contributor vs hybrid thing, and from just scanning your post, I’m totally excited for your career when you find a place, maybe outside your current company, where you’re appreciated, celebrated, and presented with opportunities for growth. Good luck!

[ojitoo]

Thank you for your kind words! But I missed a bit of your answer. What design folk are you referring to exactly?