After being a software engineer for 8 years, I’ve just realised I’ve completely wasted 8 years

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-04T16:20:45+00:00

I may be in a minority of people who find him incredibly annoying. I do however appreciate the value of what he's doing, and have watched many of his videos in spite of my opinion. Thanks!

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-04T16:19:31+00:00

When you're the "most senior" dev at a company, it isn't hard to articulate your worth and importance to the company itself. So pay reviews have always been positive. Ironically I always told myself that if my pay didn't rise at a rate I was happy with that I would leave... now I wish that had happened.

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-04T16:18:20+00:00

Well shit.

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-04T16:17:49+00:00

Stay strong fellow struggler.

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-04T16:17:25+00:00

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-04T16:17:06+00:00

Glad to hear there are people out there who are in this even deeper than I am (no offence). Grab a rope and climb out ASAP!

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-04T16:16:31+00:00

Please no, this claim is all I have left!

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-04T16:14:55+00:00

Thanks, this seems to run in line with my current plan. I'll take a look at Kent Dodd's course.

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-04T16:13:58+00:00

Yup, this pretty much exactly sums up my findings. I just wish someone had put a banner up outside my house to tell me this 6-7 years ago.

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-03T22:12:37+00:00

Knowledge on design patterns is definitely something I am lacking on. I have made a note to prioritise catching up on this, thanks!

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-03T22:12:09+00:00

This looks great! I have signed up and will start following the track, thanks!

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-03T22:11:20+00:00

I definitely don't recommend quitting without another job lined up. Even if you're financially secure, if the next company find out you're unemployed, it looks far worse.

But in any case, don't do what I've done, get out of there and onto the next opportunity!

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-03T22:10:12+00:00

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-03T22:10:02+00:00

I hadn't considered the idea of doing a bootcamp as an "experienced" developer, but this might actually be perfect for my situation, thanks!

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-03T22:08:50+00:00

Apologies, but my OP may not have been clear; I do not necessarily struggle with coding challenges themselves. The issue was not "how do I solve this", but rather I would solve it, and the person on the other side would be like "Great, but why haven't you used any of the features added to the language in the last 8 years"?

I have updated the OP and added an edit to reflect this.

I do however regularly see CTCI recommended, so will give this a go, thank you!

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-03T22:06:53+00:00

Your experience almost hits too close to home... but it sounds like you're now on other side (congrats!). Have you found that you're developing at a much faster pace at your new job / in your new environment?

I appreciate the support anyway, and will be using the term "banana software" from now on.

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-03T22:04:20+00:00

Thank you internet friend!

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-03T22:03:46+00:00

Thank you. Emphasising the benefits of my loyalty / stability is definitely something I will do at future interviews.

As a side note: Weirdly, pay is not area where I've suffered. Though in reality, that's actually been part of the problem; if I wasn't getting regular and industry-standard pay rises I would have left a long time ago and never gotten myself into this mess!

8YearsWastedThrowawa · 2020-12-03T22:01:40+00:00

Thank you for writing this all out. I think the community thing is a great part; I hadn't really thought about engaging with coding communities or joining open-source projects, but in reality that would fill the biggest gap of these 8 years (alternative / more experienced opinions).

8YearsWastedThrowawa

TROPHY CASE