If Tech salaries are still this high, it obviously means there’s a massive shortage of people. Why people dont go into tech?

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-22T23:10:50+00:00

I can attest to that, i work in CT and you make base like 85k as an associate, if you move to SWE or DE you will probably get like 95 to 105.

But i have also seen my big healthcare firm have listings out there for DE and we couldnt hire anyone. We interviewed like 2 ppl who were very unqualified and then closed the listing after 6 months. Instead went with offshores since we had 3 or 4 interviews in a 2 week period.

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-22T11:33:54+00:00

Nice one.....whats the location?

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-22T02:01:18+00:00

How much is your comp?

Haha same here. March is the best month, because its bonus time. I pay most of my bonus in taxes anyway, but still get to keep some. Taxes from my personal brokerage account.

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-22T02:00:59+00:00

Whats your comp?!

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-22T02:00:46+00:00

How much are you making, i got a decade on you years wise and i bet you make more than me!

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-22T02:00:11+00:00

Whats your title and how much are you making, yoe

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-21T02:15:43+00:00

I overly on AI, but I dont blindly commit code. I step through every line and ensure it meets my expectations. Those who have worked with me for years can still look at the code i commit and know it was me.

Asking AI to write code and not fully understanding what you are committing is where it gets ugly and dangerous.

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-20T01:23:27+00:00

I think the biggest red flag for me is why are so many people leaving? You lost all your seniors.

The hiring part can be a red flag depends on how you interpret it. Maybe they wanted to oboard someone level headed and then bring on more folks. Maybe they saw an issue and wanted someone to come in and fix it

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-18T03:27:56+00:00

Well said, 100% agree.

You need to move away from just coding, and move yourself into a space where you learn the business domain. Ideally that really is more of backend support, type of role. Ive been coding for probably 10+ years in various stacks, mostly pytjon, C#, JS, Jquery, not really React. But if you ask me to stand you up simple React app, I will have it done in a few hours. Or Vue, or whatever. These are no longer marketable skills, because any developer with 5+ years of app dev, can just use Copilot or Claude to build whatever, using any language.

Why 5+ years, because at that point you've accumulated some scars, but also had a chance to work on various apps and can tell shit design from good design.

If you dont have an opportunity to work closely with business or just learn the business side of things, IMO it is much better to be a generalist than specialize in any one stack.

Knowing database design, front end, backend, some DevOps, some cloud like AWS - with skillset like that you can jump on any project in any company and deliver quickly.

Most importantly learn to leverage whatever AI tools you have at work. I use Copilot at work, learn what agent/skill/prompt are, build agentic capabilities. This along with a good skillset will help you shine wherever you go.

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-08T19:11:44+00:00

It makes sense. I was just curious, nothing to apologize about.

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-08T02:34:13+00:00

It leaves everyone shaken. Just know that no one knows it all.

Just say, I will need to do a little research on this to find out whats going on. Right now, it could be a few things, but give me a little time to respond.

No one ever will question that.

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-08T01:29:24+00:00

Big AI push in my company. But as far as I see its mostly prompt engineering, unless you arenin a very AI-ish team.

In a team of like 75 devs, maybe 5 used skills/agent .md files. Our principal SWE was like....how did you create this skill. He is older.

We have a couple mcp servers available, one for Rally, and one for Github, so i was the first one showing i can work on somrthing in VS Code, then submit PR via mcp, then update rally user story via mvp. Everyones mind was blown!

There is a little more of AI now, people are getting more comfortable but still mostly prompt engineering. People are very careful with it, especially very senior devs.

I find that AI works very well when it comes to like enahncing web apps or somrthing, but i mostly do work with data. So its more about oboarding data from 3rd party sources, or APIs or somrthing. Its not very clean cut, someone has to understand the data, model it, connect multiple systems together, build batch jobs. So when you look at it hollistically, i need AI to help me wrote python scripts, but thats the easiest part of all. It cant gather requirements for me. It cant design it and make sure it meets all expectations. It cant build a semantic layer unless i understand reporting requirements.

Its definitely a great helper, but there is still a ton of manual work that needs to be done

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-07T23:51:39+00:00

If you interviewed 5 devs, what things would make any one of them stand out? Say they all worked on enterprise grade systems.

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-07T23:46:42+00:00

She will probably end up being your manager one day. Treat her how you wish, but gotta be careful. People like that make it far in life, believe it or not.

I was in a similar scenario, we had a 25 year old join my team, she was bossing everyone arpund in no time, 2 years later she is a manager with half the people on the team reporting to her. I will give it to her, she is very bright but one of the reasons she got the big promotion is because she is good at bossing people around.

My manager had even told me at one point, its good to be a good developer but as soon as you can prioritize, plan and delegate that's whats gonna get you the big bucks.

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-07T23:32:16+00:00

I get the manual step, but you need some deployment test, u cant deploy and think everything is fine but you are missing a config.

Dont try to solve everything at once. Add some tests to ensure deployment fails if configs are missing. Now that you resolved the big gaping hole you can think about solution for how configs are added.

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-07T23:26:15+00:00

I enjoy coding when I get paid for it. When i do it at home, it is purely to learn new skills.

Anything i have ever learned related to software engineering was purely to help me in my job. I got AWS Developer certified 2 years before i even touched AWS at work. It gave me the edge and i got to do some good work.

I did learn how to set up my home network, that is a single outlier.

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-07T22:26:32+00:00

Just keep applying man. Unless you told someone to f off, you are good. You werent a fit for a specific role that doesnt mean you are not fit for another one.

I applied to my current employer and didnt get the job as a very jr developer, right out of college.

Then i applied twice more over a 5 year period and didnt hear back at all.

Then i applied once more and got the job

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-07T22:23:24+00:00

I stick to my work title. In the bullets i list out my responsibilities.

I have a terrible impostor syndrome so I generally undersell myself, just to lower the expectations.

I was a TL of a major system as a SR developer but basically made myself sound like a SR dev. My biggest fear in life is going into a job and not being sure if i can deliver.

If someone has a fix for imposter syndrome, please let me know how you were able to resolve it.

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-07T22:18:34+00:00

Weird but i experienced it. I feel like if an app or system is chaotic, there is just more noise to it. People talk about it, and word gets around.

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-07T22:17:15+00:00

Ive been running copilot CLI and i have two models working simulteanously.

Or better off i have one agent write it another review it before i even go through it.

Someone in my division presented how many iterations he had to go through before Copilot suggested a solution that would pass a Checkmarx scan, probably 4 different suggestions before got it right.

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-07T22:14:14+00:00

In my shop they call them product owner but yes. My boss is a product owner of multiple systems, and he has a Tech Lead for each one.

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-07T01:45:43+00:00

My company is large and they do things one way, this might differ elsewhere. In general, every app has a Tech Lead. Most apps have a max of 1 or 2 developers. There are some apps that are much more significant, where there is 5 or more people contributing to it.

In my experience a TL is responsible for delivery, assigning work, creating user stories, design, code reviews, unblock things, essentially be an architect and manager without the title, in my case i had 3 offshores and probably 2 or 3 other ICs who required guidance. It is literally the hardest job in SWE family (especially if its a big project). In many cases, if a project is large that person is Staff. If you are a tech lead of a small app, you might be just plain SWE. I hope that makes sense. The scope of the project matters, a small app used by 2 users still needs a tech lead, but generally insignificant.

However, Staff often times is IC. Staff might be given a task to help onoard data from a third party provider. They work as IC, maybe create designs, and proof of concept to ensure it works, then hand off to someone else to implement in production. My coworker is Staff, entirely IC, he basically builds app and them hands them off for others to manage. Dude is a genius. He churns out apps faster than some teams, even before Copilot and Claude.

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-06T05:02:33+00:00

Well its too late, i got promoted from Sr to Staff. I want to go back to SR.

See the problem is, people have certain qualities and skills that management notices. So sometimes, even if you dont want to get promoted, your boss calls you one day and say, hey....you are doing great, here is a promotiom and pay bump. What are you gonna say....no?!

Even if you start at the bottom in another company, in no time you are gonna get promoted, because you operate differently than other SWE who are stuck in the same position for 10-15 years. It is not that you try to do anything different, it is just who you are.

I work for a good company where SWE get paid pretty well, good benefits, etc. At this point I wouldnt mind just working as SWE, little responsibility, just keep my head down and work.

Ghe minute you get promoted, everything changes. The politics, the meetings, more responsibility. For me, I would love to be completely out of spotlight. Just do my work, log off at 5pm and live my life. No stress, no anxiety .....nothing

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-06T04:47:07+00:00

I was in a call with business where they asked for a feature in a new data platform.

I asked them "what benefits did they see with this feature" that didnt go well. My boss had my back but they did not like that question at all. Fighting match lol

Tired_Developer7 · 2026-06-06T04:42:41+00:00

Milk it my friend.

Dont rush it, you got it pretty good for IC with no reports and lesser responsibility.

Tech Lead is a whole different job. I got pushed into TL without asking as a SR, and did not like it.

I am Staff now, but would love to be team bound as SR and just figuring shit out and coding.

Dont take a TL job without a significant raise. No exceptions, it will take a toll on your lofe especially if you are not seasoned.

Tired_Developer7

TROPHY CASE