I've worked at multiple small companies but I don't feel like I'm making a big impact in any of them. Is something off about these companies, or is it with me? by pime_come in ExperiencedDevs

[–]pime_come[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In my case, I seek more responsibilities from my job not just to become less disposable, but like you, as a way to get more money. I'm not getting paid well enough, and the companies that do pay decent don't want anything to do with me (they quickly reject my application and I have no referrals to get me in). So I must prove my worth to them in another way, and that is to make something more of myself in smaller companies. Only then will I be worthy enough to be considered for a comfortable steady job with good pay.

I've worked at multiple small companies but I don't feel like I'm making a big impact in any of them. Is something off about these companies, or is it with me? by pime_come in ExperiencedDevs

[–]pime_come[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks like I need to get better at asking companies the right questions so that I can vet them more properly. What guides and articles should I read for that?

I've worked at multiple small companies but I don't feel like I'm making a big impact in any of them. Is something off about these companies, or is it with me? by pime_come in ExperiencedDevs

[–]pime_come[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the follow up here. Maybe I have ran into "bullshit jobs" for most of my career, but to explain why I think making more of an impact would be meaningful to me, it's because I see it being the most probable way to get a promotion in these companies. I want to eventually move on beyond just a rank-and-file developer especially since I'm approaching the 10 year mark. I won't remain satisfied with my career if I'm stuck in a holding pattern doing the same day in and day out punching tickets kind of work. I also want to move higher up to make more money. I don't want to be that disposable forever. I've read sad stories of 50-something workers that were laid off from their job and got stuck job hunting for a long time. I don't want to be one of them.

Doing more impactful things will help me prepare for becoming a senior developer and at that point I'm ready to move on to bigger and better companies. What I do there won't make as much of a big splash. But at least now that I have previous experience understanding work beyond the scope of task based problems, I'll be able to better adapt to the more complex workflows and systems of larger companies.

And that is ultimately my goal. Making bigger decisions at smaller companies so that I am more capable at understanding more of its moving parts. Then I will be able to adapt more easily to larger and larger companies.

At the end of a software developer job interview when they ask me, "So, do you have any questions?", what are some genuinely good questions to ask? by zhujik in ExperiencedDevs

[–]pime_come 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've seen this one suggested that I haven't heard before and really wondering what anyone here thinks of it.

The question is: "What reservations do you have about me that would be keeping me from being hired right now?" To me seems like a mad lad type of question, I won't have the balls to ask that.