Ask HN: Programmer Existential Crisis
10 by reallywhoami | 14 comments on Hacker News.
Been writing code for professionally for about ~15 years now (started programming around ~20 years ago). First startup barely lasted and shut it down (about half of 2012). Plogged (is that even a word?) along on my second startup for about 6 years and sort of got acquired. There were some regular corporate tech jobs in between the startups - but just pure time-wise I've been in startups longer than at a regular programming job. I've hit some sort of wall where I've feel that the last 6 or so years of my career (essentially my early 30s) I've not really learned anything - just bits and pieces of some programming, some architecture, some managing a small team. Never really got any feedback/mentoring on software I designed and wrote or how I managed people. I am now in the state where I feel I've stopped growing as a programmer, not graduated to a manager or an architect. In my mid-30s now I feel like I am outdated and outskilled. How can I get out of this rut? Has anyone here been in this situation and pulled themselves out of it? PS: This is the first time posting on HN - not sure if this is the right place for advice of this sort.