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I'm a middle age female software developer and also found similar experience when I was in the job market recently. The software development positions generally

I'm a middle age female software developer and also found similar experience when I was in the job market recently. The software development positions generally are below 2 years, under 5 years and the senior position at 6-8 years. What do you do if you have 20 years of software development experience?

gilbetron 7y ago
Recently worked for a (bad) silicon valley YC company, and was shocked to learn that 6-8 years of experience is considered senior these days. Not enough experience at that point to really be senior, but I think there's such a desperate need for developers that they have to do that. To be clear, I've certainly met people in their 20s that have senior-level ability, but they are by far the exception.
- georgemcbay 7y ago
  I agree with you that the "senior" title is passed out too easily, but as someone who is 46 this has been the case throughout my entire career, I don't think it is a new problem. In fact, the 6-8 years of experience you quote is far higher than I would have guessed if you asked me when the average company (incorrectly) starts handing out "senior" titles.
  - gilbetron 7y ago
    I definitely agree - more precisely, I meant that "6-8 years" is the time by which nearly all people have attained "senior" designation, even if they aren't that good. However, it used to be (in the places I worked, at least) that a person wasn't senior until at least 10 years of experience.
- unicornmama 7y ago
  IIRC for those that make senior, five years to senior is about average at Google.
auspex 7y ago
I think you should start looking for jobs that are "developer adjacent". Product managers, technical marketing, sales engineer, solution architect. Jobs like presales engineers have higher salaries than developers, require 15+ years experience (dev preferred) and excellent soft skills.
0x445442 7y ago
> What do you do if you have 20 years of software development experience? Move to a market where your skills are in high demand and focus on middle/business and back end development. Or better yet, embedded systems development. I've been at this for 25 years and IMO, the further down the call stack you go the more your cumulative years of experience are an asset. This doesn't mean you can stop learning new tech, it just means the trends in those lower layers seem to be more sustained and of a longer duration.

gilbetron 7y ago

Recently worked for a (bad) silicon valley YC company, and was shocked to learn that 6-8 years of experience is considered senior these days. Not enough experience at that point to really be senior, but I think there's such a desperate need for developers that they have to do that. To be clear, I've certainly met people in their 20s that have senior-level ability, but they are by far the exception.

georgemcbay 7y ago
I agree with you that the "senior" title is passed out too easily, but as someone who is 46 this has been the case throughout my entire career, I don't think it is a new problem. In fact, the 6-8 years of experience you quote is far higher than I would have guessed if you asked me when the average company (incorrectly) starts handing out "senior" titles.
- gilbetron 7y ago
  I definitely agree - more precisely, I meant that "6-8 years" is the time by which nearly all people have attained "senior" designation, even if they aren't that good. However, it used to be (in the places I worked, at least) that a person wasn't senior until at least 10 years of experience.
unicornmama 7y ago
IIRC for those that make senior, five years to senior is about average at Google.

auspex 7y ago

I think you should start looking for jobs that are "developer adjacent". Product managers, technical marketing, sales engineer, solution architect. Jobs like presales engineers have higher salaries than developers, require 15+ years experience (dev preferred) and excellent soft skills.

0x445442 7y ago

> What do you do if you have 20 years of software development experience? Move to a market where your skills are in high demand and focus on middle/business and back end development. Or better yet, embedded systems development. I've been at this for 25 years and IMO, the further down the call stack you go the more your cumulative years of experience are an asset. This doesn't mean you can stop learning new tech, it just means the trends in those lower layers seem to be more sustained and of a longer duration.