Thread by @eisabai

Today question: What does a successful software engineering career path look like? Let me answer with my personal story... (in 🧵)
#engineeringmanager #career #techlead #developer #careerintech

I started my career working as a web developer for a small web agency, doing everything from gathering requirements from customers,

designing websites in Adobe Photoshop, building backend applications, coding frontend interfaces, to looking after domain registration, hosting, etc.

Throughout my career, I’ve had many different job titles that are similar yet different in many ways, such as developer, technical lead, technical director, startup CTO, head of engineering, software development manager, and engineering manager.

I got into tech because I love using my creativity and problem solving skills to create & build stuff.

I am currently working as a senior engineering manager at a software company in Sydney. So in a way, my career path but is anything but unconventional.

Started out as a developer, moved up the Individual Contributor track til becoming a Technical Architect and then finally switched to the People Management track.

However, it’s not the only career path for software engineers. I have seen successful people in the following roles who once used to be software engineers:

Technical Program Manager
Site Reliability Engineer
DevOps Engineer

Product Manager
Agile Coach
UX Designer

Product Marketing Manager
Entrepreneur

Success is subjective. When I feel successful, it’s often because I am feeling grateful for what I have in my life, not necessarily because of what my job title says.

Here is one of my favourite poems:

To laugh often and much;

to win the respect of the intelligent people

and the affection of children;

to earn the appreciation of honest critics

and endure the betrayal of false friends;

to appreciate beauty;

to find the best in others;

to leave the world a bit better

whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch,
or a redeemed social condition;

to know that one life has breathed easier

because you lived here.

This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson