

Ask HN: How to branch out past being "just" an engineer? - totallynothax

I&#x27;ve been building web apps for over 10 years. Generally I&#x27;m the guy everyone (managers, other devs, etc.) comes to ask the difficult  questions. I&#x27;ve built a lot of user-facing stuff, can handle architecture etc.<p>I just get the feeling I could do more than just being an engineer, but all the jobs I hear about are just sw engineer stuff, or don&#x27;t allow telecommuters (one of my very few must-have requirements)<p>Am I just lacking the connections to hear about more interesting opportunities? Any suggestions?
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phildini
What kind of opportunities are you looking for? Management? Design?

If management, I would suggest trying to lead teams and projects, and let your
direct report know you want to move into a leadership role.

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totallynothax
Technical management and being more involved in the direction of products is
probably most in my alley. Thing is, I don't see much of a future with that
regard with my current employer, so trying to do that there might be a bit
pointless.

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ghostdiver
You can influence direction of products without official title. It's much
easier to do that as an engineer.

(now it depends on what you want, official title or the feeling of influencing
product decisions)

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rrhyne
Work at a small but growing startup and take any project you can reasonably
complete. If they grow you'll grow with them.

