
How do you know it's time to do the next thing? - brooklyndan
Hive mind:<p>We&#x27;ve all had good career runs (for varying values of &quot;all&quot; and &quot;good&quot;) working with one particular technology or another. But at much as we may have loved it, there comes a time when it becomes apparent that that particular string has played out and it&#x27;s time to figure out what&#x27;s next.<p>How do you know when that time has come -- and how do you figure out what your Next Thing is?
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coaxial
I don't know how representative it is as a whole, but my experience (working
for various companies of 15-200 employees) has been that there are two classes
of engineers:

\- Those that have been there for years (3/5/since the beginning), are usually
underpaid for the long hours they put in, and may or may not have stock
options.

\- The rest of us.

And it seems that the first group rarely moves on. I suspect it's because
they're too heavily invested in the company with some sort of golden
handcuffs, or they've become too comfortable and don't want to look for a new
job. They also seem to prefer ignoring the fact that they're underpaid
comparatively to more recent hires or to the market.

The second group usually moves on after 10-12 months on the job, sometimes up
to 18 months. Sometimes it's a lateral move, sometimes it's a step up, but
it's almost always for more money and slightly different technologies or a
better work situation.

Short of the usual advice that if you're dreading going to work, aren't
feeling challenged anymore, or your managers don't support you then it's
probably time to change jobs; it would seem that the typical time to move on
is every 12-18 months.

Keep in mind that these are my anecdotal observations, it may or may not be
representative.

~~~
NhanH
12-18 months job change sounds a bit too much, especially after you have a few
years of experience under your belt.

~~~
konradb
It feels to me that a period as short as that would prevent you from learning
a whole bunch of interesting things.

Technical lessons about design, architecture, and infrastructure choices one
has made, how they cope with scale, subtle mis-steps, etc. Interpersonal
lessons about how people develop and communicate. Lessons about why some
approaches work and don't work organisationally.

~~~
coaxial
The places I've seen this at were either agencies (so short/medium term
projects) or startups where employees churn so much that a year later almost
everyone is new again.

Like I said, might not be representative but has been my observations.

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sloaken
It appears you are talking about a MAJOR shift, not just a job change.

First part - When to know when it is over? In the simpliest form, when the
jobs available suck. Either the pay or the volume. When I have changed it was
both. So actually this is how you know you should have changed a year or two
ago.

Second part - What to do next? That is a gamble. Anything that is up and
coming has a risk of being overplayed (too many others going into it) or
fading out. This then becomes an issue of your objectives: 1) Write books 2)
Become the industry expert 3) Just make good money 4) Be happy If you are #2
or #4 then it involves exploring a few technologies, I recommend either MOOCs
or reading on forums, to decide what excites you. If you want #2, you need #4.
#3 You still need to explore, but I would start with what you see job demand
for. Then explore MOOCs to see if you can stand the tech. Then be sure there
are enough resources available for you to learn enough to be hired. You might
have to do some pro bono work for resume food. #1 - sorry no clue.

What ever you choose you cannot rest. You must evolve, why? 1) others will
compete and drive down the value of your skills 2) because you do not work
cheap, there is a large profit motivation to make your skills more of a
commodity (easier for #1)

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kewafb14
You know it's time to move when either you've lost motivation for what you do,
and/or your KPIs aren't encouraging enough even after you've already adapted
the model a few times. As to figuring out your next thing, ask yourself what
you'd spend so many hours doing without counting the hours. It's always worked
for me. Hope this helps.

~~~
sfsd11
What if there are multiple answers to this question? How do I filter?

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pasbesoin
Speaking generally, I think one's intuition continues to be under-valued.

 _If_ you are a reasonably aware and informed person with regard to the matter
at hand (and additionally, shouldn't your own well-being be a principal
"matter at hand"?), it is yourself cluing in, ahead of constructing a fully-
conscious analysis and argument.

The times my intuition has really -- in the gut -- pushed me, it's been right.
Often, later -- days, week, or longer -- I find myself placing that gut
feeling into context and events in a way that totally makes sense.

Some might argue I'm just rationalizing it. Seemed much too immediate -- and
then crystal-clear, in hindsight.

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EnderMB
For me, it was when I reached a point where there was nowhere else in my area
that excited me.

For eight years, I had worked in both small and large agencies as a .NET
developer, working on a whole range of sites - some tiny ones, mostly medium
ones, and the odd behemoth. I had a few user group talks behind me and a good
reputation amongst my peers.

My breaking point was when I thought to look who else was hiring, and couldn't
find anyone I was either excited or scared to work for. Sticking with agencies
would've been no different to what I was doing, and the larger .NET houses
were fairly boring affairs. I had made a career as a .NET developer without
moving into enterprise, so I had no intention of doing that now.

So, I decided to jump not to the next big thing, but for something different.
I now work with startups outside of the .NET stack, and the challenge of
switching from being a solid .NET dev to a beginner in various languages on
the Linux stack is both exciting and scary. Sure, I could make more elsewhere,
and I've put myself in a position to look stupid, but I forced a change and
hopefully the change in scenery will push me towards a more complete
understanding of development, and onwards to the next big thing.

------
Jtsummers
When you have realized your present goals or have new goals that cannot be
achieved by what you're doing.

I greatly enjoy my day job as a developer. But my organization is floundering
(aspects of my team need improvement, but also the multitude of others across
the org). I want to improve it, I can't do it as a developer (alone). So I'm
moving up closer to management (but doing my best to stay out of management
proper) to a position where I can have more sway on decision makers, and
advocate for the resources, training, and improvements the product producers
need.

I have other goals with respect to learning and improving my craft as a
developer, but they're slightly (just) lower priority than getting this
organization to function better. And if I fail, I can at least say I tried. To
pursue my developer craft goals, I'd need to leave this company. And I'm not
ready to yet (I'd have to move, which is not something I'm ready for).

In the worst case, I tried. I learn something new about how management
functions. How to be a leader. And that'll prepare me (success or failure) for
my next role.

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JSeymourATL
> how do you figure out what your Next Thing is?

Good framework figuring out your next thing in the book Designing Your Life by
a couple of Stanford professors-

Here's a podcast interview with the authors, to give you a flavor of what it's
about > [http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2016-10-03/using-design-
th...](http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2016-10-03/using-design-theory-to-
build-a-better-life)

Also, NY Times review > [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/fashion/design-
thinking-s...](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/fashion/design-thinking-
stanford-silicon-valley.html?_r=0)

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stealthmodeclan
When conversations become bitter, when i feel defeated and nothing interests
me then i move on to not drag the team down, i start completing documentation
to not keep any knowledge to myself.

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muzani
First, you have to have somewhere to go. Most people don't and so they stay at
the same spot until retirement.

Somewhere can mean anything - a career improvement, or benefits like child
care. Maybe even a team that clicks with religious beliefs. In some cases it's
money.

More often, it's a kind of experience one longs for. Maybe you just really
want to make a game or a CRM. Maybe you just want to enjoy traveling the world
on company money.

Second, you just measure how you're going along this path. Ideally your job
will take you there.

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CyberFonic
In terms of moving on from one technology to another I have found that the
best indicator is when the large consulting firms start hiring lots of staff
with a specific technical skill, most of them poorly qualified for that
technology. If you prefer to contract directly to the larger client firms,
then the big firms start being your competitors.

In my experience high demand and high rates environment lasts 3-5 years. Bit
of a challenge to pick the next best technology. Not too soon on the adoption
curve and not too late.

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svilen_dobrev
IMO it's not the actual move that is interesting, but when one switches on
"search/scan mode"... probably when one feels a downarrow in every morning's
answering the question "why should i get out of bed". (somebody formulated it
this way some time ago here on HN)

Then figuring out what/whether/is-it-worth is the on-going interesting part,
and it can last months - or even years.

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segmondy
When you find yourself asking yourself if it's time to do the next thing, it's
time.

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AnimalMuppet
When the challenge is gone. And how do you know that? When you're bored - not
bored for a day, but bored for six months.

That may not mean that it's time to change careers. It might just be time to
change jobs.

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bausshf
Once you'd rather do nothing, than do something.

