Ask HN: Going down from Lead to Senior developer?

davismwfl · on March 17, 2016

Long story short, it will only hurt your career if you let it. I have gone up and down a number of times, even from founder to Senior dev and back to Engineering Manager and then Founder again and back to Senior Dev etc. I have had people ask me why and I have found it is the answer and honesty that counts.

Also, on your CV, nothing says you have to list your current role as Lead Engineer/Developer. You can easily list it as Senior Developer and describe your job duties honestly as the Team Lead. It would stop the non-technical resume scanners from ruling you out and in all fairness is exactly what you are, lead is a role of a senior developer generally. Most companies classify it that way, and even if your official title was Lead Engineer, I'd put Senior Engineer and describe the role accurately so that more companies have the box to classify you for (HR type thing). If they ever call for a reference at the company the difference between Lead and Senior is lost in the noise. I do not consider this dishonest as you aren't claiming you had a role you didn't, you were still a Senior Dev, just also had lead responsibilities. The people that get rightfully smacked (and are lying) are the ones that claim they were CTO/CIO and were really a Senior Developer or something else.

As an example, when I was at GE, there were 13 team leads on our large team and we referred to them as team leads. However, their official title was Senior Engineer. Some guys listed on their resume "Team Lead" others "Senior Engineer", neither was wrong. Hell, when we approved business cards for them no one cared whether they listed team lead or senior engineer either, just didn't matter.

hooliganpete · on March 22, 2016

The toughest part will be getting your foot in the door at a new firm since your resume will read as a demotion. That said, while more difficult to describe on your resume, it's all about the story you tell. In your post, your desire to code more, manage less makes a lot of sense and I bet resonates with many others who have felt similarly. Also, as @davismwfl mentioned, you can tweak your resume to avoid getting 'scanned out' without being misleading. In their own world, the difference between a Lead and Senior Recruiter is thin - generally Lead means they own fewer, higher level reqs themselves and manage staff. Senior Recruiters produce greater output since they don't have the overhead of managing others. Not really a step down, just a different job - why not call yourself a Lead/Senior Developer?

djb_hackernews · on March 16, 2016

This point doesn't really matter but 200+ is a small company. But leading 15 developers is a nice pin in your hat.

I wouldn't apply for senior roles. I'd look for Principle, Architect type roles. Something that acknowledges your leadership skills but is also technical. I think a 'Senior Developer' role would definitely be a huge step backward in terms of career.

Personally I find the long term career aspects for someone that can manage a few dozen developers to be much MUCH brighter than a senior developer, so I have a hard time understanding why you'd want to switch.

I mean, your next role could be a VP type role where if you are smart with your $$ you can go and be whatever you want after a few years...

sleenaidor · on March 16, 2016

Thank you for your response - I agree with what you are saying.

> so I have a hard time understanding why you'd want to switch

The main reason is that I want to write code and build stuff. Most of my current time is bug fixes (last point of escalation), estimates, meetings and managing people, and the odd "new feature" I develop when everyone else is busy. One of my main strengths is that I can get to the bottom of bugs really quick and provide (what other people call) "elegant" solutions but I think I'm falling behind on actual development skills due to lack of time (I see what other developers write on the internet and I realize that I'm waaaaay behind).

I'm aware that from a career perspective it doesn't make much sense and that is why I asked this question in the first place. I do want to write more code but I 've worked very hard to get where I am now and I don't want to make a bad call.

relaunched · on March 16, 2016

Depending on your skills and the companies you are looking into, there is decent flexibility between independent contributor and technical tracks. Making a move that is lateral, between tracks, shouldn't pose a problem.

With regard to your future prospects, it's all about how you spin it. However, recruiters / HR aren't creative folks. They will look at your last job to slot you into your next job; if and when you want to switch back to management, that job is probably not going to come looking for you.

sharemywin · on March 16, 2016

I thought a lot of places don't really have a lead developer position/title. More of a role. And I doubt you'll get out of leading various efforts at your new company.