Official account: Data Society

Hello everyone, I am brother One. Today, talk to you about the direction of programmers after 35 years old how to choose?

As a programmer, the mantra of turning 35 has long been heard in the industry, so how can older programmers make it past 35? One elder brother is not far from 35 years old, and after thinking about it, let’s talk about it

From the colleagues I have contacted, their development can be roughly divided into the following three paths:

  • One, study technology, become a technical expert

  • Two, lead the team, become a manager, slowly deviate from the technology

  • Third, to become an expert in a business area, leading business process design

So from one brother contact colleagues to get experience and everyone one by one, how to walk these three roads!

Technical expert route

Programmers mostly have one quality: studious! Technologists tend to be as obsessed with programs as they are with games. I treat my code like a child, always trying to make my code perfect, run more efficiently, and not allow a single flaw. During the project, I always worked overtime without eating or sleeping. After debugging all the functions, I felt a sense of accomplishment when watching the program run.

They don’t want to be managers, they tend to be the ones who stay the longest in the company, and they don’t have the skills to manage them. But this does not affect their focus on the study of redemption, in fact, many high wages than managers.

To become a technical expert requires you not only to be able to excel in a certain field, but also to be familiar with the whole process of software engineering and have the engineering ability to structure and quickly locate problems.

Technical management route

I believe most programmers want to manage. They think managers can control team members, assign tasks, and don’t have to write code. But no code doesn’t mean no work!

When it comes to management positions, especially students around 35 years old, they often mock their code ability, which is a true portrayal of most managers. As we all know, once they step into management positions, they will get closer and closer to PPT, and further and further away from code. While he still has to keep track of the latest technology, he probably won’t be able to delve into many technical details.

Managers in THE IT field are basically from programmers, of course, there are also products. Managers tend to have to deal with a lot of people, which leads to fragmentation, and if you keep coding, the daily interruptions can significantly reduce the effectiveness of writing code. Those who do technical (coding) can often switch to management, but those who do management can hardly switch back to technical (coding). This means that technical background is very helpful for management, and we see that most managers are usually colleagues with acceptable technical ability in the group.

What kind of programmers are suitable for management

I once met a colleague who was not interested in actively learning anything other than coding or communicating with others. However, he was deeply involved in the technical field directly related to his work. He was conscientious and meticulous in doing things and almost never wrote bugs.

I have met colleagues who are quick to understand things at work and enthusiastic about technology. Their overall level is good, but they are bad-tempered and often break up in bad mood when communicating with colleagues. Of course, I do not mean with the product manager.

It may be obvious that neither of the above colleagues is a good candidate for management, but what kind of programmer is a good candidate for management?

  • Ability to communicate

Management is about people, and if you don’t have good communication skills, you can’t manage well and make your team members work well together.

  • Emotional control

Workplace PA, we hear a lot, but what do employees think? Criticize, but be respectful. Because as a manager, there are also people who manage you. Managers with poor emotional control tend to be biased in performance evaluation.

  • The sense of responsibility

Once you become a manager, it often means that you have more work to do. You need to consider the direction of the team, identify the ability of everyone in the team, how to report everyone’s work performance to the boss, and get more resources for the team. When you leave work, your boss often doesn’t leave, and when you go to work overtime on weekends, you often see him.

As an aside, many companies will feel embarrassed to leave work because their leaders leave late, resulting in many invalid “996”. As a manager, you should consider whether your team has this phenomenon, so as to avoid the reduction of team work efficiency.

  • Reward is clear

Easy to say, but difficult for junior managers. Take a performance review, for example. Would you be embarrassed to pick out the poor performers on your team and deduct their salary? If you don’t choose the employees with business trip performance, it means that you haven’t accurately identified the ability and working situation of each team member. If you beat poor performance, you may upset one person, but if you don’t beat poor performance, you’ll upset the whole team.

Business professionals

In fact, I prefer to become a product manager, IT is also a different industry, no matter the traditional industry or traditional industry, there are a number of IT people become business experts. They understand the specific goals of the organization and related departments. Once they were familiar with the strategic objectives, they began gathering requirements and translating them into technical requirements for IT development. They know IT, which requirements can be implemented quickly, which can be implemented, and which are “fantastic”. In addition to working within the company, they can be involved in setting standards and so on. They can also become “consultants,” which are usually paid by the hour.

Almost 35. What should I do?

As a technologist, you are responsible for the reliability of your team’s systems, not just for your own expertise. In management, you are responsible for the team’s goals, not someone’s feelings.

No matter which direction you take, be present.

  • Technology can not be lost, technology can not be lost, technology can not be lost, from the analysis of the first brother above, as we can see, no matter which direction to do, technology is necessary, ready to strike iron itself hard.

  • Business must learn, not for business service technology, are playing rogue.

  • Learn to look at people, the seven emotions and six desires, POTS and pans, everyone is an independent individual, we can understand each other in daily communication, in order to work better collaboration.

  • As a Leader, you should be humane (traditional virtues should not be lost). Don’t keep a straight face and act as if I am the leader and you must obey.

Find their own direction, do not be too difficult for themselves, do not work entirely for money, which direction, if not far, the final loss or their own.