I Aged Myself Out of Software Development

2021 will mark the year I aged myself out of software engineering roles. About a month ago, on a Sunday, during an on-call shift, I considered a priority I told myself was unacceptable: staying home during an on-call instead of taking my kids to their activities. Had I stayed home instead of taking my kids out, I would have sent my resignation letter the next day. I told myself I would. Instead, I took my kids to their activities. The experience, however, made it evident that I can no longer work as a software developer with an on-call rotation.

When my kids were younger and didn’t have competitive activities, on-call wasn’t an issue. It meant a sabbath week from golf and drinking, but that is hardly an inconvenience. This issue would have materialized about a year ago had the world not shut down all kid’s activities. Regardless, the faithful day came, and I had a couple of choices. I could have found a new team/initiative that didn’t yet have an on-call. Or I could have found a new role altogether. I chose the new role.

Some people think that the holy grail of software development is bouncing from project to project, creating new products and services, then immediately tossing them over the fence for someone else to own. This option, while superficially appealing, I don’t think is very fulfilling. The fulfilling part of product building (at least for me) is ownership after the first version is released. After the initial product launch, past decisions now affect your day-to-day, a great feedback loop providing practical experience. Owning the service past launch also provides learning opportunities such as iterating the product based on customer feedback, experimenting with new features, and a million other product-related things. Thinking through my options, it became evident that what I’m seeking is ownership of a product with all of the ups and downs that entails. In the end, I hung up my keyboard and went to the dark side: management.

I don’t know if going into management is a mistake or not. The manager role has many unappealing aspects: politics, empire-building, and hiring/firing to name a few. The people aspect I am enjoying, however. Watching others overcome obstacles and succeed is oddly more gratifying than doing it myself. I’m also closer to product, filling a seat at the table during product discussions. It is still too early to tell whether this marks the end of my career in tech, or the beginning of a new career in tech. I can see this going two ways: I see myself either doing this for another decade or burning out in six months and starting a brewery, bakery, and pasta shop. Time will tell.